Kuthiraivali Pongal, a delicious one pot recipe made from the barnyard millet, dal and then tempered with flavorful Indian spices and ghee.
Though, the famous version of pongal is made with rice, we can also use millets like barnyard millet ,little millet & kodo millet in the pongal recipe for a slightly healthier option and still it tastes awesome !
Here in today's recipe, I have used kuthiraivali arisi(Barnyard millet) and it tastes so good. It's one of the easiest recipes that you can try with millets, no need to worry about perfectly cooked grains and all, dump it all together in a pressure cooker, once it's ready, do the tempering. That's all. Delicious pongal would be ready in minutes !!!
Like I said before, you can use other millets like kodo or little millets also in the same way. Here in the recipe I have used 2 cups of water for 1/2 cup of millet & 1/4 of dal to make mushy pongal and it tastes absolutely delicious when you serve it hot.
But when it's cooled, it sticks together and becomes lumpy, to be honest it doesn't taste as good as hot. So if you want to serve them later or pack for a lunchbox, I would recommend to reduce the water to 1&1/2 cups, it will yield soft yet not too mushy pongal and it tastes good even when it's cold.
Again it's just my preference, it's really up to you how you like the pongal and make the changes accordingly.Now let's check out on how to make this delicious pongal !
Procedure
Kuthiraivali Pongal
Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Kuthiraivali millet - 1/2 cup
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
To Temper
Cumin Seed - 1 tsp
Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp(minced)
Curry leaves - few
Cashew - 6 to 8
Ghee - 1 &1/2 to 2 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Kuthiraivali millet - 1/2 cup
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
To Temper
Cumin Seed - 1 tsp
Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp(minced)
Curry leaves - few
Cashew - 6 to 8
Ghee - 1 &1/2 to 2 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Take millets and dal in a pressure cooker, wash it twice and then add the water & salt into the cooker.
Cover the cooker with lid and put the lid on, cook it for 3 whistle. Now for tempering, heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan. 
Take all the tempering ingredients and add into the ghee, saute till nice aroma comes. Add the tempering into pongal. 
Now add the remaining ghee and give a good mix and it's ready to serve.
Tasty & healthy Kuthiraivali Pongal is ready to serve. Serve it with sambar and/or chutney.
Related: Collections of Chutney & Sambar recipes
Related : How to make Broken Wheat Upma
Notes:- Don't reduce the amount of ghee, it gives great taste & flavor to the pongal.
- Wash the millet until the water runs clear otherwise the pongal would be more pale in color.
- If prefer, drizzle some ghee while serving
- If you don't want mushy pongal, reduce 1/2 cup of water.
- Ginger gives great flavor to the pongal, so don't reduce the amount of ginger also.
