This is a special recipe because I had learnt it from a fellow passenger while I was travelling from Bangalore - Chennai. A middle aged Aunty was generous enough to share her tamarind rice with me which she had packed for the journey. Well no I haven't forgotten any of my Ma's intructions which she used to remind us every 5 minutes before any train journey. "Keu kichu diley ekdom khabe na" (If anyone offer you anything to eat, say no!) But this was unavoidable as she was sitting next to me in a double decker train, where you almost inhale co-passenger's breath and guess what they ate in the morning :-). This Aunty kept insisting me to taste her homemade tamarind rice, I politely said thank you Aunty but I am not feeling hungry, she won with her persistent request. But it was really tasty, so I asked her the recipe. Since then it has become my staple food whenever I have a need to use leftover rice. Today I am sharing it with my readers.
You can also check my few other rice dishes like Mishti Pulao, Lemon Rice, Vegetable Puloa in Rice Cooker
Ingredients:
Roasted powder:
1 tbsp Chana Dal
1 tbsp Urad Dal
4 Whole Red chillies
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1/4 tsp Pepper corns
{1 1/2 tsp Sesame seeds separately and then grind it with the above roasted seeds}
For the seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Chana dal
2 whole dry red chilies
8-10 Curry leaves
2 tsp Peanuts
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
2-3 whole Black peppercorns
4-5 tbsp Sesame oil
You also need:
2 cups Rice (I like to cook my rice previous night as it saves time for me)
3-4 tsp Tamarind pulp
1 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
Method:
Cook rice and let it cool down {if you try to mix the spices with hot rice,the grains will break for sure}. Take all the ingredients under Roasted powder and dry roast them until it turns golden brown. Let it cool completely and then grind it to a fine powder. Keep aside
Now since I find it easy to work with readymade tamarind pulp I just mix it with 1 cup warm water and stir it well. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat and add mustard seeds. Let them pop and then add red chilies, chana dal, peppercorns and curry leaves. Do not let these burnt and immediately add peanuts, fry for a while. Add turmeric powder, asafoetida and tamarind water. Season with salt and the dry fine powder and cook till it thickens and looks like paste. Add rice in portions and keep mixing. Serve hot with pickle and enjoy.