Ugadi special recipe: Puliogare/ Puliodarai

A superstar of a dish from southern India, the Puliogare has roots in Kannada and Tamil (Puliodarai). Essentially, it is tamarind rice, flavoured with mixed spices and groundnuts, which is very popular in the southern states and relished mostly in the afternoons.

Ingredients
For powder

½ cup pepper

½ cup cumin seeds
¼ cup fenugreek seeds
¼ cup coriander seeds
½ cup Bengal gram split/chana dal/kadala parippu
1 cup red chillies
½ cup curry leaves
½ cup grated copra



For Puliogare


½ cup good quality white rice

1 big lemon-sized Tamarind -
Salt, as required
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ cup roasted and peeled groundnuts (optional)
¼ cup til oil



For seasoning


½ tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp Bengal gram split
½ tsp asafoetida
6 red chillies

Preparation
To make powder

Dry fry each of the above ingredients, except copra

Allow to cool and then powder. Store in a dry air-tight container



To make Puliogare

Extract thick pulp from tamarind

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan and add mustard seeds
When they crackle, add red chillies, asafoetida, Bengal gram, and curry leaves
Add the extracted tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric powder and cook till it thickens and the oil starts seeping out
Cook rice firmly, allow to cool and then mix 2 tbsp of oil and a little salt to it
Mix the rice with required amount of tamarind gravy and add 3-4 tbsp Puliogre powder (Prepared earlier)
Add the roasted groundnuts and mix well
You can also add fried curry leaves (optional)
Serve with fried pappadom


(The author is a food blogger who blogs @www.hottavasandovens.blogspot.in)