Spicy Tamarind Rice

The thought of Tamarind rice brings back nostalgic memories of long train journeys with my father, mother, two sisters and our dog. I used to love those train journeys, squabbling with my sisters for window seats, top berths, and whose turn it was to take the dog out for a run during a station stop. Best of all, the train journeys symbolized uninterrupted time for reading, dreaming, watching the urchins at the stations and zipping out to fill water bottles.

With journeys usually spanning a couple of days, if you wanted a decent meal while traveling, you were either reduced to ordering from the dining car or grabbing something that an urchin shoved at you while the train stopped for a few minutes at a station. The dining car experience was best avoided because it entailed a dubiously white-coated attendant bringing a grubby tray of cold rice, watery sambar, sour buttermilk and gooey vegetables at one of the train stations.

Succumbing to the urchins’ persistent sales tactics was an exercise in valor. You never knew what hygiene standards had been observed when the food was cooked and how many times the urchin had stopped on the way to the station to throw stones at stray dogs, while depositing the food on the ground.

Either way, you took your chances eating out while traveling. Or if you were lucky enough to have a mom like mine, you got to eat the yummiest home-made Tamarind rice and potato curry, in addition to devouring Enid Blyton books. 🙂

My mother would make the spicy tamarind sauce in advance – someday, I will post her recipe. Nowadays, we have an easier alternative to home made tamarind sauce – MTRs Puliyogare mix (dehydrated tamarind sauce mix). This is enormously quick and easy. You can get this mix in any self-respecting Indian grocery store.

Here it is – Spicy Tamarind rice made in just 4 minutes flat, if you have pre-cooked rice. I usually use brown rice and my family loves it.

Here is what you need:
1 cup cooked brown rice (you can also use white jasmine rice or white basmati rice)
3 tbsp MTR puliyogare mix
3 tbsp raw peanuts (you can also use cashews and raisins instead) (optional)
2 dry red chili (broken into a halves) (optional)
2-3 tsp olive oil

Here is how you make this:
Cook rice until tender and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add the dry red chili and brown for a minute. Now add the raw peanuts and fry until crisp. Add the MTR mix and immediately add the pre-cooked and cooled rice. Mix well.

Enjoy with yogurt and cucumber raita or plain yogurt.

Healthy Rice Flakes breakfast

Rice flakes, or Poha, as it is called in Hindi, is one of my husband’s favorite breakfast dishes. It is also my favorite dish, simply because it is very very quick and easy to put together on a busy morning and it can also be made healthy and fulfilling by throwing in some crunchy vegetables, as I am usually apt to do. This is also a favorite dish in Western India – my friends from Mumbai make this often for breakfast. The Maharashtrians usually add roasted peanuts for garnish and it tastes simply fantastic with that garnish too.

Here is the all time favorite Poha, made with very little oil. This dish takes just 10 minutes to whip up. Enjoy!

Here is what you need:

1 cup Rice Flakes or Poha
1/2 small chopped onion
4-5 green beans cut into 1″ pieces
1 jalapeno slit
1 habanero slit
1″ piece grated ginger
1/4 chopped green pepper
1/4 chopped red pepper
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp lemon juice
water to moisten the rice flakes
3 tsp olive oil
Here’s how you make this:
Add about 2-3 tbsp water to the rice flakes until just moist (be careful to not add too much water – it will get soggy). Set aside for 5 minutes and chop the vegetables in the meantime.

Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add 1 tsp black mustard seeds. Wait until the seeds pop and add chopped jalapeno and habanero and the grated ginger. Roast for about 20 seconds and add chopped onions. Stir fry for a minute and add the green beans. Fry for another minute. Now add the chopped peppers. Stir fry for another 30 seconds. Now add the moistened rice flakes, salt and turmeric powder. Stir fry for another minute. Take off the fire and sprinkle lemon juice.

If you like it the Maharashtrian way, garnish with roasted and coarsely chopped peanuts. Serve hot.

Serves 2.