Rava Pongal Recipe (Sooji Pongal)
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Rava pongal is a South Indian style dish made with semolina, moong dal, ghee, cumin, black pepper, ginger, cashews, and curry leaves. This South Indian breakfast recipe is easy, delicious, and perfect for a wholesome meal.
Table of Contents
Quick Look: Rava Pongal
Air Drying Time: 20 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Dietary Info: Vegetarian. Can be easily made vegan
Flavor/Texture: Soft, creamy, and mildly spiced with a buttery ghee aroma, black pepper heat, and comforting porridge-like texture
What Is Rava Pongal?
Rava pongal is a soft, savory South Indian porridge made with roasted semolina (rava/sooji) and cooked yellow moong dal, tempered in ghee with black peppercorns, cumin seeds, curry leaves, ginger, and cashews. It is a faster alternative to traditional ven pongal.
While the classic ven pongal uses sona masuri rice as its base, rava pongal swaps that for semolina, significantly reducing the cooking time without sacrificing any flavor.
Regionally, you’ll hear it called rava khara pongal in Tamil Nadu, rave huggi or rave kara pongal in Karnataka, and sooji ka pongal in Hindi-speaking households. Different names, same comforting bowl.
You can serve it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or pack it in the lunchbox. You can also make it for the South Indian Thai Pongal festival (also known as Makar Sankranti in North India).
Sooji pongal can be made in a traditional pressure cooker or an Instant Pot. I have shared both methods in the post below.
Ingredients
All the ingredients for this recipe are readily available in Indian grocery stores. Some can also be sourced from online portals like Amazon.
- Rava (Sooji) – This pongal is prepared with a coarse variety of rava (semolina), also known as Bombay rava. Do not use the fine sooji or Bansi rava to make pongal; otherwise, it will turn out mushy. I like fine sooji to make sooji halwa, though.
- Dal – You will need yellow moong dal (split and skinned moong lentils).
- Ginger – Fresh ginger adds a subtle flavor, making this savory pongal even more delicious. So do not miss this one.
- For Tempering – Pongal is tempered with ghee, cumin seeds, asafetida (hing), curry leaves, green chilies, cashew nuts, and black peppercorns. Use ghee (not oil) for tempering, as it adds a lovely, rich, authentic taste. Adjust the green chilies as per your taste. You can replace cashews with peanuts or almonds.
How To Make Sooji Pongal
Prepare The Moong Dal
Step 1: Rinse ¼ cup of yellow moong dal with water, then drain well. Line a baking tray or a large plate with a kitchen cloth and spread the dal on it. Let it air dry for 20 minutes.
Air-drying the rinsed dal helps quicken the roasting process later.
Cook The Dal
In A Pressure Cooker
Step 2: Add the dal to a pressure cooker.
Step 3: Dry-roast on medium heat until lightly browned and aromatic. Stir frequently. The dal should turn pale golden, not brown.
Roasting the dal removes the raw, grassy smell and deepens the flavor of your finished pongal.
Step 4: Add the following ingredients to the cooker and stir well.
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
Step 5: Close the cooker’s lid and cook for 1 whistle on high heat. Then, reduce the heat to low and cook for 12 minutes.
Step 6: Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid.
Step 7: Mash the dal until smooth using a wire whisk or the back of a spoon.
In An Instant Pot
- Press the SAUTE button.
- Add the rinsed and air-dried dal to the instant pot and roast until lightly browned, stirring frequently.
- Add water, grated ginger, and salt to the cooker and stir until well combined.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and set the valve to the sealing position.
- Press PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to 12 minutes at high pressure.
- Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes.
- Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid.
- Mash the dal until smooth using a wire whisk or the back of a spoon.
Roast The Rava
Step 8: Add ½ cup Bombay rava to a small pan and roast it on medium heat until slightly fragrant (2-3 minutes), stirring continuously. Do not over-roast the rava. You don’t want to brown it. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
Never skip roasting the rava. Unroasted semolina produces a raw, floury aftertaste. Stop roasting the moment you smell nuttiness, brown rava discolors your pongal and turns bitter.
Make The Sooji Pongal
Step 9: Heat 2 cups of water in a pan over medium heat.
Step 10: Once the water starts to boil, add the roasted rava slowly, while whisking with a wire whisk until a smooth, lump-free mixture forms.
