Broken Wheat Pongal

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Having said that, people have started eating chapathis, rotis more than rice nowadays. This is a good thing since wheat is better for health particularly for Indians and vegetarians who consume carbohydrates as the main category of food. When I said Indians it is because we are prone to get diabetes more than others. At the same time, if you are making rotis every day, it kind of gets boring and that is why I tend to mix in something else couple of days a week. Eating rice is not bad. Eating too much of rice and not burning those calories is bad. Making rotis for a family of 4 with one kind of dal and one kind of vegetable side dish does take time and on the days I have other errands to take care of, I cook either quinoa or like today broken wheat pongal. It is hearty, healthy and filling. You can serve this with any chutney of your choice or some kind of gojju or sambar.

Ingredients:
Broken wheat - 2 cups
Moong dal / Hesaru bele - 1/2 cup
Oil - 4 TBSP (See notes)
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - a big pinch or two
Hing - Generous two pinches
Cumin / Jeerige - 1 1/2 TBSP divided use
Black Pepper - 1 tsp not powdered
Black Pepper - 1 - 2 TBSP coarsely crushed (Do not use the already powdered one for authentic taste)
Dry coconut / Copra / Kobbari - 1/2 cup grated or more to your liking
Ginger - 2 " piece peeled and grated
Cashews - 1/4 cup (optional)

Method:
You can make this in a single pot if you like. I prefer to pressure cook and then give the seasoning. In a skillet, dry roast moong dal till lightly golden. Some people roast it very lightly so that it gets mushed when it cooks, but I prefer it to be well roasted so that it tastes better. When they are almost done, add the broken wheat to the same skillet and stir for a minute or two. Turn off the heat.  Rinse the dal and broken wheat together and add 5 cups of water. Add turmeric, 1/2 TBSP of cumin, 1 tsp of whole pepper corns and pressure cook for two whistles. In another pan, heat oil. When hot, add the remaining cumin seeds. When they crackle, add grated ginger, hing, coarsely crushed pepper, cashews. Fry till the cashews are golden. Add the cooked dal and broken wheat mixture, salt to taste and mix well. If the mixture is too thick, you can add some water to thin it down. Add the dry coconut gratings and mix well. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat. You can serve this with chutney or gojju or like I did with sambar.

Notes:
Broken wheat or cracked wheat is not the same as cream of wheat. It is coarser in texture. Instead of oil, you can use ghee to make it taste great. You can add lot more than 4 TBSP of it. In fact, when they serve pongal made with rice in weddings, you can see a layer of ghee floating on the top. I prefer not to use too much of ghee or oil in every day cooking. When I said add some cumin and whole black pepper to the contents while pressure cooking, it was not a mistake in writing. It gives the dal and rice/broken wheat mixture a nice aroma. You can make it with regular rice with the same recipe or use brown rice. If using brown rice, you might have to increase the water a bit since it takes a lot more water than regular rice does.

Enjoy!!