Tamarind Rice|Puliyodharai|புளியோதரை

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.

Tamarind Rice

Ingredients

• 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

1. Dry roast fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies and grind into a fine powder.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add channa dal, urad dal, asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves. Fry until they turn light brown.
4. Add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt and cook on a medium flame until the mixture thickens.
5. Now add the spice powder and roasted peanuts. Mix well and turn off the stove. Pulikaaichal (tamarind paste) is ready.
6. 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.
7. 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.