Tamarind Rice

Tamarind rice is a popular South Indian dish that features a unique blend of flavours – including sourness from tamarind, spiciness from the addition of fiery chillies and the nutty aroma of tempered lentils and peanuts.

Traditionally known as Puliohara,it is a tangy and savoury rice dish typically prepared during festivals, special occasions, or as a part of the daily meal in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. While the exact origins of Puliyodarai are not well-documented, some research sources suggest that the first known origins can be traced back to the temple kitchens of Tamil Nadu, for as far as 1010 CE. 

As a North Indian from U.P., my first introduction to this happened in 1999 at Balaji temple,Chicago. Some of our American friends were talking about tamarind rice in a party. They were so fond of this dish that they used to visit the temple on Sunday to grab this rice! As we were never eating at the temple canteen, we did not know about it. Balaji temple and other temples in U.S. offer food in the temple canteen on the weekends, there are dosai, idli sambhar, vada sambhar and of course tamarind and lemon rice made fresh. You don't need to heat tamarind rice and just grab 1 or 2 containers and enjoy!

The tangy flavour of tamarind is believed to symbolize the various flavours and experiences of life, making it a meaningful dish in the context of Indian culture and spirituality. It has become a favorite prasadam outside South India and here, I tried to cook this at home and it turned out exactly the same as prasadam! I'm very happy with the end result.

For this recipe, I used Sona Masoori rice and the texture was perfect. Here is a very easy recipe with handful of ingredients and the outcome is just divine!

Ingredients:

1. Cooked rice- 2 cups

2. Tamarind pulp-1 lemon sized ball(soaked in water for 30 minutes.)

3. Peanuts- 1/2 cup

4. Chana dal- 3 tbsp.

5. Urad dal- 2 tbsp.

6. Whole red chillies- 10 plus 5

7. Mustard seeds-1 tsp 

8. Curry leaves-2 sprigs

9. Fenugreek seeds-1 tbsp.

10. Asafoetida-half tsp.

11. Oil- 2 + 1 tsp. Divided

12. Salt

13. Black pepper- 5

14-cumin-1 tsp.

Method:

* Have Cooked rice at hand and it shouldn't be sticky.

* Add 1 tsp. Oil in a pan and start  roasting Fenugreek seeds and 10 whole dry red chillies on slow flame. 

* Also add black peppers and cumin seeds after 3 minutes. 

* When Fenugreek seeds are dark and chillies are also roasted,  remove from pan to cool.

* Now add peanuts and chana dal in the same pan and start roasting on slow flame.

* After 5 minutes, also add Urad dal and keep roasting.

* When chana dal is brown and Peanuts are well roasted, scoop out about 2 tsp. Of roasted dals and cool and grind with previously roasted chillies and fenugreek seeds. 

* Now remove everything from the pan and add 2 tsp. Oil in this pan.

* Add mustard seeds, Asafoetida and Curry leaves,  also add 5 broken red chillies and when it crackles, add tamarind water after removing skin.

* Add salt and ground roasted powder, cook till oil separates. 

* Add into rice and mix or add rice into the pan and mix gently. 

*Enjoy!

**Note:

If you are scared of handling this much chillies,  you can simply use kashmiri whole chillies as these will only provide color not heat.

* But do use 3-4 red chillies to balance the tanginess of tamarind.