Cooking the rice for the puliodarai, and the mixing technique and the mishaps involved in these etc. can all be avoided by following this: 1. Wash, and soak Basmathi or any long grain rice in water for 30 minutes. [ this can be started before making the puliodarai mix] 2. Drain rice completely. Use paper towels to dab off excess water. 3. Add Puliodarai mix (4 tablespoons for one cup of rice ratio, or to whatever is your taste) to the washed,soaked, drained, dry rice in either a microwave'able ceramic bowl, rice cooker bowl, or instant pot inner vessel. Using a wooden spatula, mix the puliodarai mix with the rice gently (without breaking rice grains) so as to uniformly cover all the surfaces of the rice with the puliodarai mix. [ at this point you may let this mix rest a while, like marinating, or skip that] 4. Add water to the rice (use your usual ratio of rice to water depending on the rice type you had picked), and make the rice the usual way --- in the microwave, in the rice cooker, or in the instant pot. Any method is just fine, so long it is your usual long tried & tested method. 5. Let the puliodarai REST for 30 minutes, before opening the lid of Microwave vessel, Rice cooker, or IP. Here is a picture of the top of the cooked rice in puliodarai mix. Separate grains, glistening (oil!) surface are good signs for a well made dish. During the resting period, the rice would absorb any moisture and get even more fluffy. Cooking the rice with the P-mix will avoid the sharp taste of the P-mix on the surface only (as in the usual way of coating the P-mix on separately cooked rice).
Many of the recipes on this thread show how to create a 1. spiced Tadka 2. spiced sauce 3. spiced masala mix of various colors, tastes, textures and mix each with some cooked rice to produce a mixed rice. The Chinese have fried-rice, and these are mixed rices ;-). Making the (pre-washed, soaked, drained) rice coated with the Tadka, Sauce, Masala-mix of most of these recipes will offer the advantages of (1) tempering down the spiciness (2) uniform coating of the rice with the spice (3) better presentation on the plate without broken grains of rice due to mixing errors. The cooking mistakes in making the rice (LINK) would be the downsides, whether one uses precooked rice, or cook the rice with the Tadka/Sauce/Masala.
Thanks for that saffron water spill between layers. Mere read it is enough to rouse curiosity to make and enjoy eating. Regards.
Looks like from 5 * professional chef. Process succinctly described. Para five - I can’t wait for opening the lid to see the glisten and aesthetic presentation..... Thanks and Regards.
If you happen to have a microwave oven at home, you need not wait. Do a small scale experiment at home in a coffee mug, with a saucer for a cover. Wash a couple of tablespoons of rice, drain well, mix your store-bought puliodarai mix, perhaps a teaspoon, and quarter teaspoon of cold pressed sesame oil into it, then add five tablespoons of water --- all in a ceramic coffee mug, cover it with a saucer (also microwaveable) and zap it for 5 minutes at high. Then 15 minutes at 50% microwave power. You'd be surprised by the cup of puliodarai you can make. Rest it for a bit before you can eat. Microwave power differences, voltage drops in the lines etc.. can cause the rice to require more time to cook. You can inspect, and if you see that it is not cooked yet, put it back and give it another few minutes of high power. Making plain rice in a coffee mug as a control experiment to find the right conditions is also a thing to do. You may use this cooked rice to mix with the puliodarai mix (pulikachchal) in the traditional manner, and set it for a side by side comparison of mixing difficulty, rice grain wholeness in presentation, and taste. Publish your results in a peer reviewed journal.
