Puliyogare/Tamrind Rice is a South Indian rice preparation usually eaten as a snack/breakfast. Puli means sour taste and Ogara means rice in Halegannada (old Kannada), thus Puliyogare translates as sour tasting rice. (Source). The rice is usually one of the items prepared during major festivals in South India and is offered as Prasadam in the temples. This is also referred to as Puliogare, Puliyodarai, Pulihora or simply tamarind rice. This rice has a sweet, tangy and spicy combination and the flavor is enhanced by the addition of crunchy peanuts. This rice does not involve addition of any vegetables similar to Lemon…
MethKoot / Menthe Hittu/ Spiced Lentil Powder
The Spiced Lentil powder called as MethKoot/Methi Coot (Marathi/Konkani), Menthe Hittu (Kannada) is basically roasted Lentil, spiced with roasted cumin seeds, fenugreek, ginger, pepper etc and ground to fine powder. Methi or Menthe refers to Fenugreek seeds. Just by itself this is a spicy dry powder with no taste of its own, but once it is mixed with hot rice, dollop of ghee/oil and pinch of salt magic happens and the taste is simply divine. Growing up, we always used to have this powder stacked up in a yellow green container. For me and my brother it used to…
No masala, No Oil Green Chili Lemon Pickle (Achar)
Not so long ago we had one of those lazy weekends where we did not feel like cooking much , did not feel like going to restaurant either and just lazed around, made just plain rice and simple daal. But then when hunger struck us we were left drooling and thinking of different possibilities, options and more yummy stuff to munch along with the plain food. Dear Husband (DH): “Wish we had a simple lemon pickle at least and that would have kicked up a notch of this plain food. We need to make it next time and keep it…