Tamarind Rice is a popular and delicious South Indian dish. It is a famous temple prasadam and is an ideal food to pack for travel. It is also a perfect lunch box recipe. You can prepare the tamarind paste (pulikaaichal) in advance and can store in refrigerator for more than a week.
Ingredients
Tamarind Rice
- Raw rice - 1 cup
- Tamarind - Lemon size (soak in 1 cup of warm water and extract juice)
- Roasted Peanuts - 1/2 cup
- Salt - To taste
- Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
To roast and grind
- Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
- Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
- Red chillies - 3 (depends on your spice level)
For the seasoning
- Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
- Channa dal - 1 tbsp
- Urad dal - 1 tbsp
- Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp
- Red Chillies - 2 (broken into half)
- Curry leaves - few
- Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Method
- Dry roast fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies and grind into a fine powder.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds.
- When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add channa dal, urad dal, asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves. Fry until they turn light brown.
- Add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt and cook on a medium flame until the mixture thickens.
- Now add the spice powder and roasted peanuts. Mix well and turn off the stove. Pulikaaichal (tamarind paste) is ready.
- Cook rice with 2 cups of water and spread the cooked rice evenly in a wide bowl to cool. Mix it gently with 2 tbsp of sesame oil and salt.
- Add the tamarind paste to the rice. Mix gently and serve.
Tips
- If you are preparing pulikaaichal in advance don't add peanuts while preparing the paste. Add roasted peanuts while heating up the paste if stored in fridge.
