Tamarind rice is a popular dish of South India.This is a traditional South Indian Tamil Brahmin recipe. This is a fool proof recipe which even beginners can try with confidence. Let us learn how to make this South Indian style tamarind rice or puli sadam/ Puliyodharai following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.
Puliyodharai-Tamarind Rice
Prep Time : 10 mins
Cook Time : 25 mins
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Category: Variety Rice
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian (Tamil Iyengar)
Author:Padhu Sankar
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Category: Variety Rice
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian (Tamil Iyengar)
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Raw Rice -1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cup
Tamarind – 70 grams
Sesame seed Oil – 50 ml
Salt needed
Spice powder or Podi
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
White sesame seeds – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp
Red chillies – 5
For the seasoning
Mustard – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 4 tsp
Channa dal /Bengal gram – 4 tsp
Red chillies – 4 (break it into 2)
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Roasted peanuts- 100 grams
Curry leaves – little
For the rice (for mixing)
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Sesame seed oil-2 tsp
Preparation
Dry roast fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies until you get a nice aroma. Dry roast sesame seeds separately and powder everything together. Our spice powder for puliyodharai is ready. Keep it aside.
Cook rice in such a way that each grains are separate.
Soak tamarind in hot water (around 2 cups) and extract 2 cups of thick juice from it. Discard the pulp.
Method
Heat oil and add the ingredients mentioned under seasoning. You can remove red chilli and then add back to the oil to prevent it from getting burnt.
When dal turns golden brown, add the thick tamarind extract, salt and let it boil on medium flame.
Switch off when it thickens and oil oozes out.
Now the tamarind paste or pulikachal (see Picture below) is ready. Let us see how to mix it with rice.
Tamarind pasteFor mixing the rice
Spread the rice on a plate to cool. When it is warm, add 2 tsp sesame seed oil and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and mix it gently without breaking the rice.
Once it cools, add needed spice powder, tamarind paste and mix the rice gently. Adjust spice powder and tamarind paste according to your taste.
Delicious Tamarind rice or Puliyodarai is ready to be served. We enjoyed Puliyodarai with vadams and appalam.
Note –
You can add less or more spice powder according to how hot you want the rice to be.
Similarly, you can add less or more tamarind paste according to how sour you want the rice to be. Adjust as per your preferences.
You can store the paste in the refrigerator for 7-10 days and use it when required.
Vadams
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that reminds me of chennai 🙂
Hey, awesome puliyodharai. Beautiful click as usual. Even we had the same with vadams but mine was from GS :):)
yummy..my all time favourite…
tamarind rice is my fav, looks yummy
Its one of my favs, next time will try your recipe too…
Looks delicious…..loved the flavour…
Tamarind rice looks delicious Padu.
Wow! Mouthwatering rice. Looks so tangy and yummmmmmm 🙂
As open book..this reminds me of chennai..looks tempting padhu.
This takes me to Coimbatore days…We used to get to go mostly everyday..Looks too good padhu
Delicious Looking and great presentation as usual.
Trust me,this is my favorite rice and have done it only with the readymade powder till now..your recipe is a reason for me to try it myself now..
luv tamarind rice but i always make frm mtr tamarind pwd mix but now i know to make frm scratch..thnx dear for sharing this wonderful rice recipe !
yummy…My all time favorite…It looks so tempting…
Tamarind rice looks yummy and tempting. Wonderful presentation.
puliyodarai is my fav one and i love ur version
Hi Padhu,
nalla puli sadham…
Dr.Sameena@
http://www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com
Yum Yum! deliciously tangy rice!
looks superb and with great colour…..n m sure with has great taste
My fav pulisadham, love that vadams..
I can get the soury taste of this rice by reading your post. This looks great.
Thx Padhu for ur lovely comments n now i got to know of ur wonderful space!Love d presentation of d puliogare..Remember my college days when mom used to pack it in our lunch boxes 🙂 Sure to keep droppin in to ur blog..!!
Tamarind rice looks delicious ……
Delicious!
My fav…looks so wonderful!! lovely recipe!!
This tamarind rice luks gr8…nice presentation.
Delish and yummy. Its perfect and temping. New to your blog and have to go through more of your wonderful homely recipes. Glad to follow you padhu.
Loving it:-)
http://indianyummykitchen.blogspot.com
lovely tamarind rice… i love the flavor and color of it!
Tamarind rice is one of "the" fav rice, which i can eat all by myself, specially when mum makes them for me….reminds me of her….they look lovely 🙂
Thanks a lot. Been trying to get the perfect puliyodarai as my mom's and finally this recipe helped me. It turned out so good that I make it very often now. Btw, I added a little channa dal to the podi too as my mother does. Thanks again.
