Pongal is a popular rice dish in Southern India and Sri Lanka. In Tamil “pongal” or in Telugu “pongu” means to “boil over” or “spill over”.
There are two varieties of pongal, Chakkara Pongal which is sweet, and Venn Pongal, made from clarified butter. The unqualified word pongal usually refers to spicy pongal, and is a common breakfast food in Sri Lanka,Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The rice boiled with milk and jaggery during the Pongal festival is called Chakkara pongal – this is sweet pongal made especially in earthenware pots with a wood fire.
There are other regional variants also available such as Melagu pongal is a spicy variant made with pepper, rice and moong daal and Puli pongal is a variant that is made with tamarind and boiled rice. It is not specifically associated with the Pongal festival and is often eaten for dinner.
Check out the recipe below!
foodology 