PULIOGARE

I had a friend  whose mother used to make this yummy puliogare. When i was having them in their place it was just nice puliogare. But after few years when i started cooking, it was a different story altogether. i wish i still had contact with my this friend, at least for the sake of recipe :).

In these 5 years of my cooking experience i have tried and tasted many puliogare. Of course tried less, tasted (other's cooking) more. But it never came to that standard. So finally i decided to find a recipe which might work.




I found this recipe online which turned out really nice and also, i think i know the main secret now. Adding all the extra powders in the end while mixing the rice. This recipe is by Veda Murthy of Iyengar's kitchen. 

I messed with  the measurements a bit as i was experimenting and didn't want to make a huge quantity. You may refer to the original recipe for a detailed description.

for gojju
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Dark Tamarind pulp -- 3/4 cup (see recipe for details)
Oil -- 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds -- 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves -- 3 strands
Asafoetida -- 1/2 teaspoon
Red chillies -- 4
Rasam powder -- 4-5 table spoons
Salt -- to taste
Jaggery -- 1/2 cup

for mixing
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Cooked Rice – 2 cups (separate the grains by spreading it on a large plate)
Oil -- 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds –- 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves –- 4-5 strands
Asafoetida (Hing) –- 1/4 teaspoon
Ground nuts -– 1/4 cup
Grated Dry coconut –- 4-5 table spoons
Pulioyogare gojju -– 3 table spoons
Salt to taste

for seasoning
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Black Sesame seeds –- 1 1/2 table spoons
Peppercorns –- 1 tspn
Coriander seeds –- 1 table spoon
Rasam powder –- 2–3 table spoons



Soak the tamarind for a couple of hours, in little water. Next day extract the juice of the tamarind as much as possible and sieve it.

In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat Oil, add mustard (allow spluttering), curry leaves, asafoetida and red chillies. Fry and add the tamarind paste extract. Allow it to boil.

Add rasam powder once it boils. Reduce the flame. Be careful not to burn it. let the paste get concentrated slowly.

Add salt and jaggery and continue to stir. Taste and adjust the salt, sweet and spice(rasam powder or chili powder). Taste should be tangy, spicy and slightly sweet.

The whole boiling process is about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes. The main reason to boil for a long time is to increase the shelf life.
For the right consistency when you lift the ladle, the paste has to slowly fall back in to the pan.

Gojju is ready. The gojju or the paste can be stored in refrigerator up to one year.


To mix it with rice cook rice and separate the grains on a large plate.

Wash the black sesame seeds, dry them well on paper towel. Fry them without oil in a small pan and when it splutters lightly, switch off the flame. Fry the coriander seeds and black peppercorns as well and grind them all together. Add this powder to the rice.

 Add grated dry coconut and rasam powder.

Add the gojju,  mix the rice nicely with hand.

Add the following seasoning.

Heat oil in a small pan, add ground nuts , mustard seeds, asafoetida and  curry leaves,  and allow them to splutter. Add this tempering to rice.Mix again ans serve.

Entering this into aipi's