I'm back after a long break! And here's a Pongal-inspired pilaf thing

I discovered Venn Pongal in Dino Sarma's Alternative Vegan book, and as he says himself in this post it can take a while to make. He has a few suggestions for new takes on it himself which I'll have to try out shortly. I came up with this pongal-inspired pilaf recently for a quick dinner- I've used the same spices(see Dino's blog) but instead of the traditional rice and split peas which take a while, I've used quicker-to-cook amaranth and a drained and rinsed tin of kala chana brown chickpeas for a speedier alternative. I'm very pleased with this experiment so I've tried a few variations and quinoa or cous cous also work well in it. :)