Tamarind Rice/Chintapandu Pulihora

Pulihora  or Puliyodhara, or Chitrannam is a very common preparation in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Indian cuisine. Puli means sour taste. Pulihora can also be referred as sour rice. It is also known as tamarind rice or lemon rice. In the North coastal part of Andhra Pradesh, people used to call it Saddi but younger generations may not know this name.It is made with tamarind, a spice very popular in southern India.In the districts of Andhra Pradesh, it is considered as the hindus' festival food. It is given as prasadam in temples, were devotees queue to get pulihora after darshan of the God.Pulihora tastes sour, spicy hot and salty at the same time. It is considered to be a good stimulant for a dead tongue. It is easy and inexpensive to cook and is a good stomach filler.As Hindus consider turmeric powder as a symbol of auspiciousness, this dish is cooked for almost all good occasions and during festive days. It is also distributed in temples under the name of Prasad. Other versions of pulihara are made with Un-ripe sour Mangoes, sour pomegranate and lemon.

This is a all time favourite for everyone at my home . If soem relatives are coming or some occasion is there , going out for a picnic or a long distance , festival , No need to mention any occasion pulihora is the first item in the menu list in my home. So here goes the reciepe :

 Ingredients :

• Rice -1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Tamarind - 1 big size lemon /gooseberry
• Bengal gram/Chana dal - 2 tsp
• Urad dal/Black gram dal - 11/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 4 (depending on spice level)
• Red Chillies - 3
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - few sprigs
• Asafoetida/hing/Inguva - 2 tsp
• Well Rosated Peanuts - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2tbsps(for seasoning )

 Method :

• Take rice in a vessel and wash it thoroughly and discard the water and add fresh measured water to it.(for 1 cup of rice = 2 cups of water ).Place this rice in a pressure cooker or in a electric cooker and cook it till it is done.
• Remove the cooked rice from the cooker and spread it evenly ina large plate or vessel and let it cool down .
• Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 min and squeeze thepulp out of it.(the pulp should be thick and not too watery ).
• Add this tamarind pulp to the cooked rice and salt to it and mix well.
• Cut the green chillies length wise and remove the stalks out of it .
• Take another vessel and add oil for seasoning.When the oil is hot enough, add urad dal,chana dal. mustard seeds/avalu, asafoetida,green chillies,curry leaves and red chillies and let them splutter. Add the well roasted peanuts to it and let them also fry for 3 min in the seasoning. Remove from heat and add the turmeric powder and mix well.
• Now add this whole seasoning mixture to the cooked rice and mix very well thouroughly to ensure all the seasoning,tamarind pulp and salt everthing gets absorbed into the rice and taste's good.
• Serve the pulihora at the room temperature.

Note :

• Usually if it is prepared in the morning it tastes good by evening by absorbing all the ingredients in it.
• Always better to serev this at room temperature.
• Peanuts should be well roasted (crackling sound has to come from the peanuts while roasting) otherwise, peanut inside will be raw and doesn't taste good.
• Usually will be there for minimum of 2 days