Ode to the Pongal

This post is about something that polarizes people coming from Tamilnadu. This is the famous pongal. I am not talking about the festival, there are no doubts about it, Pongal is the most important Tamil festival.

This post is about the breakfast staple “ven pongal” or kara pongal that is loved and hated equally.  I am on the side that loves it with a caveat. I prefer to eat pongal with sambar and at least coconut chutney, a vadai is a bonus. After all how can you eat just a gooey, almost tasteless mash? So if it is breakfast in a restaurant I go for a pongal vadai combination. This does not seem unusual to many unless I am driving on a road trip. I have seen eyebrows raised when I opt for this combination during a breakfast halt. The infamous after effect of feeling drowsy after a plate somehow does not work for me. I love pongal and I enjoy it on road trips. At home knowing my preferences sambar & chutney are usual with pongal.

Pongal is an essential carb loading after a marathon and rightly so. Imagine the amount of carbs that a plate has, not to mention the handful of cashew nuts that sometimes emerge that give a subtle boost. After a long run, let me assure it is probably the best carb reload. These days to make it healthier I am seeing many millet variants entering into the pongal ingredients.

When I was small the ritual of picking out the pepper corns before eating was default and used to annoy my mum; as I grew up I started ignoring them as this ritual was taking up too much time. I learnt that you can swallow them so it will not offend the taste buds and still get its proclaimed medicinal effects.

During my hostel days the students from outside TN especially those from Bengal used to protest vehemently every time Pongal came in the hostel mess (which was quite often, being easier to make and also because there were many from TN). Since we kept requesting for Pongal often, the Bengali boys took their revenge by eating up all the vadais before we came. But then they were buddies so we let them enjoy.

Sakkarai Pongal or the sweet variant makes an entry on festivals including Pongal. However being sweet it is best eaten in small portions. I usually enjoy the sakkarai pongal till the inevitable bite of the cardamom. After that everything else is a blur.

Image courtesy Google, I suspect this is a Hotel Saravana Bhavan plate.   

P.S. This post started from a Facebook prompt which said “If 2020 was a breakfast time it would be”, the popular opinion was Upma. Title inspired by Susan’s last post, you can read it in the CBC.