I regret that my first post, and our first collective actual food post, is not really about chaat. But the truth is that I was craving some Andhra-style pulihora, and I already had the stuff laying around the house.
Some disclaimers first: I was missing some pretty essential ingredients (curry leaves, dal, chilies), and also these pictures are lousy. Also I did not really measure anything. But I can assure you that while this does not really compare to what a good Telugu amma would make you, it does in fact taste like lemon rice.
Ingredients:
- Black mustard seeds
- Garam masala
- Peanuts
- Rice (I used basmati)
- Salt (I used kosher, but table salt would probably work too)
- Lemon juice (fresh if you can get it)
- Turmeric
Ingredients you should also use, but I did not have:
- Curry leaves
- 2-4 green chilies
- Some dal
- Cook your rice, and set it aside to cool.
- Fry the mustard seeds, peanuts, and garam masala in a little oil for a minute or so, until you can hear the mustard seeds cracking open. (The curry leaves, dal, and chilies should be in there too. Chop the chilies in half first.)
- Once that’s done, pour everything in the pan, oil included, on top of the rice. Mix it in with a wooden spoon or what have you.
- After this, you can go to town with the lemon juice, salt, and turmeric. Use whatever combination of lemon juice and salt seems appropriate to you – it should taste tangy, but not make you squint when you eat it. Add a little of each at a time until it tastes right and you won’t end up with a bowl of something you can’t eat. Do whatever you want with the turmeric; it doesn’t really taste like anything, and mostly just adds color.
- Mix together until the entire bowl of rice is equally yellow and tangy. Eat, preferably with some yogurt on the side, or stirred in. Delicious.
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