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
  1. Cook your rice, and set it aside to cool.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

pulihora