Sometimes it becomes big challenge for me to come up with a nice lunch which can be carried in lunch boxes. It has to be fast (as I get only 2 hrs to cook both lunch & breakfast, eat and get ready), not repetitive, and also taste good when reheated. So I often end up making things like tomato rice, lemon rice, avrekaLu rice, puliyogare etc. But it gets really boring after a while. I don’t like to cook ahead, like previous day and rice-dal combination are very messy to eat at office. We are not yet adjusted to eating out, I never did it even when I was in India and here I don’t think we have enough options to suit our palate and budget. So whenever I find any such rice items that suit my lunch boxes, I try them.
This is one such item I found in Kannada magazine. I started buying gooseberry frequently after I discovered nellikayi saru. So I always have a pack in my freezer. So putting this whole dish together is a breeze. Its a nice change to the puliyogare. I have been cooking this for a while now, but squeezing in time to take this picture was another circus for me. Finally I am glad it is here :).
The fastest way to cook this is
– Keep rice and gooseberries in pressure cooker to cook. The rice from previous day can be used (although I prefer cooking fresh rice)
– When that is cooking, get everything else like spice powder etc ready, so once rice is cooked, you can put the dish together in minutes.
PS: This is not any traditional recipe, although it has many similarities to “traditional puliyogare” – if there is any such thing!!!.
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked rice(make sure grains are separate)
3 big amla
1/2 tbl spn + 1 tea spn chana dal
1/2 tbl spn urad dal
1/2 tbl spn black sesame seeds
1 tbl spn dessicated coconut
1/2 tea spn fenugreek seeds
4 red chilies
1 tea spn jaggery
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (increase the amount if you wish to make more sour)
1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves
1 tbl spn peanuts
Oil/ghee
Salt
Method:
Cook the amla in pressure cooker(for fast cooking). I cooked it along with rice in pressure cooker when I was making rice. Discard the seeds. Crush the pulp slightly. I like some small pieces because it enhances taste.
Heat oil and add 1/2 tbl spn chana dal, urad dal, black sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds, dessicated coconut and red chillies. Take care not to burn anything, you can fry them one by one if you wish. Grind to a powder along with jaggery.
Heat oil and add peanuts, 1 tea spn chana dal. When they are fried, add mustard. When mustard starts popping, add curry leaves. Add amla, tamarind exact, 1/4 cup water, salt and let it cook for few minutes till it becomes thick. Now add the ground powder and cook for 1-2mins.
Finally add the rice and mix well.
Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 25 mins
Thanks for posting this. Just now I was wondering what to do with frozen amlas I have here. Can amlas go into sambar as well?
Shilpa: Jennifer, I haven’t seen amla’s in sambar yet. But I do have a amla saru recipe on the blog(linked in post). Try that out, its simply amazing.
looks delicious,..
Looks so yummy…
puliogare looks yummy shilpa..its amazing how you come up with such innovative dishes..great entry!!
Nellikai puliyogare looks yummy. I am sure it must hv tasted nice with those berry pcs in the rice. Bookmarked.
Dear Shilpa,
This is really a simple and nice recipe. It’s an ideal dish to give it to the children as the Indian Gooseberry is the richest source of Vit.C. Thanks a ton.Will surely give it a quick try as I have the amla in my fridge.
Hi Shilpa
This looks really nice and its tempting me to try soon. Thanks for sharing.
So beautiful! Lucky to get Nellikai. I don’t like frozen ones. Will try and look for fresh ones here. Great recipe!
I will post mt last today and will be on blogging break from Friday, will be back in Sept. Take care, hugs to you until then. Keep on blogging!:))
Mmm….must be tangy and delicious. I think I might try this with tomatillos that I have in the fridge (tomatillos are related to gooseberries!)
wowieeeeee! that sure sounds delicious! Thank You for this lovely rcp, will make it soon 😉
Shilpa: Ohh Richa, thanks for reminding me to post this. It kept on slipping out of my mind :).
How I wish I could cook up such lovely things too.. U really make long for such lovely rice dishes and the pickes you keep making!!
Shilpa, that looks gorgeous 🙂
Shilpa, I just love amlas…..we have always made pickles, sharbat out of amlas but never heard of rice. I hope I get frozen amlas in UK, so that I can try this amazing dish
Fantastic shilpa…..i recently posted puliyogare recipe on my blog…..this sure looks different with the goose berries….and here in pune we get really large goose berries…i dunno i guess theres a season when u might b able to find them i think…..but next time i c gooseberries…i m sure gonna try this one!
Veda
sounds nice because I love amlas in any form but mostly end up taking them in the vegetable juice i have every day when in season here in India. I was trying to learn the variations in rice recipes from a south Indian colleague. I really liked the coconut rice she brought to the office. I have several recipes on rice I have cooked up. Will share them soon.
this is yummy rice dish. nice post.
I had never heard of nellikayi puliyogre shilpa,this is really new to me,i m sure it tastes good.
A very different recipe, Shilpa. Thanks for sharing.
Great Recipe. You have a great blog
http://ramkicooks.blogspot.com/2008/04/1001-south-indian-variety-rice.html
Oops..
I meant to add I faced the same problem and found out that it is actually easy to cook up numerous variations with just one vessel. I’ve listed the different rice varieties in the One page cookbook at http://ramkicooks.blogspot.com/2008/04/1001-south-indian-variety-rice.html
a) We make Puliyogare with same masaala and Tamarind base. This should be a good variation.
B) Does Nellikaye mean the small g.berries which children love to eat..the size of large peanuts……………..or larger ones, T.Tennis balla size, from which we make pickles ?
c) This recipe should work equally well with Aambado and the largeer G.berry ridged GB of a small mango size . The latter, if I remember right was featured earlier in Chutney preparation.
Best wishes.
Shilpa: Its the bigger one with which we make pickles(same as the one featured in pickle preparation).
Amla is seasonal. What can one substitute for it?
Shilpa: You can make it plain, without amla.
i have to try this with frozen gooseberry. it must’ve tasted wonderful i miss my mom’s gooseberry pickles
Hi,Very interesting recipe,never heard of using nellikayi in rice ever,looks good,will try it sometime…..:)
Where do you get frozen amla?
Shilpa: Indian store.
Thts wonderful…
i am gonna try this out seems tasty .thank u!
Hi Shilpa, Tried this when I went to India. Was absolutely yummy. Thanks!
thanks for this recipe. got a pack of gooseberry instead of cut mangoes. googled and clicked on this recipe.let me try this out and send u the comments again. i always like the mango rice which is spicy and sour.this looks similar. can’t wait to try it out. thanks again. yummy !!
Hi today morning I tried this recipe. It came out delicious and awesome.. Very happy that I got a tasty as well as a healthy recipe. Thx for posting this recipe.
Shilpa, please tell me how to salt whole amlas for preservation? What is the proportion of salt to amlas, and water?
We haven’t salted amlas anytime. I think the salted water should come a little above amlas.