pulihora recipe

Ingredients (240 ml cup used)

• 1.5 cups rice
• 2 tbsp. Oil
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil (you can replace with normal oil)           
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 2 red chilies broken
• ½ tsp. mustard
• 1 tbsp. channa dal / senagapappu
• 1 tbsp. urad dal / senagapappu
• Fistful of peanuts
• Generous pinch of Hing
• Salt as needed
• Fistful of tamarind or 4 tbsp. thick tamarind pulp (adjust to suit your taste)
• 2 Green chilies slit (if not for naivedyam)
• ½ tsp. Ginger finely chopped (optional)
• Turmeric as needed
• ½ tsp. lightly roasted mustard powder or roasted sesame seeds powder (optional)
• ½ tsp. Jaggery (optional)

Instructions

1. If you wish to use sesame or mustard powder, lightly roast them and cool. Powder and set aside. Do not use both, use either of them.
2. Wash and soak tamarind in hot water for some time. Squeeze and make a thick paste. Pass it through a filter, discard stones and pulp
3. Wash and Cook rice till just done. Do not make the rice mushy. Grains must be separated. Cool the rice on a wide plate. Sprinkle salt, turmeric and 1 tbsp. sesame oil evenly. Leave it aside till the seasoning is ready. When the rice cools down mix the rice with sprinkled turmeric and salt. If needed use more turmeric to get a nice color.
4. Heat a pan with oil, add peanuts, dal and fry till golden, add curry leaves, green chilies, red chilies and ginger if using. Fry till the red chilies turn crisp
5. Add hing, tamarind pulp, jaggery and little more salt.
6. Cook till the mixture thickens otherwise pulihora will be very moist.
7. Off the heat, add powdered mustard or sesame seeds powder to the rice, give a quick stir do not let the mixture fry in the pan. Add the seasoning to the rice. Mix well. Do not mix while the rice is hot.
8. Serve tamamrind rice or pulihora with fresh homemade curd

Notes

for pulihora recipe, using jaggery enhances the taste without adding much sweetness to the rice
using sesame seeds powder or mustard powder is optional, if you are looking for ava pulihora also called as avapetina pulihora, use mustard powder.1 tsp mustard seeds for 1.5 cups uncooked rice is the right amount to get a good flavor, however some varieties yield, bitter taste, so i have mentioned only ½ tsp. Try with the amount that suits your taste.