Mrs. Mano's Tamilnadu Delicacies - Part 3

[Mrs.Mano]

KEERAI PONGAL

This keerai pongal is a famous dish in our household always. It is very suitable for a dinner. Tomato thokku is the most suitable side dish for it. Coconut chutney and kothsu are a little heavy. As this keerai pongal is a whole some food, light salad, or any pickle other than the Tomato thokku is enough for this.

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கீரை பொங்கல்

Ingredients:

Chopped palak- 3 cups
Raw rice- 1 cup
Tuar dal- 2 tbsp
Green gram- 1/4 cup
Finely chopped onion-1
Finely chopped tomato- 1 1/2 cup
Slit green chillies-4
Finely shredded ginger- 1 Spuun
Ghee- 5 tbsp
Coarsely ground cumin seeds- 1 Sp
Coarsely ground peppercorn- 1 Sp
Asafetida powder- half sp
Turmeric powder- half sp
Tender brinjals[small]-3[cubed]
Finely chopped coriander- 3 tbsp
Cashew nuts- 10
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Pressure cook the rice and the dals with 6 cups of water.
Heat a big pan and pour 4 tbsp of ghee.
Add the finely chopped onion with the green chillies and the ginger and cook them to golden brown.
Then add the tomato with the turmeric powder and the asafetida powder.
Cook until the tomatoes are mashed and the oil floats on the surface.
Add the brinjals with a little salt and cook until the pieces become tender.
Now add the palak and cook until the keerai is almost cooked but still has its green colour.
Add the coriander and cook for a few seconds.
Now add the cooked rice and mix on slow fire adding enough salt.
In a separate pan add the remaining ghee.
Fry the cashew nuts first and then add the ground powders.
Fry for a second and then pour this on the pongal.
Cook for a few minutes until every thing is combined well.
Pour melted ghee on top.
Now the delicious keerai pongal is ready!!

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Cdj!

Haven’t you noticed the prawn podi I have posted here few days back for you?

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Kavya!

It is one of the finest feedbacks I had!-“ Yummy for the Tummy”!
Thanks a lot for the heart-warming feed back!

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Cdj!

I Hope that all the days of your Navarathri went well with my payasams! And thanks a lot for that!

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Suvai!

As I was not well for the past week, I could not post the recipe of 'Puli adai' for you. Soon I will post it !

[selvieam]

aunty,

keerai pongal is mouth watering. green gram means, yellow moong dhal? can i use mola keerai?

i am trying on saturday.

[onionlover]

Mrs. Mano tried your sada pakoda. It turned out very sotha sotha with oil. My mom told me that it will be like that if you do it with cooked rice. Can I use rice flour instead?

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Selvi!

The green gram I have mentioned here is
' split yellow mung dal ' only!
Molakkeerai, ponnaangkanni keerai, araikkeerai and palak keerai suits well for this keerai pongal!

[Mrs.Mano]

Dear Onion lover!

I have already mentioned that if you keep the sadha pakoda mixture a little longer, it will turn a little soggy and watery. So after preparing the mixture, immediately fry them as pakodas. If the mixture is soggy, add some more gram flour with half of rice flour and a little salt to it. The mixture will be thick again!

The cooked rice must be fresh. If it is kept in the fridge for a long time, the result of the pakoda will not be very nice.

[selvieam]

thanks aunty. i have molaikeerai with me. sure i will try and let u know the result.