Puliyodharai recipe
An authentic recipe for Iyengar style puliyodharai or south Indian tamarind rice. Serve the tangy, spicy rice with poppadum for a quick dinner or snack.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 338kcal
Ingredients
For powdered spice mix
- 3 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 3 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
For pulikachal (tamarind sauce)
- 3 tablespoons tamarind concentrate (Or use a large lemon-sized ball of tamarind pods)
- 1½ cups water
- ¼ cup sesame oil (gingelly oil)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon asafetida (hing)
- 1 tablespoon chana dal
- 1 tablespoon urad dal
- ½ cup peanuts
- 4-5 sprigs curry leaves
- 4-5 dried red chili peppers (whole)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cayenne (or any red chilli powder)
- 2 tablespoons jaggery
- Salt to taste
For assembling the puliyodharai
- Cooked rice (see notes)
- Pulikachal tamarind sauce (or more, tweak to your preference)
Instructions
Make the powdered spice mix
- Place the peppercorns and coriander seeds in a hot skillet. Roast for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until very aromatic. The coriander seeds should begin to change color.
- Add the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and fenugreek seeds to the skillet and continue roasting for another 3-4 minutes until the mustard begins to pop. Turn off heat and move the spices to a bowl to cool down.
- Place the spices in a blender or spice grinder and blend to a fine powder.
Make the pulikachal tamarind sauce
- Place the tamarind concentrate or the tamarind pods in a bowl and mix in 1 ½ cups water. If using concentrate, stir the tamarind paste into the water with a spoon. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in the skillet. Add mustard seeds and, when they pop, add the whole chili peppers.
- Add asafetida, chana dal, urad dal, peanuts and curry leaves. Continue to fry until the peanuts are a few shades darker and crunchy.
- Pour in the tamarind water. If you used tamarind pods, pass the tamarind water through a strainer to strain out the solids. Mix the tamarind into the spices in the skillet and bring to a boil. Stir in the turmeric, cayenne and jaggery.
- Mix well, then stir in three tablespoons of the powdered spice mix. When the sauce boils again turn heat to a point where it simmers and let it reduce, about 10-15 minutes.
- When the sauce is done it should have darkened and turned very thick and glossy brown. Turn off the heat.
Assemble the puliyodharai
- Mix rice with the pulikachal. Some might add a tablespoon of sesame oil to the rice at this point but you don't have to.
Notes
- Nutrition information: To calculate nutrition information, I assumed 12 cups of cooked white rice to feed 12 people, using one recipe of pulikachal.
- Allergy notes: This recipe is gluten-free and soy-free. To make it nut-free, leave out the peanuts.
Nutrition
Calories: 338kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 191mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 147IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 72mg | Iron: 2mg