Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice
• ¼ cup mung beans (split lentils)
• 3 cups water
• ¼ cup lukewarm milk
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil (canola preferable since it does not have any smell)
• 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
• ¼ teaspoons black pepper
• Small piece of ginger
• 2 green chilies
• 2 dried red chilies broken into 2 pieces
• Curry leaves
• Pinch of asafoetida (Hindi: hing, Tamil: Perungayam)
• 2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
• Salt to taste

Method

• Wash rice and  lentil
• In a saucepan bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil
• Add rice and lentil to the saucepan and add a pinch of salt
• Cook until rice is well done
• If needed add hot water (I added extra 1 cup of water)
• Now add milk and cook for a minute or two
• Cover and set aside
• Chop ginger into fine pieces and chop green chilies into small pieces
• Add oil to a skillet and add mustard seeds and black pepper
• Once mustard seed start splattering add ginger and green chilies
• Fry for about 3 minutes
• Now add curry leaves and dried red chilies and fry for another minute
• Add asafoetida and mix well and add this fried mixture to the pongal and mix well
• Add 2 teaspoons ghee and mix well
• Serves: 2