Name: Quinoa Pongal Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 17 min
Yield: 4 people
Ingredients: 1 cup quinoa; 1/3 cup moong dal; 1 inch ginger; 4 tbsp cooking oil; 1 tbsp ghee; 1 tbsp black peppercorn; 3/4 tsp cumin seeds; 1/4 tsp asafoetida; 8 curry leaves; 3 green chili (silted); 2.5 cup water; 1 tsp salt (or as required)

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A big bowl of Quinoa Pongal is purely delectable comfort food. This South Indian Pongal recipe is ready in a flash of seconds with the goodness of quinoa. This Khara Pongal is super delicious and healthy made with ginger, black peppercorns, and moong dal. No Instant Pot? No problem! we’ll also find the directions to make using the pressure cooker and also the regular stovetop option.

Grab your plates! a healthy weekday meal is here. Serve this delectable Khara Pongal for breakfast or for lunch. This is low in carb compared to regular rice version.

A big bowl of Quinoa Pongal is purely delectable comfort food. No Instant Pot? No problem! we'll also find the directions to make using the pressure cooker and also the regular stovetop option.

Quinoa Pongal is comforting, healthy, and filling all at once. It is so much easy to prepare and cook. No fussy methods or long-listed ingredients. The recipe is simple and straight forward, and the taste is absolutely enjoyable than you think off.

This hot quinoa Pongal stays with the same texture even in the room temperature. So, no pressure to eat them hot like the regular Pongal. I really need to say by underlining that the rice Pongal disintegrates in the texture and becomes like a hard cake once cooled.

No worries in here, the texture will never become mushy or gooey. So you can pack for lunch as well. Will leave us in a happy face that we made a healthy, low carb, protein-rich effortlessly in a busy morning. Try once, I guess you will agree with me as well.

What is Quinoa Pongal?

First, these two words are two separate terms.

Let us see the word ‘quinoa’ first. Most of you might have known about this grain and using already. This is low in carbohydrate, low in calorie and protein-rich grain when compared to white rice. A great substitute for rice when planning for healthy dieting. But on the negative side quinoa is relatively expensive than rice.

Pongal is the authentic South Indian food, especially belongs to the region of Tamil Nadu. A rice delicacy which is hot, spicy made with black peppercorns, cumin seeds and ginger.

The history: This spicy South Indian breakfast dish is culturally associated with their tradition. The people of Tamil Nadu have their festive days for harvest exclusively for Pongal, similar to Halloween by considered like the importance of New year here in the United States.

Swapping rice with the quinoa is a revolution for me. I have made a couple of quinoa dishes before, but fusion Ven Pongal is the favorite of mine and pat myself for its success.

How does this Khara Pongal taste like?

If you are reading this post so far, possibly you could have guessed already. This quinoa Pongal is hot and creamy. This is not a spicy dish, like the word ‘spicy’ in any other Indian food.

The quinoa and the petite yellow lentil gives the dish a creamy character and the quality. On the other hand, the black peppercorns and the ginger root and the green chili gives the rich kick. These two different characters make this dish lovable.

This spicy Pongal recipe is so much easy to make and tastes wonderful. I know this is going to be the normal routine dish that you keep making at least every other week.

The Best side dishes

Quinoa Pongal is creamy and hot. Therefore, the best companion would be of other spicy side dishes.

Traditionally Sambar and coconut chutney are the best pairs. And this also appreciable with the following,

This quinoa Pongal is hot and creamy. his spicy Pongal recipe is so much easy to make and tastes wonderful. The black peppercorns and the ginger root and the green chili gives the rich kick.

Key Ingredients

All the ingredients listed in this quinoa Pongal recipe are inseparable that balances and blends each other well. So each of them is the must and I do not find a close substitution.

Quinoa. This is the main element of today’s show. Quinoa is low in carb, low in calorie and high in protein, which is favorable for a healthy lifestyle. Making Pongal is the perfect way to enjoy all these factors with the added value of deliciousness.

Because of the increasing popularity, now it is available everywhere. Our Costco stores sell a huge bag, I really like the quality. And other grocery stores also carry with the smaller sized packages, which is good to use for a couple of times.

For those who are looking for a healthy twist to the rice, this breakfast dish turns out to be the fantastic low carb version.

Moong dal. Also called as petite yellow lentils or ‘pasiparuppu’ in Tamil. Which is responsible for the creamy texture and the rich flavor. My personal preference is 1/3 quantity of quinoa, for its luscious and silky character. But 1/4th proportional will also be correspondingly good.

Black peppercorns and cumin seeds. Rich in flavor and in taste. A teaspoon of these spices will do wonders.

Ghee. I have made half of the quantity with the cooking oil and Ghee. But if you’d keep the quinoa Pongal rich, use ghee alone.

Ginger. The essential ingredient and also makes the Pongal delicious. I strongly suggest to use this and it also works as the flavor booster.

Asafoetida. A unique ingredient that you may find only in the Indian stores available in solid and powder form. Which also works the same way as ginger, a flavoring agent.

Green chili. This modifies the hot Pongal more enjoyable. If you opt, you may deseed them before using it.

Curry Leaves. A unique ingredient exclusively for Southern Indian cuisine. You need 8-10 leaves, which leaves a huge impact on the dish.

If you are searching for other Instant Pot recipes,

How to make Quinoa Pongal

Once all the ingredients are ready, Here is how we are going to make in Instant Pot.

I have shown the Instant pot option inside the video. But the pressure cooker method is also the same except setting the timer. We will see the settings for the Instant pot and the pressure cooker correspondingly.

Slightly mushy consistency is great for quinoa Khara Pongal. So we are cooking slightly longer than the regular quinoa cooking time.

The Basic setting. Wash and rinse quinoa and moong dal.
Instant Pot. Set the Instant pot to the saute mode.
Pressure Cooker. Place the pressure cooker pan over the stove.

Add cooking oil and ghee. Next stir in black peppercorns, cumin seeds, gently crushed ginger, slit green chili, asafoetida, curry leaves. Let them sizzle in the oil until the cumin seeds splutter.

Seasoning. Add cooking oil and ghee. Next stir in black peppercorns, cumin seeds, gently crushed ginger, slit green chili, asafoetida, curry leaves. Let them sizzle in the oil until the cumin seeds splutter.

Combining the main ingredients. Pour water, quinoa, moong dal, and salt.

Cooking. Close the lid. And seal the vent.
Instant Pot. Set the timer manually for 12 minutes. And cook.
Pressure Cooker. Cook for 1 whistle on the high flame. Then immediately simmer the flame and cook for 12 minutes.

Release the pressure. Wait for 10 minutes to allow the pressure to release naturally. Open the lid.

Prepare khara pongal for serging. Using back of the ladle, gently mash the Pongal until all the ingredients combine well.

Prepare for serging. Using back of the ladle, gently mash the Pongal until all the ingredients combine well.

Serve. Serve quinoa Pongal hot with Sambar or chutney.

Do you want to look into other quinoa recipes? check these,