Quinoa-Oats Pongal/Khichdi/Multigrain Porridge

Hello readers,

I am going to share the recipe for a healthier version of the traditional Pongal dish. It is a savory prepared for breakfast in South India. The original recipe is prepared with sona masoori rice and yellow moong dal. But now-a-days many people have started eating less carbs. So, I have used Quinoa and Oats with little rice in this recipe.

You will need (serves 2 people)

Ingredients List- 1

Sona Mosoori Rice - 1/4 cup

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - 1/2 cup

Quinoa - 1/4 cup

Yellow Moong Dal - 1/4 cup

Ingredients List - 2

Add the following with the Pongal before cooking

Water - 5 cups

Whole Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 medium size

Ginger - 1 inch piece (peel the skin, because it is toxic, chop and crush the pieces using a mortar and pestal)

Turemeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp or as per your taste

Ingredients List - 3

Ingredients you will need for tempering:

Fresh pepper powder - 1/2 tsp (or 1 tsp if you want the pongal to be spicy)

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida / Hing / Perungayam Powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves - a few

Oil / Clarified Butter (Ghee) - 2 tbsp

Let's begin...........

In a bowl, add the rice, dal, quinoa and rinse twice. You can use a fine mesh strainer to strain the dirty water. Then add the oats and add 5 cups of water. The basic idea is to add 1 cup of water for every quarter cup of grain. Soak this for about 1/2 hour.

Now add all the ingredients in the 2nd list to this grain mix and transfer this to a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 5 minutes and mash it well.

Heat the oil or ghee (whichever you are using) in a frying pan and add the cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once they crackle, add the pepper powder and hing. Switch off the stove and pour this into the cooked pongal. You can also add a few fried cashew nuts for richness. Give it a good mix.

Steaming hot Pongal is ready to enjoy!

Note :

1. You can also use an instant pot instead of pressure cooker. If so, transfer all the ingredients into the instant pot container and add the ingredients from list 2. Cook in 'Pressure cook' mode for 10 minutes.

2. Rinsing Quinoa, removes the bitter taste and soaking the grains improves digestibility and speeds up the cooking time. As you can see in the picture above, all the grains have cooked so soft and was easy to mash.

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