Tamarind Rice (Puliyogare): Karnataka Temple Preparation

Ingredients

• For the gojju (tamarind paste)
• 100 g tamarind, soaked and extracted into a thick pulp
• 40 g jaggery, broken into small pieces
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 10–12 curry leaves, fresh
• 4–6 dried red chillies, whole
• 60 g peanuts, dry-roasted
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, dry-roasted
• ¼ tsp asafoetida
• 3 tbsp neutral oil, for cooking and storing the gojju
• For the rice
• 400 g long-grain or medium-grain white rice, cooked and spread to cool to warm

Method

1. 1
   Soak the tamarind in 250 ml warm water for 15 minutes, using warm rather than cold water so the pulp softens quickly and releases its full depth of flavour into the liquid. Work the pulp with your fingers until it slackens completely, then strain through a sieve, pressing firmly to extract a thick, lump-free concentrate and discard the fibrous residue. The extract should be dense and deeply amber — thin, watery extract will not reduce to a proper gojju.
2. 2
   Heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium flame and add the mustard seeds, waiting until they crackle and pop so you know the oil is hot enough to draw out the spice from everything that follows. Add the dried red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds until the leaves blister and turn translucent at the edges, at which point their volatile oils have passed into the fat and will carry through the entire gojju.
3. 3
   Pour in the tamarind extract, add the jaggery, and stir to combine; reduce over a medium flame, stirring regularly so the sugars in the jaggery do not catch and scorch at the base before the water has driven off. Continue until the mixture thickens to a dense, jam-like paste that pulls away from the sides of the pan, then add the asafoetida, the dry-roasted peanuts, and the dry-roasted sesame seeds, stir through, and remove from the heat. This is the gojju; it may be stored submerged in oil for several weeks.
4. 4
   Cook the rice by your standard method, then spread it on a wide tray in an even layer and allow it to cool until it is warm to the touch — not hot, not cold — so the grains have firmed enough to hold their shape under the gojju without clumping. Hot rice drives off the tamarind's volatile aromatic compounds; cold rice will not absorb the gojju evenly. This is where the dish lives or dies.
5. 5
   Spoon the gojju over the warm rice in measured amounts, beginning conservatively because the paste is intensely concentrated and excess cannot be undone. Using a wide, flat implement, fold the gojju through the rice with a deliberate cutting-and-folding motion rather than stirring in circles, so the grains stay whole and separate instead of breaking down into a gluey mass. Continue folding until every grain is evenly coated and the rice shows a uniform deep rust-brown with no pale streaks remaining.
6. 6
   Taste for balance: the finish should carry sour, spice, and sweetness in that order, with the peanuts providing an audible crunch against the dressed grains. Adjust with a little more gojju if the sour note is insufficiently present.