Cracked Rice Puliyodarai. Broken Rice Puliyodare.

My Grandma’s Recipe! Hope you’ll know how I intensify the flavour of my Puliodari…(quick refresh – make it previous day night, pack tightly in a narrow vessel…serve minimum 7 hours later) The same thumb rule is followed here, only thing is we are using ‘cracked rice’ in place of raw whole rice! Well…you could ask me, is there anything difference in the taste? Certainly the cracked rice puliyodarai is much more tastier than the regular one. I don’t know whether its because of my grandmother’s magic hands or….simply the broken rice….takes all the flavour and intensifies the aroma and makes it real feast! Yet a debated question in the family! Well…anyway, here it goes….

One can buy commercially cracked raw rice/cracked raw rice for this recipe. Or if you just only have whole rice…..dont panic. Its very simple to crack it down. Wash the whole rice several times and let it get well soaked in water for 20 minutes. Then spread them in a clean cloth or plate or kitchen tissues and sun dry them. Again if it is severe winter out….no worries. Dry roast the rice in medium heated pan. Do not toast till it turns color. The rice should be without moisture and pale white. Just roast to remove moiture! Then using a blender crack the rice. Seive away the amorphous rice powder. Just retain the cracked/broken rice.

Ingredients:

Tamarind large lemon size
Sesame oil 1 small cup
Mustard seeds 1/2 + 1/2 spoon
Curry leaves few
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Chana dal 2 spoons
Urad dal 2 spoons
Dry red chilies 10
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Cashew nuts 10 halved
Salt
Broken Rice 1 cup

To Be Roasted Each Separately And Powdered Together:(Puliyodarai Podi)

Coriander seeds 1 spoon
Chana dal 1 spoon
Curry leaves 2 twigs
Fenugreek seeds 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 6-8
Asafoetida 1 spoon.

Store this powder in air tight container.

In a bowl, soak tamarind in one cup of water for 1-2 hours. In a blender run this along with the same soaked water and extract a thick tamarind milk.

In a heavy bottomed non-stick pan, heat little oil. Add mustard, chana dal, Urad dal, cashew nuts, asafoetida, dry red chilies and curry leaves. Add one by one each in the above said sequence. First add mustard and wait till it splutters. Next dal and cashew….wait till they get fried up to reddish color. Now add curry leaves….fry them till crisp.

Now add salt, turmeric to this and followed by thick tamarind milk. Cover and cook on medium flame. Maybe it takes time. More than 45 minutes or so.

Once the tamarind milk consolidates to thick paste add broken rice and 2 cups of water. Cover and cook over low-medium heat.

When the rice is almost done,add the puliyodarai podi. Mix well, one could run few spoons of warm sesame oil now.

Serve warm! Or bring it to room temperature and pack in a compact vessel! Serve after 4-7 hours. Serves best for travel & picnic!