Black Gram Rice ~ Urad Dal Rice ~ Ulundu Sadam

Urad dal rice is a nutty, spicy and flavorful rice from Tamil cuisine. It is festive food, comfort food and also great for lunch boxes.

The last rice dish for this week is black gram dal rice from cookbook Dakshin. I never tasted this rice before and do not know how it is suppose to taste. I adjusted the spices to suit my palate.

Masala powder prepared with urad dal gave the rice a nutty flavor and black peppercorns gave a unique taste. When eating this rice, it reminded me a lot of temple prasadams (offering to God) with rice.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I do not use hing in my everyday cooking and am not used to its flavor. I always prefer garlic. Though I used hing in this recipe, I used less than ½ the quantity the recipe called for.

The other change I made was using less black peppercorns. The recipe called for 1 ½ teaspoon peppercorns and I used half of it. I felt if one wants more fiery rice, can use up to 1 teaspoon However, I prefer chilies or chili powder for heat and felt ¾ was just good enough for my taste.

Black Gram Rice ~ Urad Dal Rice

A nutty, spicy, flavorful rice with black gram & peppercorn spice mix. It is a comfort food when served with raita.

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian, South Indian, Tamil Cuiisne

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 1 person

Calories:

Ingredients

Main Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked Basmati Rice regular rice can be used
• ½ – ¾ teaspoon Salt
• Masala Powder
• 3 tablespoon Ghee or Butter I used 2 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil
• 10-12 Whole Cashews broken
• 2 small Green Chilies chopped

Masala Powder (Spice Mix)

• 1 ½ – 2 tablespoon Black Gram ~ Urad Dal washed
• 1 ½ - 2 tablespoon Sesame Seeds
• ¾ - 1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
• 1 ½ - 2 tablespoon Coconut Flakes or Dry Coconut

Tempering

• ½ – ¾ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
• ¾ teaspoon Black Gram ~ Urad Dal washed
• ¾ teaspoon Bengal Gram ~ Chana Dal washed
• ⅛ - ¼ teaspoon Hing ~ Asafoetida can used to upto ½ teaspoon but used less than ¼ teaspoon Check notes
• 6-8 Curry Leaves
• 1 Dry Red Chili

Instructions

Cooking Rice

• Cook rice with 1 ¾ cups of water. I used a rice cooker and let the rice cool.

Masala Powder

• Heat a pan to dry roast the ingredients listed under masala powder.
• First add Urad dal and roast for few seconds until it is slightly dry and not wet anymore.
• To the same pan, add peppercorns and sesame seeds. Dry roast until almost light brown.
• Then add coconut flakes and continue roasting until all the ingredients are well roasted.
• Remove from fire and let cool.
• Grind to fine powder and keep aside until ready to use.

Putting it together - Urad Dal Rice

• When rice is cool enough to handle, add masala powder, ½ – ¾ teaspoon salt and mix properly.
• Heat butter and oil in a 9-10” nonstick pan.
• When oil is hot, add cashews and fry until cashews are brown. Remove and keep aside.
• In the same oil/butter add mustard seeds, urad dal, Chana dal, curry leaves, dry chili and hing(if using).
• Once mustard seeds splutter, add green chilies and saute for a minute or two. If not using hing, add crushed garlic at this point.
• Add rice and mix until tempering is blended. Fry for a minute or two until rice is hot and turn off the heat.
• Garnish with cashews and serve with papdams. I ate it as is with some yogurt to the side.

Notes

Measuring cup used is the one that comes with the rice cooker.

I used less than ¼ teaspoon hing and I would always prefer crushed garlic. If you are like me, use about 1-1 ½ teaspoon crushed garlic.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Carbohydrates: 0g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg

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This also goes to this week’s Cooking from Cookbook Challenge.