Puliogare or Pulihora recipe

Puliogare or Pulihora Recipe

I watched my mom make it umpteen times. It is the best food for journeys, picnics, when you feel like eating something sour and tangy! and it lasts for nearly 2 days even without refrigeration!

Very easy to prepare. I always got it tasty. The leftover tamarind juice can be used another time or for 'Rasam' or 'Sambar' or any other recipe which uses tamarind juice. Adjust the tamarind, chillies, salt and asafoetida (Hing) to suit your palate. Those of you who donot like sour taste much, can add half tsp. of sugar while the tamarind is cooking or to the cooked rice. It will balance the sour taste.

Ingredients:

Rice – 2 cups

Tamarind – 1 cup

Green chillies, slit length wise – 2 nos.

Red chillies (dry) – 6 nos.

Salt – to taste

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp.

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp.

Black gram (without skin) – 1 tsp.

Ground nuts – 1 tbsp.

Curry leaves – a few

Oil – 4 tbs.

Asafoetida (Hing) – ¼ tsp.

Method:

Clean and wash tamarind. Soak it in 1 cup water for 15 min. Sqeeze out thick juice from tamarind into a saucepan and cook it on medium heat. Add salt and ½ tsp. turmeric to the tamarind juice. Pour 1 tbs. oil into the pan and let the whole thing boil for 15 min. Add 2 red chillies, a few curry leaves (6-8) to the above mixture. Keep stirring. It should be cooked until the mixture becomes thick but liquid enough to pour. The raw taste of tamarind should give way to lovely aromatic flavor of cooked tamarind, curry leaves etc. Take it off the stove and let it cool. This mixture can be done the previous day and refrigerated too.

Clean and wash rice twice and soak it in water for half an hour. Cook the rice to a stiff consistency or until the grains are lose. Empty cooked rice into a wide dish / pan for cooling. Heat a tbs. of oil and pour over the rice. This will keep the rice grains from sticking to each other. Add half a tsp. of turmeric powder to the rice. Mix well (preferably with hand).

Keep adding cooked tamarind juice a tbs. at a time until the rice tastes sour, and mix thoroughly. Make sure the rice is properly coated and check for salt. Add more if required.

Heat balance 2 tbs. of oil in a frying pan. Fry ground nuts, then mustard, cumin, and black gram in oil. When they are brown, add red and green chillies, curry leaves. Finally, add asafetida and remove from heat and pour over the rice mixture. Make sure it is mixed evenly.

Tastes best when eaten after a few hours.