Tamarind Rice

Posted 2014-05-06 by Radhika ⇒ follow

Tamarind rice is a very famous ‘one pot’ dish of South India. The specialty of this dish is it's tangy and spicy taste. The dish is not only easy to prepare and the tamarind paste (used for preparing this dish) has a good shelf life.

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Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Makes: 4-5 servings

Ingredients
2 cups steamed rice
1 big lemon sized tamarind
2 tsp chana dal (pigeon pea)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp urad dal (black gram)
2 tsp peanuts
4-5 curry leaves
1 tsp roasted and powdered sesame seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

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1 pinch asafetida
1 pinch turmeric powder
1 tsp oil (preferably sesame oil, it adds to the taste)
Salt as per taste

Method

Soak the tamarind in warm water for around 15 to 20 minutes.

Mash it and squeeze out the pulp.

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Take a little oil in a pan and heat it on a very low flame.

Add red chilies and chana dal (pigeon pea).

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Once the above ingredients turn light golden brown in color, add urad dal (black gram), mustard seeds, peanuts, turmeric powder, asafoetida and curry leaves to it and stir well.

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Now add the tamarind juice (extracted above) to the above ingredients and add 1/2 cup water.

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Stir it until it becomes a thick paste. This Tamarind paste is the base for this dish. It may be stored for consuming over a long time, when refrigerated.

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Add a little ‘tamarind paste’ to boiled rice and add roasted sesame powder and salt. Mix all the ingredients well.

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The tangy and spicy tamarind rice is now ready to be served hot.