Puliyogare/ Tamarind Rice

Puiyogare/ Tamarind Rice

Puliyogare or Puihora or Tamarind Rice is a common and very popular South Indian dish. It is prepared in Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. As depict in the English name of the dish, the main ingredient of this dish is tamarind, rice and spices. Tamarind paste gives a special tanginess to the dish. This dish usually cooked on special occasions and festival days. It is also given as prasadam in South Indian temples.  

When we were in rented house and I was not into blogging, there had a Telugu speaking  neighbor. She was a very good friend of mine too. On this day of Ugadi she used to prepare lots of yummy dishes including Ugadi Pachedi. As a very good friend of mine she used to share with us too. I loved the pulihora prepared by her. Even now I could feel the taste on my palate. So this post is dedicated to my dear friend Madhu (Madhuri Saripella). Thanks darling for some beautiful memories. Here is the recipe for all…

For Rice

Rice- 1 cup

Water- 2 cups

Salt to taste

Haldi powder- 1/2tspoil- 1 1/2tbsp

For tempering

Oil- 2tbsp

Chana dal- 1tbsp

Urad dal- 1tbsp

Peanuts- 1 ½ handful

Hing- 1tsp

Mustard- 1tsp

Cumin- 1tsp

Red chilli- 2

Sesame seed- 1 1/2tbsp

Salt to taste

Tamarind- a lemon size ball

Sugar- 1 1/2tbsp

Haldi- 1tsp

Green chilli- 2

Curry Leaves- 2springs

Soak tamarind in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for a min. then leave it for 10 mins. Then mash with hand and discard the seeds and keep the pulp aside.

Dry roast the sesame seeds and make a fine powder and keep aside.

Clean rice properly under running water. In a pressure cooker add rice, water, salt, haldi and oil and close the lid. Cook the rice upto 2 whistles (1 in high and 1 in low). Let it cool down completely. Run a fork in the rice to make loose and separate. Spread the rice in a plate so that it will be cool down a bit and don’t stick to each other.

In a wide pan add oil and let it heat. Then add red chilli to it. Then add chana dal and urad dal and fry for some seconds. Then add mustard and cumin seeds and fry again.

Then add hing and curry leaves to it and fry again. Now add tamarind pulp, salt, sugar or jaggery and haldi and fry up to the raw smell of the tamarind goes off. After that add sesame seed powder and mix properly and switch off the gas. Add cooked rice to it and mix properly. Pulihora is ready to serve.