Tamarind Rice

Tamarind rice is one of my favourite dish.  I have tried different ways of making this dish.  As I was browsing different food channels on youtube I came across a channel Siri's Medi Kitchen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2QR_K67_Wg  which showed an easiest and delicious way to make it.  You can watch her video below to see how its done.

I tried it and it turned out excellent!!  I will post the ingredients and method.  

Ingredients for the tamarind paste:

Rice - 1 cup
Tamarind - 30g
Oil - 3 tbsp

Peanuts - 3 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Water - 250 ml

Dried red chillies - 2

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1 1/4 tsp

Ingredients for spice powder:

Chana dal - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Dried red chillies - 4 Kashmiri chillies

Sesame seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Ingredients for seasoning:

Oil - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Cook rice with 2 1/2 cups water and set aside.

Soak tamarind in 250 ml water for half an hour.  Squeeze the tamarind pulp and discard.

In a pot or a wok heat 3 tbsp oil.  Add peanuts and fry until the peanuts are slightly brown.  To this add Chana dal, urad dal and mustard seeds.  Close with lid when mustard seeds start popping.  Take it off stove and add green chillies, red chillies and curry leaves.  Put the pot back on stove and add tamarind extract.  Close with lid and boil for 5 minutes until the tamarind water turns into a paste or sauce like consistency.

Set the tamarind sauce aside to cool.

To make the spice powder, heat a saucepan or any pot and roast the lentils (urad dal and chana dal), coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and dried red chillies. After the lentils turn slightly brown add sesame seeds and asafoetida and turn off stove.  Powder the roast spices and lentils.

Heat a saucepan and add 1 tsp oil. To this add 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and turn off heat.

To the cooked rice first add the oil and turmeric mix.  Mix and then add the spice powder.  Mix thoroughly with your hands until all of the spices are incorporated into the rice. To this add tamarind sauce and mix well.  Now the tamarind rice is ready to serve.

I have posted the video below so you can see how it is made.