Pulikaachal/Puliyodharai Rice mix
Puliyodarai – a tangy and spicy variety rice made by mixing Pulikaachal in hot rice. If you are from South India, you must savored this Puliyodarai dish – either in temple or a travel meal or lunch box.
When I was a kid, if there is puliyodarai I will eat it for all 3 meals, I just love this dish. As an adult, I wanted to make my own, as I did not like any store brought Pulikaachal.
At last, I got the recipe from my mother and did the Pulikaachal from scratch. Wow! I had to give a pat on my shoulder. It was my first perfectly spicy, tangy and moist puliyodarai.
Using a tamarind to get the tamarind juice may sound intimidating but it is not. Soak in warm water and use a filter to squeeze out the juice. This juice will stay fresh for a week in the refrigerator so make it ahead to save time. I will update this recipe to make with tamarind concentrate too – if you do not have the time or fresh tamarind to extract the tamarind juice.
Soak tamarind in warm water up to 1 hour. Use a spoon and filter to get the juice. Discard the pulp.
Cook in medium low heat so you do not burn the chilly and garlic.
Sauté for a minute. Then add the tamarind juice/extract. Simmer until it thickens and garlic is soft.
TIPS to cook soft al-dente rice:
1. To avoid mushy rice, always add the washed rice after the water heats up.
2. Short grained raw rice\sona Masoori rice will taste good for this recipe. But if you have only Long grained Basmati rice it will work too.
The dish is naturally vegan and keeps well, making it suitable for travel and lunch boxes.
Serve it with coconut thuvaiyal or bringal gravy and some crunchy papad
Tamarind Rice Mix
Ingredients
Method
- Cook the rice in rice cooker in 1:2 ratio of water (see note 1) for a perfectly cooked rice.
- Soak tamarind in warm water for 15 to 30 mins
- Then extract the juice by smushing the Tamarind and use a filter to remove pulp
- Do this 2 to 3 times so to extract all the juice from tamarind pulp. Then discard the pulp.
- Mix in salt and turmeric powder and keep the tamarind juice aside.
- Heat sesame oil in a pan in medium heat. Do not reduce the oil – See note 2
- Add mustard seeds and wait for it to splutter then add urad dal, chana dal. Sauté until the dals turn golden and the spices are fragrant.
- Reduce flame to medium low and add dried red chilies, garlic, and curry leaves . Make sure not to burn the chilly and garlic.
- Sauté for 2 minutes
- Add the prepared tamarind sauce to the pan. Bring it to boil and then simmer on medium–low heat
- until the sauce thickens and oil starts to separate. Remove from heat.
- Pulikaachal is ready to mix with rice or store in a airtight container. See Notes
- You can use the Pulikaachal as needed and save the rest in refrigerator.
- Stir the paste so that the contents are evenly mixed before adding to the rice. Pour the tamarind paste over the hot rice and serve with Coconut Thuvaiyal and vadagam (fries)
Notes
- Use Raw Rice or Jeeraga Samba rice – it needs 2 times water (1:2 ratio) and will not go mushy while mixing with the paste.
- While cooking rice, always add rice to rice cooker after the water starts boiling so it will cook soft not mushy.
- Do not reduce the oil and boil in low heat until paste thickens and oils seperates. -Oil increase the shelf life of the paste and keeps the paste from drying out. And when mixed with rice will keep it from drying out.
- This Pulikaachal will give you a perfect Puliyodharai – spicy tangy and moist