Pulikachal | Puliyodarai /Puliyogare /Tamarind Rice Mix | How to make Tamarind Rice or Pulisaadham

Fond memories are associated with Puliyodarai for me. Picnics with cousins, school tour to amusement parks, ngo outings to tribal villages and so on... Whenever I tell amma that I will be going out for a day long outing, she generally makes me some puliyodarai or thayir saadam with a simple potato roast to take along. And after all that fun, laughter and some body pain, sitting together for a hearty lunch with your favorite food duo peeking out of your tiffin box ~ ah how I want to re-visit my childhood days.

I still remember the days when I traveled to my native village for our school holidays. My aunt makes puliyodarai, wrap it up in individual parcels in banana leaves {if not, its finally ends up in sibling war} and then uncle takes us with him to tend the goats in the greenlands. We play all day long while he takes care of the goats and when its time for lunch, we run to the good ol' neem tree's shade, sweating like anything and even that simple tamarind rice seemed like biryani for us...

Its been a long time since I made, rather say had tamarind rice and in fact I had no intention of making this. During my pregnancy I was advised to take as little amount of tamarind that I could and thats been continuing till date. This infact was made by my MIL for my sister-in-law. She's in her second trimster and still doesn't step into the kitchen and so MIL made some homemade thokkus for her. Again doctor's advise and so she left the pack of tamarind preserve and I grabbed it. It comes so much in handy on lazy days and am so asking her to make another batch.

~*What U Need*~ Tamarind/Puli - 1 lemon sized ball Turmeric - 1/4 tsp Hing or Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp Jaggery - 1 small marble sized piece Curry leaves - 1 sprig Peanuts - 1 handful To Temper: Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp Red chillies - 5-6 Urad dhal - 4 tbsp Channa Dhal - 3 tbsp Hing or Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - 2 sprig Sesame oil - 5 tbsp To Roast and grind: Channa dhal - 2 tbsp Red chillies - 4 Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam - 3/4 tsp Urad dal - 1 tsp Peppercorns - 1 tsp

How I Made it:
Soak tamarind in half cup warm water for half an hour and extract juice. Set aside. Roast all ingredients give under 'to roast' to golden brown and powder it, set aside. In a kadai, heat oil and temper with the given ingredients. Then add tamarind extract, turmeric, salt, curry leaves and hing. Add enough water, the mixture be of rasam consistency. Boil for 15-20 mins, till it reduces to half. Add the jaggery and the ground masala powder. Boil till you get a thick paste and the oil separates. Roast the peanuts in more oil and add this to tamarind mixture. Remove from flame. Cool down and store in a clean container.

To make puliyodarai, cook desired amount of rice. In a kadai, add 2 tsps of sesame oil. Add the desired amount of pulikachal and fry for few seconds. Add the cooked rice and mix gently till the rice grains are evenly coated. Add salt if only needed.

** My Notes:
** The pulikaichal can be stored for 20-30 days in the fridge. But always use a clean dry spoon.
** Sesame oil is the best to use when making tamarind rice but if you want u can use vegetable oil too.
** If you are carrying the rice for a train journey or a long day trip, then cool the rice completely before mixing.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!