Vegan Pongal Rice by Tulsi's Vegan Kitchen
Vegan Pongal Rice
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Category
Rice
Cuisine
Indian
Servings
5
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
An important part of the celebration of Pongal - the Tamil harvest/thanksgiving festival, is the boiling of milk and the new rice of the harvest season. This recipe shows how a vegan version of this sweet rice may be prepared at home.
Ingredients
-
1 cup raw rice, any type
- 1/4 cup roasted, split green lentils
-
4 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cashew nuts for making non-dairy milk or use any plant-based milk
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- 2 tablespoons cashew nuts
- 3 cardamom pods, crushed
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 cup jaggery or brown sugar
Directions
Soak split green lentils for at least 1 hour to soften and reduce cooking time.
If you're making the cashew milk, soak 1 cup of cashew nuts in hot water for 2 hours. This step may be omitted if you are using store-bought plant-based milk.
Wash rice and lentils separately.
Then put the rice and lentils together in a deep pot/pan.
Add 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt.
Bring the mixture to boil and then lower the flame and allow the rice mixture to simmer over low heat until it is well-cooked.
Meanwhile, heat up the coconut oil in a pan and fry the cardamom pods, cashew nuts and raisins until slightly brown.
In another pan, boil the jaggery or brown sugar in a half cup of water until sugar is dissolved. Strain the mixture to remove any impurities. This step may be omitted if you are confident that the jaggery/brown sugar doesn’t have impurities.
To prepare the cashew milk: Wash the soaked cashew nuts and drain the water. Then add 1 cup water and grind in a mixer-grinder until smooth and milky.
When the rice is cooked, add the dairy-free milk, dissolved jaggery and fried raisin-cashew nut mixture.
Mix well and simmer for 5 minutes at low heat, taking care not to let the rice burn at the bottom.
Remove the rice from the stove and serve with vadai and boiled chickpeas.
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
Any type of plant-based milk may be used. To create the effect of milk boiling over is possible too.