My Cooking Escapades - Part 4

Is it just me or having I been cooking way too much this past week? If I am not wrong, I've already cooked three recipes this week :D(not necessarily posted all 3 u see - I post the recipes only if the 'experiment' turns out well') :D


Maybe I should have considered a career in Cooking and gone on to become a chef eh? ;) Highly unlikely with the 'skills' I have :) Anyways...coming to the point, my dad's here ( he works at Bangalore just so u know) on account of the Ugadi holidays and will be staying here till this monday. Having seen my mother's ability to make me cook food, he too wanted to be my master and thus came into existence my fourth cooking exploit :D He decided that I should learn cooking a dish well know in Karnataka - Puli pongal. Its quite easy to make and very yummy too :)

List of things required(for 4 people):
1. Raw rice - 200 gm
2. Tamarind Juice - extracted from 40 gm of Tamarind
3. Channa Dal - 20 gm
4. Red chilli ( dried) 4 to 5 - refer picture below for a better understanding ;)
5. Curry Leaves
6. Cumin seeds + Mustard
7. Fenugreek - one tablespoon

Preparation:

How to prepare the tamarind juice
1. Soak the tamarind in about 200 ml water and leave it aside for 15 to twenty minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, squeeze the tamarind-soaked water and filter the contents to get the juice.

Preparing the Puli Pongal
1. Take some oil in a frying pan and put the cumin seeds, mustard, fenugreek, channa dal, red chilli and curry leaves and fry the contents for 2 min.
2. Now add 100 ml of water ( be careful as the contents can pop out of the pan when water mixes with oil) and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Now mix the contents of the frying pan with the rice in a large tawa and let the contents cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Next, add the tamarind juice, salt and a little oil to the tawa and keep stirring the contents on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
5. Once the contents are well mixed, let the food cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes and there u go, the puli pongal is ready.

This particular dish tastes best if its cooked with lots of water and then consumed immediately. But u can also keep the contents in the refrigerator if u are not able to finish the food in a single go :D


Let me know how it tastes :) Happy eating!


Cheers,
Karthik Venkatachalapathi