Quinoa Pongal !!!

Quinoa a magic grain (seed) become quite popular these days. Many Indain dishes are made using Quinoa. When to experiment with a new ingredient, I always prefer easy recipes as they take less time and tastes good, which is most expected end result ;-)  I used Quinoa in Pongal as a substitute for rice and it tasted exactly as regular Pongal without any difference. 

Quinoa is considered as a high protein food. For people following low carb diet, high protein diet, this is a boon. Its also a diabetic friendly recipe. Tried it for morning breakfast and it tasted YUM!!!

Ingredients :

White Quinoa - 1/4 cup
Moong dal/ Paasiparuppu - 1/4 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cups
Black pepper / Milagu - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds / Jeeragam - 1 tsp
Hing/ Perungayam - a pinch
Curry leaves - 4 to 5
Salt
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:

Wash the quinoa thoroughly and soak it in water for 30 min.
Wash moong dal and add it to the pressure cooker.
Drain the water from the quinoa completely and add it to the pressure cooker.
Add water and close.
Watch for 3 whistle and remove from the heat.
In a small pan add ghee and pepper, once the pepper get fried add cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing and fry for few min, till the typical pongal aroma gets your senses.
Transfer it to the pongal along with salt. Mix well with a ladle.
Serve hot with coconut Chutney or any Sambar.

Note: If you find the pongal more watery keep it in the stove and stir for few min and then do the tempering.
         You can add cashews while tempering.