Tamarind Rice or Puliyodarai or Puli Sadam

Cooking Time: 45 minutes 

Ingredients

Cooked rice –   2 cups or 300 grams
Split Bengal gram – 50 grams
Dry Red Chillies – 10
Coriander seeds – a handful
Fenugreek seeds – 2 tablespoons
Tamarind –  50 grams
Molasses / Brown Sugar – 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves – a few sprigs
Mustard seeds – ½ spoons
Skinless black gram – ½ spoon
Turmeric Powder –  1 teaspoon
Asafoetida –  ½ tablespoon
Gingelly (sesame) oil – 5 tablespoons
Groundnut (peanuts) –  3  tablespoons 

Method of preparation

• Heat a frying pan and add 1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds in it. Add 5 red chilles in it. When the fenugreek seeds are roasted add 3 table spoons of split bengal gram to it. Then add a handful of coriander seeds to it. When all the ingredients are roasted, transfer this to a dish and let it cool for sometime.  Blend all the ingredients to a fine powder when cool.

• Heat a frying pan and pour 5 tablespoons of gingerly oil into it.  When the oil becomes hot add mustard seeds and black gram in it. And then add the rest of the split bengal gram, asafoetida, and turmeric powder to it.

• When the Bengal gram turns golden brown add pieces of dry red chilles and curry leaves.

• Soak tamarind in some water, squeeze and strain the juice from it.  Add salt to it.

• Pour the tamarind juice into the frying pan and boil. When it thickens add 2 spoonfuls of grounded ingredients to it.  Then add molasses and peanuts. Stir well and turn off the flame.

• Add enough of this gravy to the two cups of cooked rice.