The Taste Company Dal Pongal Is Delightfully Delicious

The Taste Company Dal Pongal has been featured in Mishry’s Best Products of 2023 List.

The South Indian staple, Pongal, is offered to deities during auspicious occasions but also served during festivals. Sweet or savory, this 

‘Venn Pongal’ essentially means ‘white’ and ‘to bubble’ which signifies abundance. Rice, dal, ghee, and pepper are the key ingredients, but if you’re looking for a head start, here is our The Taste Company Pongal review. 

Is this worth trying?

Here is all you need to know.

What were we looking for when reviewing The Taste Company Pongal?

The taste, texture, and convenience were key review-forming parameters. We also took into account the ingredients, shelf life, and price during our review process. 

1. Taste

Dal Pongal or Venn Pongal has soothing, warming flavors. It is ingredients like dal, rice, ghee, and spices like black pepper, cumin, chilli that lend comfort.

Can a ready-to-eat product replicate these comforting, homestyle flavors? Does it have the right balance of spices? Freshness? Was it devoid of the industrial aftertaste most RTE products are notoriously famous for?

2. Texture

Pongal is relished for its porridge/khichdi-like texture. Soft and mushy with whole spices, some nut bits, roasted curry leaves, a soft bit of cooked dal and rice- it is divine. 

How was our experience with The Taste Company Pongal? Did the cashew bits have a crunch? Had the dal and rice softened/cooked well in the mentioned time frame?

3. Convenience

Is hot water the only thing you need? Does the flavor need some adjustments?

What about cutlery? How long does this take?

4. Other Parameters

Here we gauged the price, packaging, shelf life, and other parameters. 

Price + Packaging

There is a non-resealable pouch inside a cup with a lid. This holds 80 grams of the Pongal mix and is priced at Rs 99/- with a six month shelf life. 

Main Ingredients

Base product (95.3%): Rice (11.8%), Moong dal (8.86%), Ghee, Black pepper, Cumin seed, Mustard seeds, Ginger, Asafoetida, Curry leaves, Turmeric powder, Green chilli, Salt and Edible oil.

Dosing: Roasted cashews (4.7%)

The caloric breakdown is as follows (per 100 grams)

477 Kcal divided as 20.91 grams of fat, 62.35 grams of carbohydrates, 9.87 grams of protein.

The calories are sufficient for a meal for an average adult. Though this may seem slightly high on the fat content, it comes from clean sources. 

How did we make this?

We emptied the contents of the pouch in the cup and added hot water till the waterline marking. This was stirred and set aside for five minutes. Once this time was up, we stirred it again and the tasting began.

Aroma + Appearance

We could see a lot of whole black peppercorns and it looked similar to a well-made homestyle dish with turmeric. 

Taste + Texture

Like its aroma, the taste was exceptionally fresh. Salted adequately, this dal pongal had homestyle flavors. This is to say that it was not loaded with masale or oil, they were all balanced beautifully. It contains a lot of whole peppercorns which add heat if bitten into. If you’re not a fan of pepper, this might not be ideal for you. The pepper enhances the freshness and heat when you bite into it. Cumin seeds and ghee have subtle roles in the flavor profile, but made their presence felt with refreshing flavors. 

As for texture, this blend of short grained rice with partly mashed dal felt comforting. Well-cooked within five minutes, this mixed seamlessly and the texture was even throughout. It had the thickness dal pongal authentically has. The whole peppercorns and cashews added a nice crunch. The nuts were roasted really well which was noticeable in the flavor too. 

Here are some interesting FAQs on The Taste Company Pongal.

The Taste Company Pongal is FULL of flavors! We quite liked the textural variety each bite had. From the soft chewiness of dal and rice to the richness of ghee, the crisp cumin seeds and crunchy cashews- nothing to complain about. To add to it, the clean ingredient list got it scoring higher on the Mishry scale. 

Have you tried Pongal before, how has your experience been?