Try these traditional Pongal recipes to satiate your taste buds. (Source: Thinkstock/Getty Images)A harvest festival dedicated to the Sun God, Pongal will be celebrated from January 15 and will continue till January 18. The four-day festival is observed in the month of Thai, which falls in the second week of January.
Like most festivals celebrated in India, Pongal is incomplete without food. Delicacies prepared during this time includes many sweet and savoury preparations. Here are top three recipes that you can cook for yourself and your loved ones to ring in the festivities and celebrate it in the right spirit.
Aviyal
By Executive Chef Naresh Chinni, The Drunken Botanist
Aviyal.1 — Raw Banana
100 g — Green beans
75 g — Carrot medium sized
70 g — Drumstick
200 g — Beans
100 g — Peas
10 g — Coconut Cut or grated
3 g — Jeera Powder
2 g — Black Pepper Powder
2 g — Mustard seeds
2 g — Curry leaves
1/2 — Lemon
Salt to taste
2 g — Asafoetida/Hing
Method
* Peel, string and cut vegetables into long, 1 inch pieces.
* Put all of them together with peas, salt and jeera powder in a vessel with just enough water and boil on a low flame with closed lid.
* Once cooked, grind coconut to a fine paste and mix.
* The dish should be like a stew, but not too thin.
* Squeeze lemon, add hing and mix well.
* Garnish with coriander leaves and serve fresh.
Chicken Chettinad
By Anticlock, Park Inn by Radisson
Chicken Chettinad.Ingredients
75 ml — Oil
150 g — Onions
100 g — Tomatoes
2 g — Cinnamon sticks
2 g — Cloves
2 g — Cardamoms
5 g — Cumin
2 g — Curry leaves
10 g — Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
25 g — Coriander leaves
500 g — Chicken
For paste:
100 g — Onions
50 g — Ginger
50 g — Garlic
50 g — Fennel seeds
20 g — Cumin seeds
25 g — Peppercorns
10 g — Red chillies
100 g — Coconut
Method
* Grind the ingredients for the paste.
* Then, clean and cut the chicken into 16 pieces. Marinate the chicken with the paste.
* Chop the tomatoes, coriander leaves and the onions.
* Afterwards, heat oil and add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and cumin. Saute it.
* Add the chopped onions and the curry leaves. Saute until the onions are golden.
* Add the tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes.
* Add the marinated chicken and turmeric powder. Saute for 10 minutes, sprinkling water at intervals.
* Add enough salt, cover with a lid and cook until done. Add more chilli or pepper if required.
* Serve garnished with coriander leaves.
Millet Pongal
By Shruti Kumbla, Senior Nutritionist, Pristine Organics
Millet Pongal.Ingredients
3/4 cup — Foxtail millet
3/4 cup — Jaggery
1/2 cup —Moong dal
1/4 cup — Cardamom powder
1 tsp — Cashew nuts
1 tsp — Raisins
1 tsp — Ghee
2 1/2 cup — Water
Method
* Wash dal and millets in the pressure cooker. Add water and cook till 2 whistles.
* Once cooked, add jaggery and cardamom powder.
* Cook for 3-4 minutes till the jaggery blends well with the Pongal.
* Fry nuts and raisins in ghee and add to the Pongal.
