It’s that time of the year again when Tamilians bring out wooden logs, bundles of black sugar cane, and earthen pots filled to the brim with pongal. As the pots placed on the flames overflow, “Pongalo Pongal” invocations can be heard in every Tamilian house. Celebrated at the end of the harvest season, Pongal means to boil or spill over, and is the only festival named after it’s food preparation. Farmers cook their fresh paddy in jaggery and loads of ghee, season it with cardamom powder, and offer it to the gods before partaking it with their families. Spread over four days, typically pongal is prepared in two variations: Ven Pongal–rice cooked with split yellow moong dal (lentils) and black whole pepper to a liquid consistency–is served with coconut chutney and sambhar; and Sakarrai pongal–made with sugar cane extract, jaggery and dollops of ghee–is flavoured with cashews and raisins. Ghee is the secret of a good pongal, calories be damned!
For the perfect pongal...
In Chennai, head straight to Murugan Idli Shop to stuff your face in their signature dish, Sakarrai Pongal. Drenched in ghee, it trickles and melts in your mouth. “Or go to Karpagambal Mess that serves pongal with gotsu (a variation of sambhar) instead of the traditional sambhar and chutney; team it with piping-hot filter kaapi. It’s just bliss!” says Murli Krishnan, a Mumbai-based advertising professional.
In Mumbai, Mani’s Lunch Home, a no-frills eatery, nestled in a leafy lane in Matunga, serves glistening pongal with fiery hot coconut chutney and unlimited sambhar. It’s also the only restaurant to serve pongal every morning.
In Bangalore, Adigas serves the most authentic pongal. “The crunch of the whole pepper and cumin seeds of Adigas’ pongal, which is soaked in ghee and cashewnuts, is truly worth the calories,” says Swetha Hari, a Bangalore-based pongal aficionado.
