Both these dishes are savoury, Indian porridges commonly made from rice and moong dal and often eaten for breakfast. But, having read up on them a bit, I now feel like I have a better handle on what distinguishes them from each other.
First of all, pongals are specifically a south Indian dish while kichidis can be found all over India. And, while pongals are sometimes eaten for dinner, they seem to be mostly considered a breakfast food. Meanwhile, kichidis can be eaten for any meal of the day.
Pongals, in addition to being more geographically restricted, also seem to be more restricted in their ingredients. They are always based on rice and moong dal (skinned split mung beans). While kichidis may feature that pair as their primary ingredients (as this one does), there are a plethora of variants using both different legumes and different grains/starches. Kichidis will also often include vegetables (usually tomatoes and onions and sometimes other vegetables as well), while pongals generally do not. Interestingly, despite this huge range of ingredients, it is pongals and not kichidis who can also come in a sweet form with jaggery and dried fruit in place of the spices and ginger.
And while Iyer calls for turmeric in both his kichidi and pongal recipes, apparently pongal tends to have less turmeric than kichidi on average and be a little less vibrantly yellow.
Other than that, the main difference seems to be the typical accompaniments. Pongal is traditionally eaten with sambhar (although it can certainly work well along-side other curries as well1). Meanwhile, kichidis -- being more varied in general -- might go with any number of things, but chutneys, pickles, yogurt, and/or papads are some common choices. While vegetable stir-fries are often served with some of the drier, less porridge-y kichidis.
For this particular porridge, Iyer suggests that its ideal companion would be kheema mutter. And, while I do think that would have been delicious, that's not what I ended up doing.
Since I had both kidney beans and eggplant that needed to be used up, I decided to make katarikai goshtu and dahiwaale rajmah instead. Both curries that I hadn't tried yet, would use up the ingredients in question, and seemed reasonably easy to prepare. (I also ended up making a pasta "curry" to use up some arugula, but since that has its own starchy substrate built in, I don't really consider it an accompaniment to the kichidi; it's its own self-contained thing.)
Anyway, the kichidi turned out pleasantly well. It wasn't super flavourful on its own (although the ghee and cumin were nice), but it made a nice backdrop for the various curries it was served with. That said, I think I would like to try adding some tomatoes and onions next time. And probably some chilies as well. Just to give it a little more... presence. And maybe dial back the ghee a bit. Not that it isn't delicious, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to get more deliciousness from vegetables and spices and hopefully be able to rely less on deliciousness from concentrated fat!
So, with that in mind, here is the recipe as I made it, plus a bonus variant with some suggested edits.
Moong Dal Kichidi
From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer
Ingredients
- 1 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong dal)
- 1 c. long-grain white rice
- 4 c. cold water
- 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
- 4 c. boiling water, divided
- 3 Tbsp. ghee
- 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
Directions
- Rinse the dal thoroughly.
- Add the dal and rice to a pot with the cold water.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and skim off and discard any foam that forms on the surface.
- Add the salt and turmeric.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has been absorbed (~10 minutes).
- Pour in 1 c. of boiling water and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until that water has also been absorbed (~10 more minutes). Repeat until all the water has been used.
- Heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
- Add the cumin to the hot ghee and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
- Pour the hot ghee and cumin into the porridge and stir to combine.
- Serve with pickles, chutney, yogurt, papads, and/or your favourite curries.
Variants
InstantPot Vegetable Kichidi
Adapted from 660 Curries and Indian Healthy Recipes
Ingredients
- 2-3 Tbsp. ghee, divided
- 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, divided
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/8 tsp. ground asafetida
- 1 tsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala or bottle masala (optional)
- 2 tsp. ginger paste
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1-2 fresh green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies, minced
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
- 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
- 1 c. green peas (optional)
- 1 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong dal)
- 1 c. long-grain white rice
- 6-8 c. water
Directions
- Rinse the dal very well and set aside.
- Heat 1-2 Tbsp. of the ghee on sauté medium.
- Add 1 tsp. of the cumin seeds and bay leaves and sizzle for 20-30 seconds.
- Add the asafetida and masala (if using) give it a quick stir.
- Add the ginger paste and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
- Add the onion and chili and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, turmeric, and salt and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
- If using peas, add them now and cook for ~2 minutes.
- Add the dal and stir-fry for ~4 minutes. (Or toast the dal in a dry pan in advance.)
- Add the rice and water2 and stir once or twice.
- Pressure cook high for 8 minutes. Allow a 15-minute natural release.
- Heat 1 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat and add the remaining 2 tsp. of cumin seeds.
- Sizzle the cumin for 10-20 seconds, then add the hot ghee and cumin to the porridge and stir once or twice.
- Serve as above, with your choice of yogurt, pickles, chutneys, papads, curries, and/or stir-fries.
1 Iyer suggests serving the ven pongal in his book with aviyal and katarikai goshtu. Back
2 Use the lesser amount for a drier porridge and greater amount for a looser, more soupy porridge. Back
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