Karivepaku Pulihora | Curry Leaves Tamarind Rice

Puliodarai, Puliogare, Pulihora, the tangy tamarind rice is a famous South Indian variety rice. Pulihora is a must on all festive days in Telugu cuisine, and a thali is incomplete without this yummy pulihora. I have already posted two puliodarai recipes, the traditional Kovil puliodarai, and the instant puliodarai recipe. Today I am going to share the Andhra/Telangana style pulihora with curry leaves.

I would like to thank Valli for helping me with the Andhra Thali spread. We both went back and forth with the recipe picks, and she patiently answered all my questions, and in fact, she sent me the assembling and serving details too. I didn’t create an elaborate spread but tried my level best to cover all the main recipes in the thali. :-) More information in the thali post, which is the coming right next. Yes, two posts in one day!

I was planning to prepare Gongura pulihora, and that’s what I mentioned to Valli too but my bad; I couldn’t find them during the weekend when I made this thali. That’s my favorite pulihora and will post the recipe soon.  So I picked the curry leaves pulihora which was on my to-do list already.  I followed Valli’s recipe but just modified the ingredients measure as per our liking. We enjoyed this rice and loved the fact that how simple ingredients blend to create this exotic and healthy rice. This is a perfect lunch box recipe too. You can prepare the pulihora mix ahead of time and when required you can mix it with rice and serve with fryums or chips. A healthy and comforting meal ready. :-)

Without any delay, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Rice – 1 cup
• Water – 2 cups + 1 cup
• Tamarind Paste – 1.5 tbsps or extract 1 cup of juice by soaking small lemon sized tamarind
• Curry leaves – 1 cup loosely packed
• Pepper Corns – 1 tsp
• Ghee / Oil – 1 tsp
• Salt – 2 tsps
• For Tempering:
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder – a pinch
• Hing – 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad Dal – 1 tsp
• Channa Dal – 1 tsp
• Peanuts – 1 tbsps
• Red Chillies – 4

Prep – Work:

• Wash and cook the rice in your preferred way by adding two cups of water. Let the cooked rice cool down and set aside.
• Wash 1 cup of curry leaves and pat it dry. You can keep it under the sun for half an hour or dry them under fan too.
• If using tamarind paste, mix  1.5 tbsp of tamarind in 1 cup of water or soak small lemon sized tamarind in 1.5 cups of water extract about 1 cup of tamarind juice.

• Heat the kadai and add two tsps ghee or oil. Add the curry leaves and the black pepper and dry roast until the leaves are crisp.
• Let it cool and grind into a powder.

Tempering and Preparing Karivepaku Pulihora Mix:

• In another kadai or pan, add 1 tbsp of oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, peanuts, hing and red chilies.
• Saute for a couple of minutes and as they start to splutter, add the turmeric and tamarind extract.
• Add salt to the mix and bring it to a boil.
• At that stage add the curry leaf powder and mix well.
• Bring it to a boil again, and it will slowly start to thicken.
• As it starts to thicken, turn off the heat. That’s it the pulihora mix is ready.

Store this mix in an airtight container, and I stayed good for up to 2 weeks. And when required, add it to rice mix to prepare the pulihora like below.

Preparing the Curry Leaves Pulihora:

• Add the curry leaves paste to the rice and mix well. If required add more ghee and serve hot with fryums or papad.

Notes:

• For a spicier version, you can add up to 2 to 3 tsps of peppercorns. I love the combo to curry leaves and peppercorns. :-)
• I did not add jaggery, but a small piece of jaggery can be added to while simmering the tamarind mix.
• You wash and dry the curry leaves well ahead and make sure you roast the curry leaves until they are crisp.
• Adjust salt and spice as per your preference.
• You can use oil instead of ghee for the vegan version.

Karivepaku Pulihora | Curry Leaves Tamarind Rice

Andhra / Telangana special Karivepaku Pulihora - A tangy tamarind rice with the goodness of Curry Leaves.

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Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 40 mins

Course: Main Course, Variety Rice

Cuisine: Andhra/Telangana Cuisine, South Indian

Servings: 3

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Rice - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups + 1 cup
• Tamarind Paste - 1.5 tbsps or extract 1 cup of juice by soaking small lemon sized tamarind
• Curry leaves – 1 cup loosely packed
• Pepper Corns – 1 tsp
• Ghee / Oil – 1 tsp
• Salt - 2 tsps

For Tempering

• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - a pinch
• Hing - 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Channa Dal - 1 tsp
• Peanuts - 1 tbsps
• Red Chillies - 4

Instructions

Prep - Work

• Wash and cook the rice in your preferred way by adding two cups of water. Let the cooked rice cool down and set aside.
• Wash 1 cup of curry leaves and pat it dry. You can keep it under the sun for half an hour or dry them under fan too.
• If using tamarind paste, mix 1.5 tbsp of tamarind in 1 cup of water or soak small lemon sized tamarind in 1.5 cups of water extract about 1 cup of tamarind juice.

Steps

Preparing the curry leaves mix

• Heat the kadai and add two tsps ghee or oil. Add the curry leaves and the black pepper and dry roast until the leaves are crisp.
• Let it cool and grind into a powder.

Tempering and Preparing Karivepaku Mix

• In another kadai or pan, add 1 tbsp of oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, peanuts, hing and red chilies.
• Saute for a couple of minutes and as they start to splutter, add the turmeric and tamarind extract.
• Add salt to the mix and bring it to a boil.
• At that stage add the curry leaf powder and mix well.
• Bring it to a boil again, and it will slowly start to thicken.
• As it starts to thicken, turn off the heat. That's it the pulihora mix is ready.
• Store this mix in an airtight container, and I stayed good for up to 2 weeks. And when required, add it to rice mix to prepare the pulihora like below.

Preparing the Curry Leaves Pulihora

• Add the curry leaves paste to the rice and mix well. If required add more ghee and serve hot with fryums or papad.

Notes

• For a spicier version, you can add up to 2 to 3 tsps of peppercorns. I love the combo to curry leaves and peppercorns. :-)
• I did not add jaggery, but a small piece of jaggery can be added to while simmering the tamarind mix.
• You wash and dry the curry leaves well ahead and make sure you roast the curry leaves until they are crisp.
• Adjust salt and spice as per your preference.
• You can use oil instead of ghee for the vegan version.

Adapted from Cooking 4 All Seasons

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