Tamarind Rice

Tamarind Rice is a popular sour, spicy and tangy South Indian vegan recipe. Tempering is an essential element of this consisting of peanuts and lentils.

Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 30 to 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups of rice
• 4 cups of water to cook rice (change the quantity of water based on your rice)
• 1/3rd cup of tamarind soaked in 1 cup of hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind and extract the pulp. Keep aside for tamarind sauce. (reduce or increase quantity based on your tangy preference)
• 1/3rd teaspoon of asafoetida
• 1-inch ginger crushed
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 5 to 6 curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon split and skinned black gram
• 1 teaspoon split and skinned Bengal gram soaked in 2 teaspoons of hot boiling water for 5 minutes
• 1/3rd cup of peanuts
• 3 to 4 dry red chillies broken into two
• 1 teaspoon garam masala or ground spices
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoon coriander for garnishing chopped

Procedure

Cooking rice

• Cook two cups of rice with 4 cups of water. Once done, remove them in large bowl or tray and allow it to cool down.

Tamarind Gravy

• In a pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and once it is heated, add the peanuts. Fry them till golden brown. Once done keep aside to add later. This will maintain the crispness of peanuts. You could also use roasted peanuts available in the market.
• In a pan, add 3 tablespoons of oil and once it is heated, add the mustard seeds.
• Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the cumin seeds.
• Once they crackle, add the curry leaves, dry red chillies, asafoetida and crushed ginger.
• Sauté for a minute then add the split and skinned black gram.
• Sauté for a minute then add the split and skinned Bengal gram (filter the water out).
• Sauté till the lentils turn golden brown.
• Add the soaked and filtered tamarind water with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and salt to taste to the remaining tempering.
• Boil the tamarind sauce for 5 to 10 minutes. The oil will get separated from the sauce at this point if not boil for some more time.
• Turn off the flame and add the cooked rice to the prepared tamarind sauce along with fried or roasted peanuts.
• Garnish with chopped coriander.

Tamarind rice can be enjoyed on its own or with some yoghurt or curd.