Ven Pongal

Though it tends to be overshadowed by it's more glamourus sister, Shakarai Pongal, Ven Pongal too has it's own band of followers who swear by it. I was never one of them. Even when I was a child, I barely tolerated it, and after my mother started making the Bong khuchudi, I virtually stopped having it. Till suddenly, the craving struck, and I called up my mother to get the recipe.
In, in turn, had moved on. After years of not making Ven Pongal, because the family had abandoned it, when she wanted to return, it was to a new recipe. And that's the recipe she passed on to me. The Ven Pongal didn't taste quite like the one I remember from my childhood, but I preferred it, because I could feed it to my kids with virtually no danger of them biting into a pungent peppercorn by mistake!

2 cups rice
1 cup moong dal
1 tsp peppercorns
2 tsp jeera
1 inch piece ginger
1 tbsp ghee
1 sprig curry leaves
Cashew nuts for garnish

Method:
Roast the moong dal, but not till the point where it starts turning red. Wash the roasted dal and rice, and cook with at least 6 cups water in an open vessel. When it is 3/4th done, add salt.
Meanwhile, dry roast the peppercorns and jeera, and coarsely powder them in a mortar and pestle*.
Heat the ghee, add finely chopped ginger, and the peppercorn-jeera powder. Once the jeera settles, add cashew nuts and curry leaves, and saute till the cashew starts browning.
Add to the 3/4th cooked rice-dal mixture. Mix well, and cook till done.
Serve steaming hot, preferably with gotsu.