Tamarind Rice (Puliyodharai)

A traditional temple dish that is made with tamarind and rice. To get the real taste of this tamarind rice (Puliyodharai), you have to use only gingelly oil. You can use ground nut with skin or without skin. If you want crispy taste, instead of adding the groundnut while seasoning, you can add when mixing the rice. Instead of ground nut, you can add soaked whole gram (Kondai kadalai) along with the tamarind juice and cook.

Tamarind Rice (Puliyodharai)

Recipe by S Kamala
0.0 from 0 votes
Course: RiceCuisine: Indian, TamilDifficulty: Easy
Servings

10

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes

Discover the authentic flavors of tamarind rice (Puliyodharai), a traditional temple dish made with tamarind and rice. Learn the key ingredients and variations for a crispy and delicious experience.

Ingredients

  • Raw Rice – 2 cups

  • Tamarind – An Orange size

  • Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

  • To fry and grind:
  • Red chillies– 4

  • Coriander seeds – 1 tablespoon

  • Bengal gram dhal – 1 tablespoon

  • Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

  • Hard Asafoetida – Gooseberry size

  • For seasoning:
  • Gingelly Oil – 6 to 7 tablespoons

  • Mustard – one teaspoon

  • Red chillies – 5 to 6

  • Bengal Gram Dhal – 1 tablespoon

  • Groundnut – 2 to 3 tablespoons

  • Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 teaspoon

  • Curry leaves – few

  • Salt – 1 teaspoon or as per taste

Directions

  • Cooking the Rice
  • Cook rice till soft (but not mushy). Put it in a plate or broad vessel and spread it. Sprinkle one or two teaspoon oil over it.
  • Preparing Pulikaichal (Tamarind Base)
  • Soak tamarind in water and squeeze out the juice. Break the red chillies into four or five pieces.
  • In a kadai put a teaspoon of oil and fry the ingredients given under “To fry and Grind” (hard asafoetida, bengal gram dhal, coriander seeds,fenugreek seeds.and red chillies). Cool it and powder it.
  • In another kadai put the oil and when it is hot add mustard. When it pops up, add Bengal gram dhal and fry till it turns light brown. Add ground nut, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a while. Add turmeric powder and stir well.
  • Then add Tamarind juice along with salt and mix well. Close with a lid and let it boil on medium heat.
  • Once it is boiled well, add the ground spice powder to the tamarind mixture. Mix well and cook till the oil floats on top. Remove it from stove. It look like tamarind paste and called “Pulikaichal”.
  • Preparing Puliyodharai (Tamarind Rice)
  • Add required Pulikaichal (Tamarind Paste) gradually to cooked rice and mix gently. When mixing you can add one or two teaspoon gingelly oil.

Recipe Video

Notes

  • To get the real taste, you have to use only gingelly oil. You can use ground nut with skin or without skin. If you want crispy taste, instead of adding the groundnut while seasoning, you can add when mixing the rice. Instead of ground nut, you can add soaked whole gram (Kondai kadalai) along with the tamarind juice and cook.
  • If you use solid Asafoetida (Katti Perungayam), you can fry along with other ingredients and powder it. If you use asafoetida powder, then add it in the seasoning.
  • If you like, you can also add one or two teaspoons of til seeds (Ellu) along with the roasting ingredients and powder it.
  • You can also add a teaspoon of black pepper along with the roasting ingredients and powder it.
  • This paste can be stored for a month or so and can be used as and when required.

15 Comments

  1. hello aunty,

    Tamarind Rice came out well and the receipe is awesome. I had been regularly trying your receipes and it is really very good. One of my friend is in 4th month, but she has morning sickness and nausea. Want to call her home for lunch,can you please suggest what kind of rice and side dish I can make for her.

    Looking forward for your reply.

    Thanks,
    Hema

  2. Thank you so much aunty for your kind suggestion.

  3. Hello Kamala

    Happy and prosperous new year and Pongal. The above receipe i have tried it came out nicely. i want to know how to make puliyodarai powder.

  4. hello aunty,
    i tried ur tamarind reccipe today, it was great, just like what u get in shop. but the oil i added was totally taken up by the gravy, it didn’t have that floating oil look. May i know why so, should i add more oil?

    • Hi Preethi,

      To get the floating oil look, you have to add more oil and it is necessary if you want to preserve the paste for long. Otherwise, just use the oil mentioned in the above recipe.

  5. hello mam,
    can this paste be preserved and for how long. can it be preserved in the fridge.please reply.
    regards,
    devika

    • Hi Devika,

      This “Puli Kaichal” (Tamarind paste) can be stored for a week and even for more days if you keep it in the fridge and use only dry spoons.

  6. hi kamala, this measurement is for 2 cups of cooked rice or uncooked raw rice. plz tell me.
    thanks

  7. mam u didn’t mentioned how much urad dal should b used for grinding?…..

  8. Mam
    In your preparation column you have mentioned about urad dhal and in the items to be fried and ground, it is not mentioned. Can u let us know whether urad dhal is needed for the ground powder.

  9. It is missed out in the ingredients column. I will add it.

  10. How much of Urad dhal to be used in powder making aunty. It’s not there in the ingredient list

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