I luvd it…..one of ma fav
Hi, 70 gms of tamarind is roughly how much? Around 1 tbsp?
I have shown in the picture itself. Roughly 2 lemon sized balls.
Your blog is a blessing! My kitchen life is a lot easier and enjoyable, thanks to your wonderful recipes. 🙂
Can I use tamarind paste instead of regular tamarind? If yes, how much of past can I use
Really awesome pulisadham mem I want to prepare one kg rice please give the ratio of the ingredients
Thank you Kamalaveni. 1 cup rice is 250 grams, so 1 kg is 4 cups of rice. You can calculate accordingly.
Hi padhu,
today I prepared this. Came out really well. The taste resembled the temple puliodharai. My husband praised me a lot.Thank u so much. Ur blog is a cooking dictionary for me.
Wow really nice….i m going to try this for my husband… Hmmmm he really love my cooking…. Thank u yaa
So delicious.today going to try it.after preparing will say u how it tasted.
Great
Awesome. I made it for the first time and reminded me of my Mom and Mami tks.
What about SALT
Read the second sentence under METHOD
I had a question. How do you cook the raw rice so that grains are separate? For 1 cup of rice, I usually add 3 cups of water. How much water should I add for tamarind rice?
It depends on the quality of your rice. You can cook 1 cup of rice with 3 cups of water ,if your rice is old and is of good quality. After cooking spread it on a plate, mix sesame seed oil. It will separate. (Newly harvested rice tends to become mushy, so avoid using it for tamarind rice and other variety rice)
Padhu.. i noticed that you didn't mention when to add the spice powder in the recipe. Thinking of making this tonight. Please Help.
I have written it clearly. I assume that you did not read the recipe fully. Read the 2nd sentence under "for mixing the rice" and the first sentence under "notes"
Tried it..came out really good.. thank you for the recipe 🙂
Hi padhu, tried this recipe, came out very well. But some where I can taste the raw smell of coriander seeds
I think you did not dry roast the coriander seeds well.
Tried this, came out very well, really thanks for the recipe
very nice and evertime favourite dish..I usually add podi in the end with puliyodarai paste..this seems to be more tasty and looks mouthwatering I will try this way
Hi padhi,
Is it possible to store this paste so that we can use it later ? For how long can we store it in fridge ? Also while storing do you recommend adding the spice powder in the paste and store ?
You can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 10 days. Store the paste and the spice powder separately and mix when needed. The spice powder can be stored at room temperature.
Awesome taste, I tried first time ur recipe dear its really……
No salt required?
Read the second sentence under "METHOD"
Amazing padhu.lovely ur dishes
This is the first time I see turmeric powder added directly to cooked rice
Mouth watering explanation
best puli sadam .longigng for traditional tamarind rice was fulfilled by u r receipe.
even i prepared it and able to reprodce the same taste
my daughters loved it and me too
I m a gujarati n I had to meet my Tamil grp of frds for putluck event. Followed ur recipe step by step . Got so many compliments for the tamrind rice . Thank you so very much for posting this recipe.
Thanks to your recipe, the dish turned out well.
I love all ur recipes padhu…keeps motivating us to cook
Still this recepi is going strong….when ever I get ready to kitchen I get my mobile to open Padus kitchen web page…thanks for all the recipe
I liked ur tamarind rice recipe
It has come out well
Nice recipes. It helps a lot. Thank you
Goin to try it tomorrow morning…
Shall I use black sesame seeds?
Yes, you can use.
For 25 people how much tamarind and chilly I have to use
Tried and turned out so good a deal yum lot of appreciation too. Thanks
Hello, is it possible to make this by using Tamarind concentrate/paste instead of raw tamarind?
Yes, you can do but I am not sure of the measurements as I have not tried it. You can try, if it turned out well, leave your feedback.
Nice recipe. Can't wait to try this out.
Hi Padhu, many thanks for keeping your site so handy. Since my Paati passed away, I am using your recipes everyday to relieve my comfort food cravings. Your recipes bring me my childhood happy memories of Thanjavur and my grandmother’s cooking. Santhoshama, Anu
Dear Padhu , all your recipes are simply awesome. Yours, is my go-to site for South Indian vegetarian food. Your recipes are simple, straightforward & so easy to follow. Well-done Padhu! And many many thanks for bringing back South Indian food back into my kitchen, the easy way
I tried it really awesome. Can we use black sesame instead of white.
Yes but color of puliyotharai will not be visually appealing.