Pulikaachal,Puliyodharai,Puliyodhara

Egg Free Vegetarian

Pulikaachal is a thick paste base for making puliyodharai ,a traditional feast in Tamil Nadu.

I love Puliyodhari because my mom is a big expert in making the pulikaachal. She prepares the pulikaachal as close to the prasadam from Perumal temple. My friends too love her style of Puliyodharai. Till date, after my marriage, whenever I visit my mom, puliyodharai would be one in my bucket list menu. Eventually I too learnt Pulikaachal from my mom for the most apparent reason that this can stay alive for a minimum of 4 weeks and saves my time to get lazy or concentrate on other times – yeah you guessed right - what a mom can do other items rather than reading and understanding primary school books.!!!

So – you can consider Puliyodharai as a prime guardian of your kitchen during the exam week

Ingredients:

1 Big Lemon Sized ball of Tamarind

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Jaggery grated - 1 tsp

Salt to taste.

Raw Rice - 1 cup

For Grinding:

Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp

Red Chilli -6 Nos

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

For Seasoning:

Gingeley Oil - 4 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Channa Daal ( Kadalai Paruppu) - 1 tsp

Ulundu ( Split Urid) - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 spring

Asafoetida/Hing/ Perungayam - 1 pinch

Peanuts - 1 cup or 4 tbsp roasted.

Red Chilli - 3 Nos

Making of Pulikaachal Dry Powder:

Heat the Pan and dry fry the coriander seeds,fenugreek seeds and red chili. Keep it aside.

After allowing them to cool to room temperature, Take all the fried ingredients into a mixer grinder and grind it to a powder ( no lumps) (should be dry)

Making Rice For Puliyodharai:

Take 1 cup of Raw rice and wash 2 to 3 times.
Put the rice in a pressure cooker.
Add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tbsp of gingeley oil.
Pressure cook it for 2 to 3 whistles.
Let the cooker cool off.
Take a big plate/bowl and transfer rice and spread along evenly to cool off. This is to allow the rice to get separated from each other without any stickiness.

Method :

Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice and keep it aside.

Add turmeric powder and add 1 tsp of perungayam( asofoetida).

Add salt in the tamarind water.

Take a heavy bottom pan or Kadai and heat it.

Add 2 tbsp of gingeley oil and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds starts bursting, add Ulundu ( Urid Daal) and Kadalai paruppu ( Channa Daal).

Then add Curry leaves,Red Chili ( cut into multiple pieces) and fry until their colour change to brown.

Now add the tamarind water.

Let the mixture boil till raw smell of tamarind takes off. Allow 10 minutes for this step.

Now add the ground Pulikaachal powder to the Kadai and add the roasted peanuts and cook it in a low flame till the contents consistently become thick.