Breakfast/Festive

Venpongal

Posted on by Vijaya Venkatesh
Cooks in: 15 Minutes Serves: 2 People

Venpongal is offered to Lord Narayan during Margazhi month. It is one of the preferred breakfast dish in South India. It is a perfect blend of rice and dal with mild spices served with chutney, sambar, gothsu etc. I have made pongal with Kodo, Little, Barnyard and Foxtail millets and all tastes awesome! Here, I have used Barnyard Millet.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 Cup Barnyard Millet/Kudhiraivali
  • 1/2 Cup Yellow Moong dal
  • 2.5 Cups Water
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Crushed Pepper
  • 1 tsp Jeera
  • 2 tbsp Ghee
  • 5 Curry Leaves
  • 1 tbsp Chopped Ginger
  • 2 tbsp Ghee roasted cashews

Directions:

  1. Dry roast dal and millet separately till nice aroma on medium heat.
  2. Wash them thoroughly.
  3. Heat a 3 Ltr Pressure Cooker, add ghee add ginger, pepper jeera and curry leaves. Sauté for 30 seconds and add the other ingredients.
  4. Cook on medium heat for 5 whistles.
  5. Open after pressure settles down.
  6. Serve hot with chutney/sambar/gothsu.

Note:
  1. Instead of milk, water can be used. I always prefer milk as it tastes like temple prasadham.
  2. Adding more ghee is optional.

44 Comments

  2. Can I make this in 2 lt magic pot with 1/4 c dal and 1/4 c foxtail millet? How much water n milk should I add?

    1. Hi Prema,
      If you are reducing the dal, millet by half, reduce the other ingredients also accordingly. For 1/4 cup dal and millet, you can add 1.25 cups water and 1/2 cup milk.

      1. Hi Vijaya
        Thanks for the quick reply.
        I made this today n it turned out perfect! Dry roasted 1/4 c turdal n moongdal, 1/4c foxtail millet. Soaked for 30 mts , rinsed n kept aside.
        In a 2lt magic pot:
        L1 : 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp water
        L2 : 1/4 c onion & 1/2 c tomato side by side
        L3 : Millet-dal mixture
        L4 : 1 c Vazhaippoo cleaned n chopped
        L5 : Salt, garlic powder, ginger and one green chilly
        Added 1 1/2 cups of water. Cooked on high for 6 whistles, released pressure. Mixed well and added a tadka of cumin in ghee and roasted cashew pieces.
        Turned out perfect.

        1. Hi Prema,
          Thanks so much for sharing your experience with a detailed comment. Glad that it turned out well. Please share a picture through messenger so that I can publish in the FB page.

  4. Hi mam,
    Made your recipe of millet ven pongal. I replaced barnyard millets with foxtail millets and milk with water.. it tasted very yummy. It was very creamy.

    1. Hi Suganya,
      Glad to know that millet Pongal turned out delicious!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

  5. Prepared this for breakfast today. One change i did was to have the pongal cooked in internal vessel in cooker

    Came out very well.

    1. Hi Ram,
      No need of inner vessel for this recipe. You can cook directly also. Glad to know that it came out well. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

  6. I have made this twice now, once on the Instant Pot. Very similar to pongal with rava, the only difference being that millet needs more water. Tasted good. Thanks, Vijaya.

    VC

    1. Hi VC,
      As you said, millets need more water. After opening the cooker it may look watery but on cooling becomes thick.

  7. I made it this morning with little millet. The dish tasted good. Mine was a bit gooey too–maybe it is acceptable as is. However, I will try it with a little less water the next time.

    Finding a rice substitute that is not bitter (as quinoa is) is a huge plus for me. Thanks for the recipe.

    1. Hi VC,
      The millets available in your place are different from what we get here. So I suggest you adjust water qty accordingly. Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your experience.

  8. Vijay, I had a ready mix millet portal. Dry roasted it as per your recipe. Added 3 1/2 cups water and cooked. Was watery. So cooked on open pot for a few min. Still was gooey. What is the mistake i made. The ready mix also said to add 31/2 cups of water, though roadting was not duggested. But generally we toadt ggor pongal. So i did.

    1. Hi Ganga mam,
      If the ready mix is store bought one, then I don’t know the proportion of millet and dal. I request you to try the recipe once again with the measurements which I have shared. You can see the number of validations for this recipe in the comment section. It cannot go wrong. Millets absorb water while cooling. On opening the cooker, it may look watery but it gets absorbed. So just wait for 5 to 10 minutes so that you get the right perfect texture.

  9. Hello mam,

    Millet pongal turned our super delicious ! I followed your recipe to the T, but doubled the quantity. Thanks a ton for the lovely recipe.

  10. Second recipe from ur website.. Made pongal with foxtail millet.. It was tasty mam.. Thanku 🙂

    1. Hi Lavanya,
      Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your experience. Glad to know that it tasted good. Please do try other recipes and share your experience.

    1. Hi Rashmi,
      I use only the native grains of our country. So I’m unable to guide you regarding quinoa. Thanks so much for your visit.

  12. Our breakfast today…did with foxtail millet.. my little one 20 months old happily asked for second serving (which he never does ) Thanks a lot maam .. Adding milk and roasting definitely adds to flavor..

    1. Hi Ranjani,
      I’m very happy to hear that a toddler loved this pongal. Actually millet pongal tastes better than rice! As you said milk and roasting give a great flavour and taste. Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your experience.

  13. Hello Madam, I tried venpongal with organic little millet..in fact I soaked the millet and dal to gather and checked ur recipe…so didn’t roast them either. Turned out good..thank you!!

    1. Hi Mahi,
      Roasting increases the flavour. You can make even without that. Happy that yours turned out well. Thanks for trying and sharing your experience.

    2. Hi Mahi,
      Thanks so much for trying this recipe. Roasting increases flavour. Happy to know that it turned out well. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

  14. Today made this Pongal with Kodo millet. It turned out to be very tasty. Thank you very much for the wonderful recipe.

    1. Hi Bhagya,
      Happy to know that your pongal turned out yummy. Thanks for sharing your experience.

  15. Tried millet venpongal for the first time and it came out very well . Taste yummy. Thank you so much madam .

  16. One Awesome Pongal!!! Amazingly delicious, my entire family loved it and polished their plates clean. The best part was as soon as I opened the cooker the burst of flavors!!!!!! Wah re Wah ???? ❤️ this will be regular dish in my cooking henceforth ❤️. Thanks a lot VV ji for the absolutely wonderful recipes!!!

    1. Hi Vidhya,
      Happy to see your awesome pongal picture!! It looks so inviting!! Glad to know that your family loved it!! Thanks for trying and sharing your experience.

  17. Thank you for the idea of using millet in venpongal tried this for breakfast, a tasty n healthy breaky apt for everyone in the family

    1. Hi Preethi,
      The pongal looks so inviting! Apt for Margazhi month!! Thanks for sharing your experience.

    1. Hi Vidhubala,
      Your Pongal looks really tempting!! Thanks for trying and validating the recipe.

  19. Made this twice so far , so so much better than the rice version. We all love it so much. Thanks so so much for sharing your recipe !

    1. Hi Bayiravi,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. Happy to know that you loved it. Share your experience of other recipes also.

  21. This is a wonderful recipe. Never thought millets could be used for venpongal. VV , adding milk was an excellent tip and absolutely no compromise on taste. Thanks so much

    1. Hi Vidhubala,
      Thanks for trying and validating the recipe. Came to know from one of my friends that milk is added to venpongal in Srirangam Temple Prasadham! From then on, I started adding milk and it definately enhances the taste.