Puliyodharai, Iyengar Puliyodharai Recipe, Temple Puliyodharai

Name: Puliyodharai, Iyengar Puliyodharai Recipe, Temple Puliyodharai
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Ingredients: 3 teaspoon coriander seeds; 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (vendayam); 3 dry red chillies (add more for spicy); 3 teaspoon white sesame seeds; 2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/3 cup sesame oil (gingely oil / nallennai); 1 teaspoon mustard seeds; 2 teaspoon chana dal; 4 dry red chillies; 1 teaspoon hing (asafoetida); 2 teaspoon turmeric; 3 sprigs curry leaves; 1/2 cup peanuts; 3 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoon jaggery; Big lemon sized tamarind; Rice as required

November 30, 2016 by Suguna Vinodh 115 Comments

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Iyengar Puliyodharai Recipe also called as Kovil / Temple Puliyodharai, Puli sadam. Tamarind rice using home made Puliyodharai paste – Puliyodharai mix. South Indian Tamil Style recipe. Its also called as puliyogare in Kannada.

I still remember my tryst with Iyengar Puliyodharai. My first job after graduation was at a lending institution. One day I was having lunch with my manager in the pantry. The branch manager, Krishnan entered the pantry ( a 3 table tiny pantry) and since the other tables were not yet cleaned, my manager, Amrita offered a seat in our table. He had brought his mothers Puliyodharai for lunch. He offered us a taste of the Puliyodharai. It was absolutely divine. He told us that his mother makes the best tamarind rice in the whole world and I had to agree. He told, “You know whats the secret of a good Puliyodharai? Its all in the making of pulikaachal (tamarind paste)”. If done the proper way, Puliyodharai can be so delicious. Here is how to do Iyengar style Puliyodharai / kovil Puliyodharai.

First, we will make a spice powder.

We will be dry roasting the ingredients one by one separately.
# Dry roast coriander seeds on medium flame till the seeds slightly changes in colour and one or two seeds splutter. Remove to a plate and set aside to cool.
# Dry roast white sesame seeds on medium flame till the seeds slightly changes in colour and becomes light brown. Remove to a plate and set aside to cool.
# Dry roast methi seeds (fenugreek – vendhayam), black pepper and dry red chillies on medium flame till the the methi seeds turn golden and one or two seeds splutter. Remove to a plate and set aside to cool.

The spices are roasted and ready!

Once the spices are cool, grind it in a mixie to a powder. Set aside.

Tamarind Pulp

Soak a big lemon size tamarind in two cups of water for 30 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind to extract the pulp. Strain the pulp and discard the seeds and the fibre. Set aside.

Pulikaachal – Tamarind Paste – Tamarind mix with powder

Heat sesame oil (gingely oil – nalla ennai) in a pan until hot. Gingely Oil is the traditional oil used for the preparation of puliyodharai. Do not use any other oil. The flavour of gingely oil is very important for puliyodharai.
Add in the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter. Add dry red chillies and chana dal. Roast till the chana dal is golden. Add in the tamarind extract / pulp.

Add in the hing (perungayam – asafoetida), turmeric powder and curry leaves. Let it simmer on a low flame.

In the mean time, dry roast the peanuts until the skin turns slightly black here and there and the peanuts are nicely roasted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Remove the skin and add it to the tamarind mixture simmering on the pan.

Add in the salt and jaggery. Jaggery balances the sourness of the tamarind. Jaggery is very important for puliyodharai.

Cover the pan with a lid and simmer the tamarind mixture on a low flame for 20 minutes. Saute once in a while to avoid the mixture from burning at the bottom. After 20 minutes, the mixture would have reduced and thickened and the gingely oil would have separated and can be visibly seen on the sides of the pan. The tamarind mixture is ready.

Switch off the flame and add in the ground spice powder. Tamarind paste mix – pulikaachal is ready.

Let the mixture completely cool down. Bottle it in glass jar and store it and use it as required. The pulikaachal paste can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Mixing and Assembly!
We will be using cooked rice and will be mixing it with pulikaachal. I have a tip for cooking rice that stays fluffy and does not become mushy. The secret for fluffy rice is to soak the rice in water for at least half an hour. I usually use Indian raw rice (sona masuri) variety. I add 2 cups of water for every cup of soaked and drained rice. I cook my rice in a rice cooker. You can do the same in the pressure cooker too. Cook for 2 whistles and allow the pressure to settle naturally.
Cook 1 cup (250 ml) of rice with 2 cups of water and cook it to firm texture. Allow it to cool completely. Once the rice is cool, Mix half a cup of prepared tamarind paste – pulikaachal and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix well to combine. The best way to combine the rice and the pulikaachal is to use your hands. As the pulikaachal is thick, a spatula does not do a good job.

Do not consume the tamarind rice immediately. The flavour develops after an hour. Enjoy with papad or appalam.