The early mornings are scented with dew and the chill almost seems to be bidding goodbye to Margazhi, a time when even Chennai gets a taste of winter. The nip in the air reminds me of childhood in Coimbatore and the sight of the greyish-white inflorescence of the sugarcane swaying in the early morning breeze on the road to school. Farmers would boil cane juice in vats, reducing them to golden-brown jaggery.
Sugarcane, that wondrous bulbous purple-black stalk of sugar rush, is so reminiscent of Pongal. Biting into the fibrous stalk to get to the white heart, juice dribbling down our chins, was our idea of childhood joy. The purple variety, especially raised for Pongal, has already started populating street corners and store shelves.
Pongal is also renowned for the eponymously-named dish, sometimes spicy, sometimes sweet, which celebrates everything the festival stands for — prosperity, the coming together of elements and celebrating Nature’s largesse.
With less than a day to go for Pongal, I’ve been hunting for some freshly-harvested rice to make the dish. The festival, celebrated as Sankranthi in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and as Pongal in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, celebrates the farmer and the land, which yields bountiful produce year after year. Part of the festivities is boiling milk in a pot decorated with a turmeric bulb and leaves, and letting it overflow.
This year, celebrations are low-key, what with the failure of the monsoon, and there’s little pudhu arisi to come by. But, life goes on. This is the one festival where villages come alive with the sights and sounds of joyous laughter, tinkling bangles, and cattle with jingling bells and horns painted in bright hues.
Pongal, the dish, comes in a range of varieties, each one just as delicious. The rustic version features freshly-pound rice and gooey jaggery in a burst of sweetness. In cities, the experiments begin, so do the embellishments. We add cashews, ghee, raisins… In some homes, milk and yellow moong add a dash of creaminess and lend body to the dish.
To counter the overdose of sweet pongal is the kaara pongal or ven pongal. You would have had your share during Margazhi, when most temples dole this out as prasadam after morning prayers. Rice and yellow moong, cooked together or separately and tempered with ghee, cumin, pepper, ginger and asafoetida. It’s nourishing and deeply comforting to eat this piping hot, off a leaf, as the steam dances its way up and teases your olfactory nerves.
The Pongal version comes with its additions — cashew, sometimes, badam too. Richer, and reflective of a change in tidings. At home, it is paired with aviyal, as strange as it sounds. Others make a kootu with native vegetables such as lablab and pumpkin. So, what’s your pongal going to be like this time?
*****
Ven Pongal
(serves two)
Ingredients
Rice: 1 cup
Yellow moong (roasted): 1/2 cup
Pepper, asafoetida, salt and cumin: to taste
Ginger: 1 inch
Ghee: 3 tbsp
Milk (optional)
Cashew nuts for garnish
Method
Cook the rice with three cups of water in a pressure cooker and set aside. Cook the moong separately till it mashes easily.
In a kadai, add a tablespoon of ghee and roast the cashew nuts and set aside. Add seven-to-eight whole peppercorns and roast on a slow fire till they pop. Add diced or grated ginger, salt, asafoetida and the rice-moong mix. Stir gently. Drizzle pepper-cumin powder over the mix. Give it a good stir. Add the cashew nuts and mix in the remaining ghee. You could add a cup of milk for better texture and a hint of creaminess.
