Today, I am going to share a South Indian breakfast menu Idea or Pongal breakfast Menu idea. After a break of 1 and 1/4 years from blogging, I am sharing a Pongal-relevant post that is close to my heart.
Read more: South Indian Breakfast Menu Idea1Pongal Festival
In South India, on Pongal day, which falls in mid-January, i.e., on the first day of the Tamil month Thai, people celebrate it with the rice harvested from the farm. Not only do they use rice, but they also make curry with harvested veggies and express gratitude to God/sun with coconut, turmeric plant, sugarcane, Banana, Betel Leaves, harvesting equipment, and more. This festival is all about thanking God with the harvest. The next day is Maatu Pongal in Tamil, where they express gratitude to cows, buffaloes, and other farm animals for their hard work.”
Easy Trick to Make 2 in 1 Pongal
On Pongal day, I always prepare authentic raw rice or millet pongal in a pot. Afterward, I divide the cooked plain pongal to make both sweet and khara pongal/ven pongal/savory in one go. This way, there’s no need to cook the rice twice for these two dishes. Alternatively, you can use another method where you cook both sweet and savory at the same time in an Instant Pot. Check out the video link provided HERE for Millet-based Pongal.
South Indian Breakfast Menu
Our recent Pongal festival breakfast menu is showcased in the pictures, and I have a quick YouTube shorts video demonstrating how I prepared all the menu items listed here in a jiffy. In any case, I will also explain the recipes included in the menu.
- Medhu Vadai is the best appetizer, complementing the Pongal, sambar, and chutney menu (which I will share the video recipe for later).
- Sweet Pongal prepared using Karupatti/Palm Jaggery, you can use any sweetener instead and replace raw rice with brown rice or millets.
- Venn Pongal This is the recipe for basic ven pongal . You can add turmeric or replace raw rice with brown rice , oats or millets.
- Sambar – The recipe link I shared is Arachuvitta sambar which goes well with Tiffin and Pongal Varieties. I will also share more sambar recipe links in near future.
- Coconut Chutney (recipe follows)
Recipe for Coconut Chutney
This is the recipe for Restaurant Style Coconut Chutney, and whenever I make coconut chutney, my go-to version is this. Sometimes, I alternate a few ingredients, like adding red chili instead of green, but the taste varies from the restaurant style for sure. The trick is to add more green chili and make the chutney thick. Also, don’t skip the tempering part. I use fresh coconut for this, and I never use frozen shredded coconut, so the taste of coconut meat is also important to achieve that specific flavor.”
Ingredients
Shredded Coconut – 1 Cup
Green Chilis – 2 Numbers
Dalia/Pottu Kadalai – 1/3 Cup
Salt – As Required
To Temper
Mustard Seeds – 1/4tsp
Curry Leaves – 1-2 Sprigs
Oil – As Needed
Method
Grind all the ingredients listed above with the necessary water to a smooth paste. You can add a few raw curry leaves while grinding. Keep the chutney thick, or add more water to dilute. In a pan, add oil; when it’s hot, add mustard seeds, and once they splutter, remove from the flame. Add the curry leaves, give a quick mix, and add to the ground chutney.”
Thanks for reading till end, the next post in Nitha Kitchen is Lunch Box Series/Kids Lunch Box Ideas, please keep visiting for more interesting recipes.
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