Tomatillo Rice - Spiced with Coconut & mustard

I am an Indian from Southern part of India.
That classifies me as a South Indian.
South Indians are notorious for couple of things.
We are dark skinned people - on an average. There are very light skinned South Indians too.
And we are the greatest rice eaters in the world or maybe second greatest compared to Chinese? - not so sure.
And something comes naturally to us by the virtue of being a South Indian.
Show us anything in this world, we can make rice out of it. Yes, anything. I could be exaggerating a bit, but not too much. I have 27 rice recipes on this blog excluding this one. Go figure.
My mother made this kind of rice but she used lime juice to get the tartness. Since tomatillo is so tart, I thought why not use that instead? See - didn't I tell you that we can make rice out of anything?

One Year back - Whole Wheat Quinoa sourdough Bread, Bread baking basics
Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups uncooked (I used Sona masoori but basmati will work fine too)
Oil - 6 - 8 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - couple of big pinches
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp or to taste (Or use about 18 - 20 red chillies instead)
Tomatillo - 1 pound or about 12 small to medium ones
Coconut - grated 1 cup or more
Black Mustard seeds - 2 1/2 tsp divided use
Hing/asafoetida - couple of big pinches
Curry leaves - few
Chana dal / Bengal gram dal - 2 TBSP
Urad dal /Black gram dal - 2 TBSP
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Red chillies broken - 2
Cilantro - about 1/4 cup chopped

Method:
Wash, rinse and cook rice in enough water with turmeric and a pinch of salt. After it is cooked and have rested for about 20 minutes, fluff with a fork and spread to cool. In a blender, take coconut, red chillies or the powder, hing/asafoetida and 2 tsp of the black mustard seeds. Grind into a thick paste without adding water. Clean the tomatillos and quarter them. Add the tomatillo quarters to the blender jar and turn on to make a rough puree. Set aside.

In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add the remaining 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds. When they pop, add the broken red chillies, curry leaves, chana dal, urad dal, peanuts and let them all toast. Add the paste in the blender and sprinkle some salt. Mix and let all the water evaporate. Keep stirring occasionally to prevent burning. When most of the water has evaporated and the paste is thick, add the cooled rice. Mix well and adjust the salt if required. Garnish with cilantro and turn off the heat. Serve at room temperature. This rice tastes best few hours after it is made.

Enjoy. Pin It