Venpongal (Indian style Rice porridge)

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Moong dal- 2 tbsp (it is a yellow colored lentil - split green gram)
Water - 3 cups
Ginger - 1 or 2 tsp (depending on your taste)
Black pepper - 1 or 2 tsp (again depending on your taste, use it whole or powdered)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 (available in Indian grocery stores, I chopped them)
Cashewnuts - 7 (chopped into pieces or whole)
Ghee - 2 tbsp (Indian style clarified butter)

Every South Indian household has a pressure cooker. It makes my life a lot easier and is definitely a big time-saver. I mix raw rice and moong dal with water and put it in a vessel inside the pressure cooker (my mom roasts the moong dal but I didn't since I was pressed for time). After switching it off, I let it rest for 10 minutes before opening.
In a separate pan, put ghee and add cashewnuts and roast them. Then add ginger, let it cook for a few mins. Now add black pepper (if you are adding them whole), cumin seeds and curry leaves. If adding powdered black pepper like I did here, then you can add it at last.
Now take the rice mixture out of the cooker and mash it well. Add salt to taste along with the sauteed ingredients. I wanted to make it look pretty - put some ghee in a bowl and fill it with pongal and flip it on to the plate. Voila! It's ready to eat :)
You can serve this with coconut chutney and sambhar. I'll post those recipes sometime soon!