Puliyodharai / tamarind rice / puliyohara is a rice prepared with tamarind as main ingredient which is popular in south India. How about making puliyodharai with quinoa? Does it sound good? Yes it is a healthy way to eat our favourite food.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – Quinoa
• 1 no – Tamarind (lemon sized)
• 1/4 tsp – Turmeric powder
• 2 cups – Water (for cooking quinoa)
• 1/4 cup – Water (for soaking tamarind)
• Salt to taste

Seasonings:

• 1tbsp - Gingelly oil (sesame oil)
• 1/4 tsp- Mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp – Split black gram / ulunthu
• 1 tbsp – Bengal gram
• 2 no - Dry red chillies
• 2 pinch - Asafoetida
• 5 nos - Curry leaves

Preparation method:

1. Wash and pressure cook quinoa in 2 cups of water for up to 3 whistles or until well cooked. Otherwise cook the quinoa as per instructions given on the packet.Spread cooked quinoa on a wide bowl and let it cool completely.
2. Meanwhile soak tamarind in 1/4 cup or less of water and squeeze of the pulp.
3. Take a wide bowl, add cooked quinoa, tamarind juice, 1/4 tsp turmeric and required salt, mix well and marinate it for  ½ to 1 hour.
4. Heat oil in the pan, season with items given in the list for seasonings. Then add marinated quinoa and cook until raw smell of tamarind goes. It takes approximately 10 to 12 mins to cook. Keep the flame in medium. Simple and yummy quinoa puliyodharai is ready.

Notes:

• Always soak tamarind in 1/4 cup of water or even less than that.
• I did pressure cook quinoa instead of directly cooking on the pot. It came out perfect.
• You can also add peanuts in this recipe while seasoning it.