Puliyogare: What Makes this South Indian Rice Dish a Hot Favourite?

^{Image Credits: Plavaneeta Borah}My stocks always went up during lunch time trading (not the Dalal street variety) when my lunch box was filled to the brim with Puliyogare (or Puliyodharai in Tamil Nadu). Most of my classmates would be happy to trade anything for a few spoonfuls of this moist, flavourful delicacy. To call this tamarind rice for want of a better description, might actually be the greatest injustice to describe a dish that is very deep rooted in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s ‘foodscape’.Tamarind might be the major ingredient for this rice dish, but it’s the interplay of a whole bunch of spices and generous quantities of sesame oil that lend this dish its rich almost complex flavours. From Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to Tirumala (Tirupati), Puliyogare is also a popular temple food that is offered as ‘Temple prasad’. The Tirumala temple also has a few other iterations that are served on special occasions – like the Yellorai (sesame rice without tamarind) and Molagorai (pepper rice without tamarind) that follow a similar cooking style. The classic Puliyogare is spicy yet tangy and it tastes better a few hours after its cooked. This might well be why it is a standard offering at many temples and why it’s always been a preferred option for road trips and lunch boxes way before microwave ovens became a norm at office pantries. It’s also a meal in itself like a biryani and is served with appalams (in Tamil Nadu) or sandige (rice crackers) in Karnataka.
 
The Puliyogare is one of those rare South Indian dishes that tastes good at room temperature and almost an exception in Karnataka where you find quite a few dishes with a ‘Bisi’ (hot in Kannada) prefix. The Puliyogare certainly doesn’t taste the same across South India (it’s also served in many homes in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana). The Mysore version incorporates an extra dose of jaggery and also features desiccated coconut while some Andhra versions are flavoured with mustard oil. In Tamil Nadu, this dish is interpreted in many ways based on the cooking process – from the quick-fix Puli Saatham (literally tamarind rice) to the more laborious Puliyotharai. The Srirangam temple’s Puliyotharai is probably the most delicious you can find at any temple.The Iyengars (in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) love their Puliyogare, it’s an integral part of festive menus and their wedding feasts. There’s Puliyogare point in the Basuvangudi area in Bengaluru, a small eatery that serves an authentic Mysore Iyengar version. Then there are brands like MTR that have packaged versions of the Puliyogare mix (both paste and powder versions) that make it somewhat simpler for first-timers to make a Puliyogare in quick time. The Iyengars in Tamil Nadu prefer using a paste – (Puli Kaachal) which has a similar shelf as home-made pickles. Viji Varadarajan, a well-known culinary expert and author, believes that the Puliyogare is a prime example of South Indian-style ‘slow food’ – where the flavours get better a few hours after the dish is cooked. Her flavourful recipe slants more towards the Iyer version in Tamil Nadu and is relatively easy to make:Puliyodharai Sadham
(Recipe courtesy: Viji Varadarajan – Culinary expert and author)Ingredients:2 cups rice
½ cup thick tamarind pulp
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp asafoetida powder
½ cup roasted peanuts, skinned (optional)
½ cup sesame oil
2 tsp saltFor The Seasoning -
¼ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp Bengal gram/chana dal
5 dried red chillies, halved
15 curry leavesMethod:1. Cook the rice in 5 cups of water; each grain of the cooked rice should be separate. Then set aside to cool.
2. Heat a tablespoon of oil, add the mustard to pop. Add the Bengal gram, stir for 10 seconds until it turns golden.
3. Add the chillies and fry till it turns a bright red. Add the peanuts and sauté for 20 seconds.
4. Add tamarind pulp, a cup of water, turmeric powder, asafetida powder and salt. Cover and simmer over a medium flame for 5-7 minutes.
5. Open the lid and cook until it becomes a thick sauce. Add the remaining oil and take it off the stove. This is called 'puli kaachal'.
6. Mix the sauce and rice well without mashing it. Wet the curry leaves, crush and add. Stir for 5 seconds. Serve after two hours and add ½ teaspoon of jaggery to balance the hot and tangy flavour of the tamarind rice.