Puliyodharai - Tamarind Rice

Here's my second variety rice recipe.

I have to credit Shanthi of Shanthi Krishnakumar's Cookbook blog for this wonderful recipe. I wanted the authentic Iyengar Puliyodharai recipe and really liked her recipe. Read the original full recipe here.

Thank you Shanti Mami for the wonderful recipe!

In a small pan, dry roast these ingredients -

1 tbsp Channa Daal

1 tsp Black Pepper

1 tbsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp of Methi Seeds

A few red chillies

After dry roasting, grind this into a fine powder. This will be our Puliyodharai powder.

 

Meanwhile, in a bowl soak about 2 small lemon sized tamarind balls. To squeeze out all the juice, I just microwave this for a min - that softens the tamarind and you will be able to squeeze out all the juice.

 

In a pan, add a tbsp of oil. Shanthi recommends Gingely Oil for this - but I did not have that and used regular Olive Oil. So, if you do have gingely oil, please use that. Add mustard seeds to splutter, then add hing, 1 tsp of channa daal, red chilles, curry leaves and fry for a min. Add about 2 tbsp of shelled peanuts and roast well.

 

When the above is nicely roasted, add the squeezed tamarind juice in here. Add salt and cook well for a few mins. The paste will start to thicken and form a pulikachal.

 

You can see it starting to thicken here.

 

Here its all done. You can see that the oil has separated from the paste.

 

Now, switch off the stove and add the cooked rice to this pulikachal and add the puliyodharai powder on top of the rice. Mix everything well. Add salt to taste if needed.

 

There's the awesome colored puliyodharai!

 

Serve hot or at room temperature. Serve with chips or vathal.

 

Enjoy. Peace Out!