Puliyogare/Tamarind Rice

Dear Asha, also known as the "Blogger Queen" is a lovable, likable person, who reaches out to all with her care, love and encouragement.Any objection? :)..

Well,I had been 'pestering' her lately with umpteen queries, pertaining the recipe, checking up whether it belonged to Kannada cuisine and with her gallons of patience answering to each and every one of my silliest questions saying,"I know it is really tough for someone to make a Kannada dish without much experience."

She was virtually "missed" by almost all the bloggers when she was away for her Lasik treatment...and now she is getting ready for the round up with her sharp vision, without the glasses!!..Yaaay!!..

Surprisingly I learnt from Wiki that I had been preparing Kannada food very frequently.Bisi bele bhath, vanghi bhath, aloo bonda, masala dosa, puliyogare and the simplest yoghurt rice/mosaranna..all fall under my usual menu!.


My queries about puliyogare sped to Roopa who sweetly replied,"well puliyogare comes as i know from iyengars mainly living in mysore and bangalore. it is common in tamil, telugu as well as kannada cuisine our cuisine has a more sweet/ ting than the others."

Ashaji has confirmed the name of the basic sauce as Hunise gojju, a very authentic B'lore iyengar recipe..:)

The Tamarind rice, the Pulyogare or Puliyodharai is my family's any time favourite and here we go with the recipe which involves three steps of making the sauce/gojju,the powder and mixing them together with cooked rice...

Ingredients for the Hunise Gojju/sauce:

A cup of Thick Tamarind Pulp extracted from a small orange sized ball of tamarind.
Salt-as needed
A small piece of Jaggery
Soak tamarind in warm water for half an hour.Extract pulp, as thick as possible.Keep aside.

For the powder

A tbsp of dessicated coconut
2 tsps coriander seeds
2 tsps peppercorns
A pinch of hing (asoefetida)
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
6-8 Red chillies
A tsp of white sesame seeds
A teaspoons urad dal /black gram dal
A teaspoon channa dal /bengal gram dal
A tsp cumin seeds

Dry roast the ingredients for the powder one by one.Trickle oil if necessary.Powder the roasted ingredients when cool.Set aside.

For Seasoning

5tbsps Gingelly oil
A tsp each of mustards,fenugreek seeds,urad dal and channa dal
2 teaspoons peanuts
4 red chillies each broken into 3 pieces

A fat pinch of turmeric powder

A sprig of curry leaves

Method to prepare the Gojju.

Heat oil and fry the peanuts;keep aside.OR, micro the peanuts for a minute, toss, micro again for a minute and keep aside.In the same oil season using mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, urad dal, channa dal, red chillies and curry leaves.

Add the tamarind pulp, jaggery,turmeric powder and salt.Mix well and let it boil.Add the powder and let it simmer for a few minutes mixing well to avoid any lumps.Add salt.

The oil starts separating and the mixture would have thickened by now giving off a wonderful aroma.

Cool the sauce and store in an airtight container.

How to prepare Puliyogare /Tamarind Rice

Mix hot rice with gojju, adding liberal amounts of gingelly/sesame seed oil.Check salt and the tanginess all over while mixing.Let the mixed rice be one step spicy and tangy so that it comes down after an hour or two as it penetrates the soft rice.So see to it that you prepare the tamarind rice at least 2 hours serving.

The gojju mixed with the powder stays well for a month if refrigerated.

Puliyogare is also a "perfect pack away lunch."

This goes to RCI-Karnataka hosted by dearest Asha :).

So..what's up next?...nothing else but packing away with my hubby and kids soon for a few days to the southern parts of Karnataka ; Mysore, Belur, Halebidu( a few temples in an around these lovely places) and Coorg !!.

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