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South Indian · Indian

Pulihora (Andhra tamarind rice)

Vegetarian

పులిహోర · pulihōra

Cooled rice tossed with a sour, peppery tamarind paste cooked down in sesame oil with mustard seeds, lentils, peanuts, chillies and curry leaves. The festival and temple rice of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Pulihora (Andhra tamarind rice) is a South Indian rice dish, ready in about 1 hour 25 minutes and made with long-grain white rice, tamarind and gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil). It serves 4 and is rated easy to cook.

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Prep
20 min
Cook
35 min
Rest
30 min
Total
1 h 25 min
Serves
4
Level
Easy
Calories
573

Ingredients

4 servings

For the rice

For the tamarind paste

For the spice powder

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Cook the rice in the water until each grain is tender but separate, about 15 minutes. Spread it on a wide plate, sprinkle with the turmeric (opens in a new tab) and 1 tbsp gingelly oil (opens in a new tab) and fluff gently so the grains stay whole. Leave to cool completely.

    Food safety: Cooked rice can carry Bacillus cereus spores that survive cooking; cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate it within an hour.

  2. Step 2

    Squeeze the soaked tamarind (opens in a new tab) well in its water and pass it through a sieve, pressing the pulp through. Discard the fibres. You should have about 250 ml of thick tamarind extract.

    Liquid being strained through a sieve
    How it looks · Photo: Katerina Holmes on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Dry-roast the fenugreek (opens in a new tab) seeds, sesame seeds (opens in a new tab) and ½ tsp mustard seeds (opens in a new tab) in a small pan over low heat until the sesame is golden and the fenugreek turns reddish, 2–3 minutes. Cool and grind to a fine powder.

    Fenugreek turns bitter if it goes past reddish-brown.

  4. Step 4

    Heat 4 tbsp gingelly oil (opens in a new tab) in a frying pan. Add 1 tsp mustard seeds (opens in a new tab) and let them pop, then the chana dal (opens in a new tab), urad (opens in a new tab) dal and peanuts (opens in a new tab). Fry until the dals are golden and the peanuts crackle. Add the dried and green chillies, ginger, curry leaves (opens in a new tab) and asafoetida (opens in a new tab) and fry for a few seconds.

  5. Step 5

    Pour in the tamarind (opens in a new tab) extract with the turmeric (opens in a new tab), jaggery and salt. Simmer, stirring now and then, until it reduces to a thick, glossy paste and the oil starts to separate at the edges.

    • 10 min
    • medium-low heat

    The paste is ready when a line drawn through it with a spoon stays open.

  6. Step 6

    Add the tamarind paste (opens in a new tab) to the cooled rice with half the spice powder. Mix gently with your hands or a flat spoon until every grain is coated. Taste and add more powder or salt.

    • 3 min

  7. Step 7

    Leave the pulihora to rest for at least 30 minutes so the rice absorbs the paste; it tastes better still after a few hours.

    About this dish

    Origin
    Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India · Well documentedTamarind rice is made across South India; Telugu pulihora is usually sharper and less spiced than Tamil puliyodarai, and often finished with a little raw mustard paste or fenugreek powder.More food from India
    Dish
    Lunch · Rice dishes · Main courses
    Cooking method
    Boiled, Stir-fried, Toasted
    Taste
    tangy, spicy (chilli heat), nutty, savoury
    Diet
    Vegan · Dairy-free
    All labelsVegan · Plant-based · Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Dairy-free · Egg-free · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free
    Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
    Good for
    Festive & celebration · Portable / lunchbox · Make-ahead · Budget-friendly
    Cook more with
    Long-grain white rice · Tamarind · Gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil) · Turmeric · Mustard seeds · Chana dal (split bengal gram)
    Techniques
    Toasting · Stir-frying · Boiling · Simmering · Spice roasting (dry-roasting)

    Allergens

    • Contains: Peanutsfrom peanuts
    • May contain: Wheatfrom asafoetida
    • May contain: Glutenfrom asafoetida
    • Contains: Sesamefrom gingelly oil (untoasted sesame oil), sesame seeds
    • Contains: Mustardfrom mustard seeds

    Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

    Nutrition

    573 kcal per serving

    Estimated

    1 serving ≈ 349 g · recipe makes 4

    Where the energy comes from

    • Protein 8%
    • Carbohydrate 54%
    • Fat 38%
    Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
    NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
    Energy573 kcal164 kcal
    Protein10.9 g3.1 g
    Carbohydrate78.8 g22.6 g
    Net carbohydrate74.1 g21.2 g
    Sugars8.5 g2.4 g
    Added sugars2.4 g0.7 g
    Fibre4.6 g1.3 g
    Fat24.5 g7 g
    Saturated fat3.5 g1 g
    Trans fat——
    Cholesterol0 mg0 mg
    Sodium892 mg255 mg
    Salt equivalent2.2 g0.6 g
    Vitamins & minerals per serving
    Potassium
    400 mg
    Calcium
    98 mg
    Iron
    5.7 mg
    Magnesium
    80 mg
    Vitamin A (RAE)
    29 µg
    Vitamin C
    12 mg
    Vitamin D
    0 µg
    Vitamin B12
    0 µg
    Folate (DFE)
    347 µg

    How these numbers were made

    • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
    • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
    • Optional ingredients are not included: fresh ginger.
    • Not counted (tiny amounts or “to taste”): curry leaves, asafoetida.
    • Chana dal (split bengal gram): Whole raw chickpeas / bengal gram (FDC 173756) used as a stand-in for split, skinned desi chickpeas; the composition is very close.
    • Jaggery / palm sugar: Brown sugar (FDC 168833) used as a stand-in for unrefined cane jaggery and palm sugar.
    • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
    • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

    Good to know

    Tips

    • The tamarind paste keeps for 2 weeks in a clean jar in the fridge; mix it into fresh rice whenever you need it.
    • For travel, Andhra cooks make pulihora a little more sour and salty than for the table, as the flavours soften as it sits.

    Common mistakes

    • Mixing the paste into hot rice, which turns it mushy.
    • Not reducing the tamarind enough, which leaves the rice wet and raw-tasting.

    Serve with

    • Serve with curd (yoghurt), appadam and a spoon of avakaya or gongura pachadi.

    Food safety

    • Cooked rice can carry Bacillus cereus spores that survive cooking; cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate it within an hour.

    Storage

    • Keeps 1 day at cool room temperature in a covered container, or 2 days refrigerated.

    Reheating

    • Usually eaten at room temperature; if chilled, warm gently until steaming hot.

    Variations

    • Mamidikaya pulihora: Grated raw green mango replaces the tamarind for a fresh, sharp sourness.
    • Nimmakaya pulihora: Lemon juice is stirred in off the heat instead of tamarind; closer to lemon rice.
    Is pulihora the same as puliyodarai?

    They are close cousins. Tamil puliyodarai usually uses more roasted spice powder (coriander, chana dal, pepper), while Telugu pulihora relies more on the sourness of tamarind, the heat of chillies and a hint of mustard and fenugreek.

    Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

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    What the dish is built around

    Main ingredient

    Used in step 1

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