Chintapandu pulihora (Tamarind rice)

First I would like to wish everyone "A Very Happy Ugadi to all of you". Last year I still remember the ugadi celebrations with my friends Prathibha and Keerthi sitting late in the night and pressing the Dry fruit laddus :D For lunch we prepared mango rice and for dessert we had Dates payasam by Prathibha which was awesome. I miss both of you this time :(

This year my ugadi celebrations are with two other friends Nandita and Sushma. It feels nice to have good friends around you celebrating festival together as a family when you are miles away from your loved ones :)

I didn't get raw mango this time so I prepared tamarind rice. And the sweet preparations are still in process but I would still like to post them and update the pics later :) Hope you'll like and try them out.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 2 glasses

Tamarind – 1 big lemon size

Green chilli – 4

Curry leaves – 15-20

Dry red chilli – 2

Chana dal – 1 spoon

Urad dal – 1 spoon

Peanuts – 2 spoons

Cumin seeds – 1 spoon

Mustard seeds – 1 spoon

Asafoetida – a pinch

Turmeric – ½ pinch

Salt

Oil

Procedure:

Soak the tamarind in cup water. Heat a vessel and add the tamarind water by squeezing out the tamarind pulp.

Cook the tamarind until you get thick tamarind paste. Remove from heat once done.

Heat another pan and add oil in it. Once the oil is heated add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, chana dal, urad dal, peanuts, green chillies, curry leaves and dry red chillies.

Fry until the dal turns light brown. Now add turmeric and asafetida into the seasoning.

Remove from heat after 2-3 mins.

Now add the seasoning and tamarind pulp to the rice. Add salt as per taste and mix properly.