Pulikachal or Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients:

Tamarind	A big Lump as big as lemon or wooden apple
Salt	1.5 tsp
Fenugreek	1 tsp
Red Chillies	10 to 12
Turmeric Powder	1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds	2 tsp
Bengal Gram Dhal	1/4 cups
Sesame Oil	1 ladle full
Asafoetedia	a pinch

Add water little by little to tamarind and prepare a thick juice. Filter and keep the clean tamarind juice.

Soak bengal gram dhal, wash and drain. Fry fenugreek seeds and asafoetedia and break into powder.

Pinch red chillies into small bits of two and three.

Heat a vessel. Pour oil into it. Fry mustard and pinched red chillies. Include soaked bengal gram dhal and scald dry. Add turmeric powder. Pour tamarind juice into it. Add salt and asafoetedia and fenugreek powder and mix. Pinch a few curry leaves and add. Boil well over a slow fire while stirring often to prevent scorching of the vessel. when the sauce thickens and the water evaporates fully, oil will be floating on the top and the sauce will not be sticky. When this consistency is reached, remove from fire and cool.

Note: If more salt is needed, mix powdered salt to taste. Instead of bengal gram dhal, roasted ground nuts may be used. Rub and winnow out the skin and mix with sauce when the tamarind juice is boiling. Also, if raw chundaikai (not dried ones) are available, wash a handful and scald with the seasonings before tamarind juice is added to prepare the sauce.

Note2: For this preparation, use of Kalchatti (stone vessel) enhances taste of preparation.

Preparation of pulikachal rice:
For the given quantity of ingredients, not less than two cups of rice can be cooked. Cook the rice and spread on a plate. Mix 2-3 spoons of raw oil and break the lumps. Pour enough sauce into cooled rice and mix well

Dosai (Par-boiled rice) Batter

For every 3 cups of par-boiled rice, soak 1 cup of black gram dhal, salt to taste and 1 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds. Measure a little less than 3 cups of par-boiled rice. Add a handful of raw rice also with it. Wash well and keep soaked in water. Soak Black gram dhal and Fenugreek seeds together.

After two or three hours, wash rice and remove stones if any. Remove stones from the dhal seperately, as above. Grind rice into a smooth firm paste. Grind the dhal seperately into a smooth spongy mass till it gives a gurgling sound. Mix both with salt.

If dosai has to be prepared soon after, mix a little sour buttermilk with he batter. If dosai's are to be prepared in the evening, prepare the dough in the morning, in which case, there is no need for buttermilk. If batter is to be used on same day do not use the fenugreek seeds. If it is for the next morning, include fenugreek seeds. If it is to be kept for more than 24 hours, first grind rice alone and keep. The next morning, grind the dhal and fenugreek seeds together and mix, and prepare the dosais in the evening. This will make the dosais tasty and not too sour

If Raw rice is used, wash and drain rice and pound. Sift through a coarse sieve and knead into a firm dough. Prepare batter witht he black gram dhal by soaking and grinding and mixing both with salt.

Raw rice can be soaked and ground as a paste and used. For this, boil water and remove from fire. Wash raw rice and put it in that and tightly cover it. When the water gets cooled, pour out the rice and drain all the water. Grind to a smooth firm paste after this. Grind dhal also, mix with salt and proceed.

Note: For raw rice dosai for every 2.5 cups of rice, use 1 cup of black gram dhal. If it is to be made into dosais the next day, include fenugreek seeds.

Note2: If the dhal is of a very good quality and the dosai is not so easy to be taken out from the pan , use less of dhal. i.e. For every 3 cups of raw rice use cup of black gram dhal and for every 3 cups of par-boiled rice use only 3/4th cup of black gram dhal