Puliyodarai (Tamarind Temple Rice)
The pilgrimage-temple rice of Tamil Nadu — cooked rice tossed in a peanut-sesame-mustard tempering with tamarind, chana dal and a special spice mix. Travels well, keeps for days.
Per serving
Ingredients
- 3 cupsCooked rice (cooled)
- 1Tamarind, lemon-sized ball
- 1 cupWater (for tamarind)
- 5 tbspSesame oil
- 1/2 tspMustard seeds (kadugu)
- 2 tspUrad dal (ulundhu)
- 2 tspChana dal (kadala parupu)
- 3 tbspPeanuts, raw
- 4Dry red chillies, broken
- 1/2 tspAsafoetida (hing)
- 1/2 tspTurmeric powder
- 1/2 tspCoriander powder (malli thool)
- 1/2 tspFenugreek powder (vendhayam thool)
- 15Curry leaves
- 1 tspJaggery
- to tasteSalt
Method
- 1
Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water 10 minutes; squeeze and strain to get tamarind water.
- 2
Heat sesame oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds; when they crackle, add urad dal, chana dal and raw peanuts. Let dal turn golden and peanuts crisp.
- 3
Add broken red chillies, curry leaves and hing. Sizzle 5 seconds.
- 4
Add turmeric, coriander powder, fenugreek powder and salt. Stir 5 seconds — careful not to burn.
- 5
Pour in tamarind water and add jaggery. Simmer on medium 5-6 minutes until the mixture reduces and oil floats — this is the puli thokku.
- 6
Take off the heat. Add the cooked, slightly cooled rice. Mix gently with a flat spoon until every grain is uniformly coated.
- 7
Rest covered 5 minutes for flavours to settle. Serve at room temperature with papad and curd.