Tamarind rice recipe - One of the best, delicious South Indian rice preparations. It has tangy/sour, spicy taste.
I have dry roasted the spices and ground to make fresh masala powder and used in making this rice. Freshly ground masala gives nice flavor to the dish.
In other languages, it is known as Pulihora, Puliyodharai or Puliyogare. The term puli means something sour. In this case, it comes from tamarind. It is also called imli rice where imli is the Hindi word of tamarind.
I have adapted this recipe from "this cookbook"
. And I already mentioned in tomato rice post that I am in love with this book. It has many amazing authentic south Indian recipes. I have planned to make many more recipes from this book and of course I will share those here.
There are many ready packets like MTR and other brands available for this dish. But nothing can beat this freshly homemade.
Try once making it at a home from scratch and you all will love it.
If you are going to make this rice on regular basis like once a week or so. Then I would suggest that you make large quantity of spice powder and store it and use as required. As you know that spice powder always has long shelf life, I meant at least 5-6 months.
I have added some jaggery to it and it just balance out tangy flavor of tamarind.
Check out more rice dishes
Lemon rice // Raw mango rice // Carrot rice // Curd rice
Step By Step Photo Instructions:
1) First, cook the basmati rice and let it cool.
2) Dry roast the sesame seeds on medium heat till it get light brown. They will start to pop and you will get nice aroma of toasted seeds. Remove it to the plate and let it cool completely.
3) In the same pan dry roast the spices (chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, fennel seeds, dried red chili and curry leaves). Keep stirring constantly while you roast. Roast them till they get light brown color. Remove it to another plate and let it cool completely.
4) While spices are cooling make tamarind water. If using tamarind paste then dissolve it into 1 cup of hot water. Or if using tamarind then keep the tamarind in hot water for 15-20 minutes and then squeeze out all the pulp.
5) Now the sesame seeds and spices are cooled completely. So coarsely grind the sesame seeds and keep it aside for garnishing.
6) Also grind spices into a fine powder.Below left side is coarsely ground sesame seeds and on right spice powder.
7) Now let’s start making tamarind rice. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds. Let them pop.
8) Then add dry red chili and curry leaves. Saute for a minute.
9) Add peanuts.
10) And roast it till it gets light brown.
11) Then add tamarind water.
12) Add freshly ground spice powder, turmeric powder, jaggery and salt. (be careful while adding salt if your cooked rice has already salt in it.)
13) Mix and let it simmer.
14) Cook till it thicken and become a paste like consistency.
15) Then add cooked rice.
16) Mix gently till all the masala paste it coated to the rice evenly.
17) Lastly garnish with sesame powder. And serve.
Here I have added only peanuts for some crunch. But if you want you can add some cashews too.
Serving suggestion: Enjoy this tamarind rice as such along with your meal or with a papad. This can be packed into lunch box as well. This is usually cooked in special occasions and sometimes offered to the god as a prasadam.
Did you try this tamarind rice recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
📋 Recipe Card
Tamarind Rice
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon Chana dal (split bengal gram)
- ½ teaspoon Urad dal (split skinless black gram)
- ⅛ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon Fennel seeds
- 5-6 Curry leaves
- 2 Dried red chilies
- 2 teaspoon Tamarind paste or small lemon size tamarind ball
- 1 cup Water (Boiling hot)
- 3 cups Cooked rice
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 Dried red chilies
- 4-5 Curry leaves
- 2 tablespoons Peanuts
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon Jaggery (Gur)
- 1 tablespoon Sesame seeds toasted and coarsely ground for garnishing
Instructions
- First, cook the rice and let it cool.
- Dry roast the sesame seeds on medium heat till it get light brown. They will start to pop and you will get nice aroma of toasted seeds.
- Remove it to the plate and let it cool completely.
- Once cooled grind it coarsely and keep it aside.
- If using tamarind paste then dissolve it into 1 cup of hot water.
- Or if using tamarind then keep the tamarind in hot water for 15-20 minutes
- then squeeze out all the pulp. If needed strain the pulp to remove the strings and seeds.
- Take all the spices into a pan and turn the heat on medium.
- Dry roast them with stirring constantly till they get light brown color.
- Remove it to another plate and let it cool completely.
- Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat.
- Once hot add mustard seeds. Let them pop.
- Then add dry red chili and curry leaves. Saute for a minute..
- Add peanuts. and roast it till it gets light brown.
- Then add tamarind water.
- Add freshly ground spice powder, turmeric powder, jaggery and salt. Mix and let it simmer.
- Cook till it thicken and become a paste like consistency.
- Then add cooked rice. Mix gently till all the masala paste it coated to the rice evenly.
- Cook for 2 minutes and turn off the stove.
- Lastly garnish with sesame powder.
Tim
Gorgeous recipe. This was the first time I tried to be a little more adventurous with rice, and I really enjoyed the preparation process. I didn't add jaggery or peanuts, but stir fried in some roasted peppers at the end. Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Kanan Patel
Glad that you found the recipe helpful.