Chintapandu Pulihara

Background Story : I love making pulihara as its simple and delicious. I made this for "Vanabhojanam" [Vanabhojanam is a garden party where people of a community shares their happiness] and all my friends enjoyed it. Nidhi [my duaghter] loved it as i added lots of nuts and pappulu for her.

Ingredients

Any rice - 1 1/2 cups [I prefer sona masoori for Pulihara]
Tamarind paste – lemon sized ball
Oil - 1- 2 tbsp
Green chilies - 8 -10 nos
Red chilies - 5 nos
Ground nuts –
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
Bengal gram - 5 tbsp
Black gram - 2 1/2 tbsp
Asafoetida - 2-3 pinches [I tend to add lots for flavor]
Curry leaves - 2 stems


Procedure:

1) Soak a 2 tsp of Bengal gram Daal for 15 min,
2) Cook rice +Bengal gram daal by adding a little oil so that it doesn’t become sticky.
3) Heat oil in a pan.
4) Add red chilies, Bengal gram, black gram, mustard seeds, groundnuts
5) When the mustard seeds splutter, add asafetida, curry leaves and slit green chilies
6) Add tamarind paste (make the tamarind paste by soaking tamarind in hot water for few min ) and turmeric powder.
7) When the tamarind paste cooks and starts to leave oil, turn off the stove

8) Add this mixture to the already cooked rice, along with salt

Delicious, spicy pulihara ready!