Pongal is comfort food for south India’s harvest season – plus the recipe

Pongal is both a harvest festival, which starts today, and the rice and dal breakfast dish eaten to mark its arrival

I stand in my kitchen, in the liminal light between dreams and dawn, trying to contain my delight. Normally, I am a late and grouchy riser but today is Pongal – the harvest festival celebrated across southern India, particularly Tamil Nadu, in mid-January – which gives me the opportunity to eat its namesake food, one that I love.