Puliyotharai

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 2 cups
Tamarind - 1 lemon size
Turmeric powder - half teaspoon
Hing - little bit
Curry Leaves - 2 sticks
Gingelly oil or Sesame oil - 50 ml
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Split Channa Dhal - 2 tespoons
Peanuts - 4 teaspoons
Cane sugar - half teaspoon
Red chillies - 2

To powder:

Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon
Sesame seeds - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - half teaspoon
Peppercorns - half teaspoon
Red Chillies - 6
Shredded Coconut - 3 teaspoons
Fenugreek seeds - half teaspoon

Method:

• Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the juice.
• In a dry pan fry the "To powder" ingredients on a medium heat for 5 mins until the spice smell oozes out.
• Grind the ingredients coarsely and keep it aside.
  
• In the same pan add the gingelly oil and add the mustard seeds.
• When mustard seeds splitters add the Channa dhal and peanut and fry until the dhal turns light brown.
• Add the curry leaves, red chillies and hing.
• Now add the tamarind juice, cane sugar, turmeric powder, salt and leave it to cook until all the water is absorbed and you get a thick gravy(oil floats on side).
• Now add the grinded powder and cook for 2 more mins.
• After the tamarind gravy cools down a bit add the cooked rice and mix well.

Tips:

• Prepare the tamarind gravy 6-8 hours earlier and mix it with cooked rice when you want to serve. Tamarind gravy gets added flavor when kept for a long time before you eat.
• Rice should be cooled down and separate, should not be sticky.