I really drool when people talk about famous restaurants like Saravana bhavan. Here in Chicago there are very few south Indian restaurants. Well, for the past one year, I have never had a decent coconut chutney in the hotels! I guess they just mix salt with the coconut flakes and do seasoning. I wanted to taste our own “thengai chutney with ven pongal”. Here is my earnest attempt in making the ven pongal 
Ven pongal with coconut chutney
Ingredients:
Moong dal: 1 cup
Rice: 1 cup
Pepper: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: few
Green chilies (chopped): few
Asafetida: a pinch
Salt: to taste
Preparation method:
- Add about 4 cups of water and pressure cook the rice and dal together.
- Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, pepper, curry leaves, green chilies and asafetida.
- Remove it from the stove when you smell the aroma of the ingredients in the melted ghee.
- Now add cooked rice + dal and salt with it.
- Mix it thorougly.
- Serve hot pongal with sambar, chutney or godju (aka godsu).
PS: Now am sick of using the packed coconut flakes! I got fresh coconut in the Indian store and used it for making chutney. It tasted very well 
Share & Enjoy! -
9. April 2009 at 2:17 pm
Nice combo..looking delicious anu..yes anu chutney with not taste good with flakes..i am getting fresh coconut in mexican and chinese stores these days..
9. April 2009 at 2:38 pm
Wow.. looks yummy & delicious..
9. April 2009 at 4:17 pm
Nice breakfast dish Anu! I just love it… Yours look so yummy!
9. April 2009 at 4:17 pm
Venn Pongal… my all time favo. well said about Coconut chutney. They taste very bland here. Ur combo is perfect.
10. April 2009 at 5:45 am
Best combo ever.. Very comforting!
10. April 2009 at 6:16 am
Pongal is my fav,but i love the way my mom makes it,she makes it sarvana bhavana style.
10. April 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hi Anu, pongal looks really delicious!
Thanks for visiting my blog! do visit again…
13. April 2009 at 4:59 am
Hi Anu,
I always wanted to try this dish, ur recipe looks easy. I have just recently started a blog, do visit sometimes and would make my day if u leave some comments. ur blog is very impressive in terms of page design and readability factor. Keep up the good work!!
13. April 2009 at 4:33 pm
Hey Anu!
How have u been?
Nice recipes
Vidya
13. April 2009 at 8:17 pm
Happy tamil new year anu
14. April 2009 at 2:46 pm
Happy Tamil new year dearies. Loved your responses for the Ven pongal recipe. Made my day
14. April 2009 at 7:37 pm
Hey Anu,
Thanx
Why don’t you drop in sometime?
Always welcome
Vidya
12. June 2009 at 1:58 am
Anu this is so yummy…. You are absolutely right.. the so called chutney and sambar in restaurants in Frankfurt is horrible.. In fact sambar is jus diluted curry powder sorts with some swimming veggies… the best way is to cook and blog.. HA HA
24. April 2010 at 12:28 pm
I find that I have to add a lot of water. Otherwise the Ven Pongal becomes like glue (too solid).
I am also surprised that 1 cup of moong dhall for 1 cup of rice works for you. I use not more then 1/3 cup of moong dhall for 1 cup of rice.
4. May 2010 at 7:39 am
It could be due to the variety of the dal.. I tried lots of combo and finally ended up with this measurement (1:1)
14. January 2012 at 5:27 am
I was searching for a good pongal recipe since early morning….and this version gave me satisfaction.
Let me start my pongal celebration with your recipe…..Thank you Anu:-)
Happy pongal to all….
14. January 2012 at 3:55 pm
Thanks for the lovely comment Divya
Glad u liked the recipe. Do try out and let me know.
15. January 2012 at 12:36 pm
Needless to say, it came out wonderfully well.From now on i will stick with 1:1 ratio always..it gives a nice texture to the rice…
16. January 2012 at 2:30 pm
Thank you for the feedback
Really appreciate it! Hope you had a wonderful thai Pongal.