Tamarind Rice

The staple food of India is rice. Up until 1970, India was home to nearly 1,10,000 varieties of indegenous rice! Thanks, but no thanks to the Green Revolution, only 6,000 varieties now remain – a result of the green revolution’s emphasis on mono culture and hybrid cropping! Be that as it may, India is known for its sheer variety of rice dishes that are prepared and served, no matter what the occasion – sickness, health, family gathering, festivities, Hindu rituals, offering (naivedya or prasad), weddings, funerals, even as offerings to ancestors and departed souls.

Rice 4 is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in Asia. Rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labor costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate and requires ample water. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems.

Etymologically, the word ‘rice’ is derived from the Tamil word arisi. Indian rice cultivars include long- grained and aromatic Basmati (grown in the North), long and medium-grained Patna rice, and in South India (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) short-grained Sona Masuri (also called as Bangaru theegalu). In the state of Tamil Nadu, the most prized variety is the ponni which is primarily grown in the delta regions of the Kaveri River. In the Western Indian state of Maharashtra, a short grain variety called Ambemohar is very popular. This rice has a characteristic fragrance of the mango blossom.

Rice is typically rinsed before cooking to remove excess starch. Rice may be rinsed repeatedly until the rinse water is clear to improve the texture and taste. Rice may be soaked to decrease cooking time, conserve fuel, minimize exposure to high temperature, and reduce stickiness. Rice may be soaked for 30 minutes up to several hours. Rice is cooked by boiling or steaming, and absorbs water during cooking. Almost all rice recipes in the Bhaga Shastra indicate draining out starch after cooking, before further procedures of making a variety of tasty dishes is followed.

A basic preparation of rice is very simple and easy. However, the procedures to turn them into tasty dishes make it an elaborate affair, as the wide variety of rice dishes described in the recipes below will testify. When combined with milk, jaggery, and honey, it is used to make desserts.

Ingredients To Make Rice:

Rice – ½ padi

Water – 1½ padi

Gingely oil – 3 palam

Ingredients To Make Tamarind Paste:

Water – ½ padi

Tamarind pulp – 6 palam

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice

Salt – 1½ palam

For Tempering:

Gingelly Oil – 6 palam

Red Chilly – 2 palam

Mustard Seeds – ¼ palam

Fenugreek Seeds – ½ r.e

Asafoetida – r.e

Turmeric Powder – ¼ r.e

Curry Leaves – 1 r.e

Method:

1. Heat the water and mix the rice and boil till it gets cooked properly. Drain the excess water. Put the rice on a clean stone surface.When the rice is still hot add the gingelly oil and keep mixing with your hands.

2. Take a lead coated vessel, add the tamarind and water. Squeeze the tamarind as much u can and extract the juice out of it. Discard the seed and pulp. Take the crystal salt and powder it. Add it to the tamarind juice.

3. Take a brass vessel and heat the oil till it gets medium heated. Add red chilly, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida and temper based on the way prescribed in seasoning recipe.

4. To the above tempered mixture add turmeric powder and curry leaves and mix it gently.

5. Then add the tamarind mixture and stir continuously till all the water gets completely absorbed into the mixture.

6. The end mixture should be very thick in consistency. Add the paste to the rice kept on a stone surface and mix it gently .

7. If we tie the mixture in an areca leaf(palm leaf) it will stay good for 10-15 days.

The Hindu compliance body was established under the executive order of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, dated August 14, 2020, order number 10010, under the title Reviving the Hindu Compliance System and Body to create, promote, spread and teach the standard procedures for all products and services that are in compliance Hindu Shastras.