Puliyodarai

the tamarind rice of the South Indian temple: cooked rice tossed through a dark, spiced paste of tamarind, chillies, and toasted lentils and seeds, the great travelling and offering food of the Dravidian south

Origin: India

From the journey of Tamarind.

Puliyodarai, also called puliyogare or puli sadam, is the tamarind rice of the South Indian kitchen, and its name says exactly what it is: puli, the Tamil and Malayalam word for tamarind and for sourness itself, married to rice. It is one of the great dishes of the Dravidian south, and above all a food of the temple and the journey. As prasadam, the consecrated food distributed to worshippers, puliyodarai is made in vast quantities in the kitchens of the great temples of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra, and given out in leaf cups; and because it keeps for a day or more without refrigeration and only improves as it sits, it is the classic travelling food of the south, packed for train journeys and pilgrimages and long carried in the tiffin box. Its heart is the pulikachal, the dark, thick, intensely flavoured tamarind paste, cooked down slowly with red chillies, jaggery, and a fragrant spice mix of toasted lentils, sesame, fenugreek, and asafoetida, and stirred through freshly cooked rice with a tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, peanuts, and split lentils. The result is at once sour, hot, nutty, and aromatic, a rice that needs nothing beside it, and one of the purest expressions of the tamarind in the cooking that loves it best.

Ingredients

Rice

300 g raw rice (sona masoori or other short-grain), cooked and cooled

Pulikachal

80 g tamarind (a large lime-sized ball), soaked in 400 ml warm water
3 tbsp sesame or groundnut oil
6 whole dried red chillies
1 tbsp jaggery, grated
0.25 tsp asafoetida (hing)
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Spice Powder

1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
1 tsp sesame seeds
0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds

Tempering

3 tbsp sesame or groundnut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
1 tbsp urad dal (split black gram)
3 tbsp raw peanuts
2 sprigs curry leaves

Method

Squeeze the soaked tamarind and strain it through a sieve, pressing out all the pulp and discarding seeds and fibres, to give a thick, sour tamarind extract. Cook the rice, spread it on a tray to cool, and dress it with a teaspoon of oil so the grains stay separate.
Make the spice powder: dry-roast the coriander seeds, chana dal, sesame seeds, and fenugreek in a pan over a low heat until golden and fragrant, then cool and grind to a coarse powder.
Make the pulikachal: heat 3 tbsp oil, add the dried red chillies and asafoetida for a few seconds, then pour in the tamarind extract with the turmeric, jaggery, and salt. Simmer over a medium heat, stirring often, for 12 to 15 minutes, until the paste thickens, darkens, and the oil begins to separate at the edges. Stir in most of the spice powder.
Make the tempering: heat 3 tbsp oil, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle, then add the chana dal, urad dal, and peanuts and fry until golden, and finally the curry leaves.
Pour the tempering over the cooled rice, add the pulikachal a few spoonfuls at a time, and fold through gently until the rice is evenly coated and pale gold-brown. Add the remaining spice powder, taste, and adjust. Rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

The pulikachal paste keeps for two or three weeks in the refrigerator, and many South Indian households keep a jar always ready, so that a bowl of tamarind rice is minutes away. The balance of sour, hot, and sweet is to taste, but puliyodarai should lean firmly sour, true to its name. Serve it with plain yoghurt, a fried papad, and perhaps some potato roast; it needs little else. The same pulikachal makes tamarind sevai with rice vermicelli in place of rice.

The Gastrographer

Name: Puliyodarai
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 300 g raw rice (sona masoori or other short-grain), cooked and cooled; 80 g tamarind (a large lime-sized ball), soaked in 400 ml warm water; 3 tbsp sesame or groundnut oil; 6 whole dried red chillies; 1 tbsp jaggery, grated; 0.25 tsp asafoetida (hing); 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 1 tbsp coriander seeds; 1 tbsp chana dal (split chickpeas); 1 tsp sesame seeds; 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds; 3 tbsp sesame or groundnut oil; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 1 tbsp chana dal (split chickpeas); 1 tbsp urad dal (split black gram); 3 tbsp raw peanuts; 2 sprigs curry leaves

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control