Using Black pepper

[Jenni]

I'm not sure if this will fit your requirements, but for me it is a dish where the black pepper is very important: ven pongal. This a tamil dish, pure comfort food and perfect for breakfast. Some people serve it with sambar and coconut chutney, others just with chutney, and others still with gojju, which is a tamarind-y dish half between a relish and a vegetable. I prefer it with gojju. Here is a recipe, you can find subtle variations by googling:

1 cup rice

1/2 cup moong dal

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Salt, to taste

Ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

A very small lump of asafetida (the real stuff - if you can't get that, I guess you could use the powdered kind but the flavour will not be the same)

A few fresh curry leaves

A few cashews (halved or whole as you desire)

Toast the dal in a dry pan until it is golden and smells fragrant. Then cook with the rice until very soft. The texture should not be too wet, it should be like moist pudding. In the last 10 minutes add the salt.

Powder the asafetida in a mortar and pestle, then add the cumin and black pepper and crush coarsely. The quantities of these spices are loose and you can play with them a bit to your taste. Heat some ghee in a pan. You can use as much or as little as your conscience allows, but it must be ghee, not oil. When hot, add the crushed and powdered spices and the curry leaves, followed by the ginger. Stir and fry until the spices release their fragrance, but don't let them burn. Add to the rice and dal and cook for a few more minutes.

Roast the cashews in a little more ghee and add to the pongal. Serve with chutney/sambar/gojju/etc. as you desire.

Some people add green chillies to pongal, but personally I don't like it as much this way as I like the black pepper to shine. Actually I had this pongal for breakfast yesterday, but I would happily eat it again right now!

Edited March 5, 2011 by Jenni (log)