Step 11: Add the cooked moong dal to the pan and mix well. Add more water if the mixture appears too thick. The consistency should be similar to that of porridge or khichdi; it should drop slowly off a spoon, not pour.
Step 12: Reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check for salt and add more if needed.
Temper The Rava Pongal
Step 13: Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee for tempering in a small skillet over medium-high heat.
Do not skimp on ghee, as too little fat makes pongal heavy and dull.
Step 14: Add the following ingredients once the ghee is hot, and let them crackle for 4-5 seconds.
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 2-3 green chilies (slit in half)
- 6-8 coarsely crushed black peppercorns
Step 15: Add 10-12 whole cashew nuts and fry until slightly browned (1-2 minutes), stirring frequently.
Step 16: Pour the tempering over the hot pongal and mix well. Serve hot.
Save some tempering to garnish the ready pongal.
Pro Tips By Neha
To speed up the process, you can roast the rava in bulk and store it in an airtight container whenever you have spare time. You can then use this roasted rava to make many other dishes.
Add finely chopped vegetables, such as carrots and beans, to this dish to make it more wholesome. You can add the veggies when cooked moong dal is added to the softened rava.
Rava Pongal FAQs
Yes, you can. To make the recipe vegan, you can replace ghee with coconut oil.
Yes, you can buy already roasted rava and use it as a substitute for plain rava. In this case, you can skip the roasting process.
This dish tastes its best when served directly from the pan. However, if you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. Add some hot water when reheating, as pongal tends to thicken after refrigeration. You can also give it a fresh tempering of ghee and cumin seeds to elevate its taste.
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve rava pongal with mango pickle, white coconut chutney, and a dollop of ghee.
You can also serve it with peanut chutney, red chilli coconut chutney, or any other chutney of your choice.
Sambar is also a great accompaniment.
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Rava Pongal Recipe (Sooji Pongal, Semolina Pongal)
Ingredients
- ½ cup coarse rava (Bombay rava)
- ¼ cup yellow moong dal (skinned petite yellow lentils)
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
For Tempering
- 2 tablespoons ghee (use coconut oil for a vegan recipe)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida (hing)
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 2 green chilies (slit into half)
- 10-12 whole cashew nuts
- 6-8 black peppercorns (coarsely crushed)
Instructions
Prepare The Moong Dal
- Rinse moong dal with water and drain the water well.
- Line a baking tray or a large plate with a kitchen cloth and spread the dal on it.
- Let it air dry for 20 minutes.
Cook The Dal
In A Pressure Cooker
- Add the dal to a pressure cooker and roast on medium heat until lightly browned, stirring frequently.
- Add 1 cup of water, ginger, and salt to the cooker and stir well.
- Close the lid of the cooker and cook for 1 whistle on high heat. Then, reduce the heat to low and cook for 12 minutes.
- Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the lid and mash the dal until smooth using a wire whisk or the back of a ladle.
In An Instant Pot
- Press the SAUTE button.
- Add the dal to the instant pot and roast until lightly browned, stirring very frequently.
- Add water, grated ginger, and salt to the cooker and stir well.
- Close the lid of the Instant Pot and set the valve to the sealing position
- Press PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to 12 minutes at high pressure.
- Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes.
- Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid.
- Mash the dal until smooth using a wire whisk or the back of a ladle.
Roast The Rava
- Add rava to a small pan and roast it on medium heat until slightly fragrant (2-3 minutes), stirring continuously.
- Do not over-roast the rava. You don’t want to brown it.
- Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
Make The Pongal
- Heat 2 cups of water in a pan over medium heat.
- Once the water starts to boil, add the roasted rava slowly and whisk using a wire whisk until a smooth, lump-free mixture is formed.⅔
- Add the cooked moong dal to the pan and mix well.
- Add some more water if the mixture looks thick. The consistency should be similar to that of porridge or khichdi; it should drop slowly off a spoon, not pour.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring a few times.
- Check for salt and add more if needed.
Temper The Pongal
- Heat ghee for tempering in a small skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once the ghee is hot, add cumin seeds, asafetida, curry leaves, green chilies, and black peppercorns, and let them crackle for 4-5 seconds.
- Add cashew nuts and fry until they are slightly browned (1-2 minutes), stirring frequently.
- Pour the tempering over the pongal and mix well. Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambhar.
- Tip – Save some tempering to garnish the ready pongal.
nice recipe
thanks for sharing
Thnx a lot 🙂