Pulihara (Tamarind Rice)

 

An Andhra recipe cooked during festivals……..

 

HOW  I LEARNT IT -   My colleague in Bangalore college used to get this dish in her lunch box. She used the traditional spices and it tasted so good that we would swap our lunch boxes. One day she came home and cooked it for me.

 

Ingredients

 

Rice-  1 cup (cooked)

Tamarind  paste – 4 tbsp

Jaggery – lemon sized

Ground nut – 3 tbsp

Urd dal –  1tsp

Channa dal – 1tsp

Red chillies – 3-4

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Asafoetida (hing)– a pinch

Ginger paste-  1 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves-  6-7

Salt to taste

Oil – 3 tbsp 

 

Procedure

 

1. Make the tamarind paste by boiling tamarind pulp.

2. Once the pulp thickens into paste, add some salt, turmeric powder and jaggery in the paste

3. Boil for some more time.

 

Saute

 

1. Heat groundnut oil/ refined oil in a pan .Add mustard seeds, Red chilies and Asafoetida (hing).

2. Add a bit of urad dal, channa dal and ground nuts. Roast properly.

3. Add curry leaves and a paste of ginger and green chilies into the pan Fry them properly in oil.

4. Add the tamarind paste. If the paste is thick add little water to it. Cook it till it leaves oil on the sides of the pan. Add the cooked rice along with the tamarind paste. Mix well.(Salt can be further added according to taste)

 

 

Tip: Can roast a bit of fenugreek seeds (methi) and mustard seeds, powder them and add them to the paste and then mix with rice. It adds a good flavour but turns bitter if the quantity of mustard or fenugreek seeds (methi) is more.