Chinta Chiguru is nothing but a Tender tamarind leaves in english and in tamil, it is known as Pulian - thazhai. Most of them would have a lovely memories of eating these tangy tender leaves during their childhood days. And in Andhra and Telanga state, these leaves are very much popular during summer and widely used in most of the recipes including veg and non - veg. Some 10 years back, one of my neighbour invited me for lunch and served a traditional Andhra thali which also had chinta chiguru dal ( will post later ) in that. I was amazed by the way of these leaves are used in a regular cooking.
Recently I was discussing about my chinta chiguru experience to my friend and in a couple of days, she bought these leaves for me. Really, I am thankful to her for making me so nostalgic :) Coming to today's recipe, I have prepared a tasty and easy variety rice using these leaves. The leaves are finely chopped and added to the thalimpu is further cooked for a couple of minutes and gently mixed up with a cooked rice to give a tasty tangy rice. I have used basmati rice in this recipe which can be substituted with raw or boiled rice too. Spicy potato fry and fryums are the best side dish for this tangy and yummy rice.
Ingredients :
3/4 Cup Basmati rice ( Any rice can be used )
1 Cup Finely chopped Tender Tamarind leaves
3 Tbsp Oil
3 - 4 Green chillies, Sliced
3 Dry red chillies
1 Tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
1 Tbsp Chana dal / Kadalai parupu
2 Tbsp Ground nuts / Peanuts
6 - 7 Cashews
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
Less than 1/4 Tsp Hing powder / Perungayam powder
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp Water
Method :
Cook basmati rice and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds followed by chana dal, peanuts, cashews, dry red chillies and hing powder.
Add sliced green chillies along with a turmeric powder and saute.
Add finely chopped tender tamarind leaves and mix well.
Now add the required amount of salt and 1 tbsp water.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook in a low flame till the mixture becomes dry.
Now add the cooked rice to the tender tamarind mixture and mix it gently without breaking the rice.
Serve hot.
Serving Options :
Serve with Potato fry or Fryums.
Stay tuned for more Tender Tamarind leaves recipes.......
A fine innovative recipe! I will try it soon as I am staying at Tamilnadu now.
ReplyDeleteThis rice sounds wonderful , I wish I could get these leaves in the Uk to try out the recipe. In the mean time maybe I will try it with baby spinach leaves.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mouthwatering rice dish. When we were young we use to love eating these tender tamarind leaves. Nowadays its difficult to find these trees in Mombasa.
ReplyDeleteNaaku pulihora chaala ishtam..
ReplyDeleteThis one with chinta chiguru is to die for. wish I could find them in Mumbai.