Tamarind rice or puli sadam, a much simpler version of the popular puliyodharai sans spices. Learn how to make this super easy tamarind rice recipe that’s perfect to pack on train journeys (my favourite!) or lunch boxes.
Growing up, I ate a lot more of this tamarind rice than puliyodharai. As an ardent fan of any “South Indian variety rice”, I loved my tamarind rice with a generous amount of roasted peanuts and a beautiful tangy flavour. Tamarind rice packs well for a picnic or road / train trip and if you use wilted banana leaves like we do, then it adds an extra flavour and punch which is unmatchable.
More South Indian Rice Recipes:
Curd Rice
Spinach Rice
Capsicum Rice
Tamarind rice recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
- 2 tbsp gingelly oil Indian sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp chana dal
- 1 tbsp raw unsalted peanuts
- A few curry leaves
- 3 dry red chillies torn into pieces
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onions optional
- 1/4 tsp hing asafoetida
- 4 cups cooked rice I used basmati
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the tamarind in 3/4 cup warm water for 30 minutes
- Extract juice of tamarind with fingers and discard any seeds and pulp that remains
- Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds, chana dal, and peanuts
- Let the mustard seeds pop and the peanuts and dal roast to a light golden brown
- Then add the curry leaves, red chillies, hing, and onions (if using)
- Let these ingredients roast for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are cooked to a soft pink
- Add the tamarind extract and bring to boil
- Add salt and let the mixture boil until it thickens a bit
- Add cooked rice and mix well. Adjust salt if needed
- Let the rice sit for at least one hour before serving
- Goes well with curd and papad or red chilli coconut chutney
Step by Step Tamarind Rice Recipe
Soak the tamarind in 3/4 cup warm water for 30 minutes
Extract juice of tamarind with fingers and discard any seeds and pulp that remains
Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds, chana dal, and peanuts
Let the mustard seeds pop and the peanuts and dal roast to a light golden brown. Then add the curry leaves, red chillies, hing, and onions (if using)
Let these ingredients roast for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are cooked to a soft pink
Add the tamarind extract and bring to boil
Add salt and let the mixture boil until it thickens a bit
Add cooked rice and mix well. Adjust salt if needed. Let the rice sit for at least one hour before serving
Goes well with curd and papad or red chilli coconut chutney.
For tamarind rice recipe in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Urdu, Telugu, Hindi, etc please use the Google translate button.
Oh I *have* to try this. I’m a big fan of tamarind rice.
let me know when you do 🙂