Tamarind Rice/Puliogre

In south rice is a staple ingredient so you will find many rice dishes from pulao to rice sambhar, lemon rice vaangi bhaath puliogre etc. My favorite is puliogre from all the rice dishes i have tasted. The tangy taste of it is very tickling on the pallet and i just love it. To prepare this they are many ready mix packs also available in the market both in the powder form or in the gojju or paste form here. But i usually prepare the tamarind gojju at home and store it for in the fridge.

Tamarind Rice/Puliogre

Ingredients

For Gojju

Tamarind 150 gms

Peanuts 1/4 cup

Mustard Seeds 1 tbsp

Red Chillies 3

Salt

Jaggery 1 tbsp

Sesame Seeds (Til) 1/4 cup

Curry Leaves 2 sprigs

Oil 1/4 cup + more

To be ground to a masala

Chana Dal 2 tbsp

Urad Dal 1 Tbsp

Methi 1 tsp

Dry R.chillies 12

Hing 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves 1 sprig

Oil 1 tbsp

To prepare Puliogre

Cooked Rice 1 Bowl

Oil 1 tbsp

Chana dal tsp

curry leaves 5

Haldi 1/2 tsp

prepared puliogre gojju 3-4 tbsp

Method.

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil and add all the masala ingredients and roast them for 2-3 mins on a slow flame till the dals are lightly browned and u get a nice aroma from it. When cooled grind it to a fine powder.

2. Soak Tamarind in warm water for for 1/2 hour and extract the pulp. I got 3/4 cup pulp from this.

3. Soak peanuts in water for 10 mins and drain all the water.

4. Dry roast sesame seeds till a very light brown and pound it in a pestle. U can do it in a mixie as well but pulse it for some seconds as u dont want a fine powder.

5. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a thick bottomed kadai,add mustard seeds, curry leaves, Red Chillies and peanuts. Fry the peanuts till they are lightly browned.

6.Add the tamarind pulp and cook for 5 mins stirring continuously.

7. Add salt, pounded til, jaggery and the the masala powder and mix nicely and cook again for 10 mins till the raw smell of the tamarind goes away.

8. I usually add a extra 2 tbsp of oil at this stage and cook again.

9. Keep on stirring continuously and cook till the oil comes on top. and the paste has become quiet thick.

10. This whole process of cooking takes close to 25-30 mins.

11. When cooled store it in a clean bottle and use it to prepare the puliogre.

12 Heat oil in a pan , add chana dal and curry leaves. Then add haldi and take it off the fame. Add the Gojju and mix nicely. Add the cooked rice and mix nicely. You can increase the amount of gojju depending on how tangy you want the rice to be.

Note.

The quatity of jaggery depends on how tangy you want the gojju to be, i usually add a very little qty coz i like the tangy taste of it.

The colour of the gojju is very light , it depends on the color of the tamarind you use. This time the tamarind i had was very light brown in color.

This recipe was shared by a neighbor many years ago and have been following the same method.

What i like is spread the gojju on a roti , roll it and have it, it taste very good. Half of the qty is usually finished in this way.