Tamarind Rice/Puzhiyodarai

I go bonkers hearing the word "Tamirind rice".If we go to any temple and the prasadham happens to be a tasty  puzhiyodharai I just go :D:D. This is my first attempt to make this rice from scratch and it came out very well and I'm sure this is going to be a regular dish here afterwards.

This is my mom's recipe and this requires two steps :

• Making the puzhikachal ,which is a paste and can be stored for a month without refrigeration.
• Making the rice with the puzhiyodarai and few ingredients.

Step 1 - Making of puzhikachal(Spicy tamarind sauce)

Ingredients

• 250-300 gms of tamarind
• 4 tbsp of channa dal(kadala paruppu)
• 4 tbsp of coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp pepper corns
• 1 tsp of sesame seeds(I didn't have any..so didn't use)
• 8 red chillies (depends on your spice level)
• a tsp of jaggery
• hing
• Mustard
• urad dal
• 4 red chillies
• broken peanuts
• gingelly oil(nallennai)

Pre-cooking

• Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the juice to its fullest and keep aside.

Method

• Dry roast all the ingredients highlighted in yellow color and grind them to a fine powder.
• Heat liberal amount of oil in the kadai and temper with the the items highlighted in green.
• Now add the tamarind extract.
• Add enough water with the salt and jaggery.
• Bring it to a nice boil. You might get little splattering here and there depending on your kadai.
• Now add the ground mixture to this and turn off the heat once the mixture solidifies to a thick paste.
• The consistency should be like the tamarind extract you get in the grocery store.
• Finally add roasted peanuts to this mixture.
• This is the Puzhikachal.
• Put it into an airtight container and store it in normal temperature.

Step 2 -Making of the rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup of boiled raw rice or basmati rice
• puzhikachal
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• curry leaves
• mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of channa dal
• few broken cashews(optional)
• 1 tbsp of vendhayam(fenugreek seeds

Method

• 
  
  When the rice is hot, add a tsp of gingelly oil and turmeric powder, mix well and keep aside to cool.
• 
  
  After cooling, add the required amount of puzhikachal and gently stir it.
• 
  
  Incase your salt is little less do not worry, just add as required.
• 
  
  Temper the ingredients highlighted in green color and add to the rice.
• 
  
  Dry roast the fenugreek seeds and grind to a fine powder.
• 
  
  Add it finally and mix the rice well.
• 
  
  Tasty puzhiyodarai is ready to be eaten.

Serving suggestions

• Goes well with chips or mixture or vada.
• Best food for picnics or on a busy day.

Tips

• Fenugreek seeds is the main ingredient for the Tamarind rice.It is a must.
• If you want you can add them while making the puzhikachal itself.
• Using of Gingelly oil gives a wonderful flavour. I would not recommend using any other oil :)
• Ensure that the rice is not overboiled and is in the right consistency.