Hello dear readers, are you ready for another marathon, the third one this year? Blogging Marathon # 3 starts today and just like last time, we have a theme. This time I chose ongoing events.  All the recipes I post during these 7 days will be for an ongoing food event. Just like last time, there was an overwhelming response to the marathon and Valli, split the marathoners into two groups. I was one of the 11 members to respond to Valli’s announcement and I am in group 1. The second group will start their marathon tomorrow. If you would like to know about the second group, check Valli’s blog for their details. Let’s have fun, cooking up a storm for the next seven days!

Few days ago, one of the members in an online community shared a recipe for carrot pulihora. It sounded interesting. I normally don’t make pulihora at home. U is not very fond of it and I probably made it 2-3 times in my whole life. I do make tamarind pulihora whenever I bring some pulihora pulusu/paste from India. That use to be my comfort food, a quick lunch for myself or a quick dinner when I was alone. When I saw announcement for twist to traditional pulihora, I wanted to try carrot pulihora.  I made it for lunch today and it turned out pretty good! Not bad at all… a variation to traditional lime pulihora and it tasted a lot like mango pulihora prepared with not very sour raw mango. This is my entry to Twist the traditional: Pulihora.

Total Time: 45 minutes (includes time to cook white rice)
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 1
Note: Measuring cup used here is the one that comes with the rice cooker

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Basmati Rice or rice of your preference
• 1 Carrot grated or 1 cup grated Carrot
• 1 Lime juiced or 2 ½ – 3 tbsp. Lime juice
• ¾ tsp. – 1 tsp. Salt

Tempering/Tadka

• 1 tbsp. Oil
• ½ tbsp. Chana Dal soaked
• ¼ tsp. Mustard
• ¼ tsp. Cumin/Jeera
• 1 Dry Chili
• 3-4 Curry Leaves
• 2-3 Green Chilies split into two
• Pinch of Turmeric

Preparation:

• Wash and cook rice. I use 1: 1 ½ rice to water ratio to cook the rice.
• Wash and soak chana dal.
• Grate carrot and soak it in lime juice and salt.
• Once the rice is done, transfer it to a platter or a wide mouth bowl and let it cool.
• Add the carrot lime juice mixture to rice and mix it well.
• Heat oil in a small skillet and fry the soaked chana dal. When it turns light brown add mustard, cumin and red chili.
• When the seeds splutter, add curry leaves, green chilies and a pinch of turmeric. If making in large quantity, my mom adds a little bit of salt to the tadka to saltine the green chilies.
• Pour the tadka over the rice and mix well.
• Serve with any gravy or can be eaten as it is. I like pulihora with some chicken shorva or tomato shorva. I also like it with some yogurt and sometime I like without any side dish, just the pulihora.

This month that year:
I like what PJ does for all her posts, this day that year.  I thought I would do this month that year when I post the first post every month.
The recipes I posted this month in 2009 and in 2010
Now over to my fellow marathoners,
30 Minutes Meals: Gayathri Anand
Baked Goods: Monika,
For On Going Events: Gayathri Kumar
Kids Friendly: PJ, Savitha, Smitha, Srivalli, Veena Aravind
Rice Varieties: Champa, Divya, Padma