I used to make katte pongali most Fridays back in 2015 for Santoshi mata pooja. This dish met the specific requirement of Santoshi Mata pooja of not having tangy ingredients in it.
I recently came across an Instagram video of Katte Pongali, bringing back old memories of relishing this dish. I don’t remember why I stopped making this dish, so I made it twice in the last couple of weeks. While I was eating it a fresh this time, it reminded me of Tirupati prasadam after Sri vari kalyanam!
Sharing the recipe here before Sankranti. Many south Indians prepare this dish along with chekkera pongali (recipe here: https://saudhaminimylaram.in/2021/09/05/chekkera-pongali/)
Ingredients
Rice – 1 Cup
Moong Dal – 3/4 Cup
Butter/Ghee – 2 tbsp
Black pepper – 1 tbsp (freshly crushed)
Cumin – 1 tsp
Ginger – 1 inch (grated)
Green Chili – 2
Cashew nuts – 10
Dried red chili – 3
Curry Leaves – 1 strand
Asafetida (hing) – 1/4 tsp
Salt – to taste
Preparation
- Take a dish that fits into the pressure cooker. Take rice, moong dal in the dish. Wash it thoroughly and add water in 1:2 ratio. For the measurements mentioned here, we need 3 1/2 cups of waters. Add sat and set this dish aside.
- Crush black pepper. If we use uncrushed pepper, they will still be hard to chew after the dish is cooked. And we need freshly crushed pepper to get the right taste.
- Slit the green chilies, peel the ginger and grate it.
- Now take a tadka pan, add butter, green chilies, ginger, pepper, cashews, cumin seeds, curry leaves, dried red chilies. Let it cook till the seeds pop. Add hing and turn off the stove.
- Add the tadka to rice and moong dal mixture. Mix it well and place it in the pressure cooker. Cook for 3 whistles on medium flame and 10 minutes on low flame, then turn off heat.
- Katte Pongali is ready! And those of you who had the opportunity to taste Tirupati Katte Pongali Prasadam will relate. Do try the dish and let me know in the comments section how it turned out.
