Pongal, one of the most popular harvest festivals in India — and perhaps of the entire world given the number of people celebrating it — starts on the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi and continues to the third day of Thai, marking the beginning of Uttarayan, the sun’s journey northwards.
In Tamil Nadu, farmers pay homage to the sun, the rain and farm animals over the four-day festival. Along with cleaning the house and wearing new clothes, as a harvest festival, Pongal also denotes wealth in terms of crops. The word Pongal itself means “boiling or spilling over” in Tamil and the boiling over of milk in a clay pot symbolises wealth in a household and the dish pongal is made of boiling rice with milk. In fact the rice used to make pongal is traditionally from the first paddy crop harvested.
The day preceding Pongal in Tamil Nadu is called Bhogi. On this day people discard old things and focus on new belongings. This tradition in observed on the same day in Andhra Pradesh as Bhogi Pallu, in Punjab as Lohri and in Assam as Magh Bihu.
Pongal recipes
This rice kheer or pudding is traditionally cooked in a new earthenware pot with fresh turmeric and ginger tied around it. A concoction of rice — typically from the first paddy harvest — moong dal, jaggery and milk are cooked over an open fire.
Significantly the rice and milk is allowed to boil over. It is then tempered with broken cashew nuts and raisins.
Sweet Pongal
Ingredients
1 cup rice
½ cup whole moong dal
1 cup milk
3 cups crushed jaggery
4 tbsp ghee
10 broken cashew nuts
10 raisins (soaked for 1 hour)
5 green cardamom, powdered
2 cloves (powdered)
½ nutmeg (grated)
2½ cups water
Method
Dry roast the dal for a minute and add the rice, water and milk and cook uncovered on low heat for half an hour till the liquid reduces. Stir. Add ½ cup of water to the jaggery and heat in the microwave or on an open flame till the jaggery melts and reduces to half the original quantity. Add to the rice and mix. In a separate wok, heat the ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins for 10-15 seconds and add to the rice. Add powdered cardamom, cloves and nutmeg. Mix well and serve.
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Savoury Pongal
Ingredients
1 cup rice
¼ cup moong dal
½ tsp black peppercorns
5-6 broken cashew nuts
½ cup desiccated coconut
A pinch of turmeric powder
5-6 curry leaves
Ghee
Method
Soak the rice for an hour and drain. Dry roast the dal over medium heat till it darkens a bit and add the rice and 2½ cups of water. Add the turmeric powder, coconut and one tsp of ghee and cover and cook till the rice becomes soft (aim for the consistency of khichdi).
In a separate wok, heat a tablespoon of ghee and fry the curry leaves, peppercorns and cashew nuts for around 10 seconds and add to the rice. Mix well and serve hot with coconut chutney.
Note: One can also add jeera powder and hing to the tadka.