Centuries ago, Sourashtrians migrated from the Sourashtra region in Gujarat to the southern states. There are many historic reasons quoted for their migration. Since then their language and culture has transformed. When they settled down in south, they adapted the southern style cooking into their daily lives. Food we eat today are pretty much same as what is cooked in South Indian households. But there is always a twist and turn in those recipes. There are umpteen popular sourashtrian dishes like Ambat Bhath, Limbu pongal, Gojju, Amti, Sivi but Ambat Bhath is always in the top. Ambat Bhath directly translates to Puli Satham in tamil or Tamarind rice in english. When one of my readers requested this recipe, I called up my mom and wrote to my friends. I was pretty sure that they will give me different recipes. In Salem area, Ambat Bhath is prepared like ‘Dhourav pongal’. And I knew my reader wanted to know how it was prepared around the Madurai area. After checking with two of my friends who hail from Madurai, I finally got the original recipe for Ambat Bhath. So this is for you ‘M’. Sorry I had to make you wait for a while.
How it tasted?
This rice gets its flavor predominantly from tamarind and fenugreek powder. The spices perfectly balances the sourness of tamarind and makes you go for another serving without any guilt. It is a food nirvana in short. Ambat Bhath is usually served with a piece of coconut on the side. A cup of curd will be an added bonus.
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
- Tamarind / Puli – 50 gm (1 big lemon size)
- Water – 1 1/2 cup (for soaking tamarind)
- Sesame / Gingelly Oil / Nal ennai – 3 tbsp + 4 tsps for later use
- Mustard Seeds / Kadugu – 1 tsp
- Cumin Seeds / Jeera – 1/4 tsp
- Bengal gram dhal / Chana dhal / Kadala paruppu – 2 tsp
- Black gram dhal / Urad dhal / Uluttam paruppu (broken) – 1 tsp
- Red Chili / Vara milagai – 12
- Curry leaves / Karuvepilai – 10-12 leaves
- Peanuts / Groundnuts / Verkadalai – handful
- Asafoetida / Hing / Perungayam – 1/4 tsp
- Turmeric powder / Manjal thul – 1/2 tsp
- Fenugreek powder / Venthiyam podi – 1 tsp
- Mustard powder / Kadugu podi – a big pinch (optional)
- Sea salt / Kal uppu – to taste (you can use regular salt)
For Cooked Rice
- Rice (Basmati or as per your choice) – 2 1/2 cup
- Water – to cook rice
Method
- Soak tamarind in one cup of water for 30-45 minutes. Use warm water if you want to speed up the process. Squeeze it well and run it through a sieve/strainer to remove any stems, seeds or soil. You will finally have the tamarind pulp.
- Cook rice following your usual methodology. Ensure that the cooked rice is separate.
- In a kadai / wok, add 3 tbsp of gingelly oil. When it is hot add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add cumin seeds, when it sizzles add bengal gram dhal. After few seconds add black gram dhal, peanuts, red chili, curry leaves and fry.
- Add turmeric powder, fengureek powder, asafoetida and a pinch of mustard seeds powder. Fry until the color of dhal / peanuts changes into light red.
- Add tamarind pulp, salt and let it boil. Cook until the extract becomes really thick and you get a paste like consistency. At this stage all the water would have evaporated and you have the ambat bhath paste.
- Once the rice is cooked, spread it in a large plate or vessel and allow it to cool. Add few tsp of gingelly oil. Add the Ambat bhath paste and gently mix it with a spatula. You can adjust the quantity of paste/rice as per your tastebuds.
Notes:
I have used home made fenugreek powder. You can grind 1/4 cup of fenugreek seeds in your mixie and keep it for later use. You can prepare the mustard powder in the same way.
South Beach Diet
If you are preparing this with basmati rice, then you can have 1/2 cup of Ambat Bhath + 1-2 cup of your choice of cooked or uncooked vegetables.
A glimpse from my kitchen
- Soak tamarind in one cup of water for 30-45 minutes. Use warm water if you want to speed up the process. Squeeze it well and run it through a sieve/strainer to remove any stems, seeds or soil. You will finally have the tamarind pulp.
- Cook rice following your usual methodology. Ensure that the cooked rice is separate. In a kadai / wok, add 3 tbsp of gingelly oil. When it is hot add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add cumin seeds, when it sizzles add bengal gram dhal. After few seconds add black gram dhal, peanuts, red chili, curry leaves and fry. Add turmeric powder, fengureek powder, asafoetida and a pinch of mustard seeds powder. Fry until the color of dhal / peanuts changes into light red.
- Add tamarind pulp, salt and let it boil.
- Cook until the extract becomes really thick and you get a paste like consistency. At this stage all the water would have evaporated and you have the ambat bhath paste.
- Once the rice is cooked, spread it in a large plate or vessel and allow it to cool. Add few tsp of gingelly oil. Add the Ambat bhath paste and gently mix it with a spatula.
- You can adjust the quantity of paste/rice as per your taste buds.
Yummy and flavorful one pot meal…
First time here and the name of your blog is so diffrent. what does that mean? Ambat looks yummy
Yummy looking rice….perfectly cooked too
I just love this rice..looks yummy n tangy!!
yummy recipe dear..are u from madurai.
Thanks Shama. I am not from Madurai
The rice looks so full of flavour. Your pictures justify the tastes completely. I just loved the first shot
I know that the Sourashtrian ambat baath is near to the puliyanchaadham, but that each area has a small variation was new to me. This one looks perfect. Now can I even wait to try the twist and want to know if anybody makes out the difference.
Looks just so perfect n yum …will try this method
Thats a wonderful and flavourful rice,feel like finishing that whole bowl..
looks soooooooooo good and very well explained- nice read !
lovely tempting pictures and looks delicious …..
love this rice, lovely clicks.
will try sometime, thanks for sharing.
Love the recipe…very flavorful and yummy!!
Looks delicious, thanks for sharing authentic recipe.
puli sadam is my most fav wouldl ove to try ur version!
It looks yummy and am sure it would have tasted delicious RV. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Bookmarking it for it be tried later.
Siri
I always thought ambat bhaat was something different, thanks for clearing. I adore puli sadam at anytime and looks perfectly delectable!
During my Pune days,I had a friend who used to make something similar.It was such a fav during peak indian summers.Love the addition of tamarind and all those spices.
And yes Welcome back
What a great rice dish! Gorgeous flavors. Tamarind is such an interesting addition.
Cheers,
Rosa
Wowwwwwwwwwwww… looks simply perfect and tempting.. awesome clicks dear.. thanks for sharing
Indian Cuisine
Yummy!!! I wonder what is the calorie content of Ambat Bhath. It looks healthy though. Thanks for sharing!I will try it this weekend.
lovely recipe love tamarind rice
Thanks a million for this.
may I suggest a lovely side dish for this?
This is a cucumber raita, with some add ons.
Grind a piece of coconut, 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 small green chilli, 1 tbsp of coriander leaves (cilantro), pinch of Asafoetida in a mixie. Add to a cup of yoghurt and mix, and pour on top of diced cucumber to make a wonderful raita. Add salt to taste.
This raita makes an excellent accompaniment to the tangy flavour of the bhath.
Thanks for sharing your recipe Sandhya. It sounds yumm. Can’t wait to try this.
Oh, I can smell how aromatic this is from here! First time to your site, loving what I’m seeing.
It is me again. I tried your bhath recipe yesterday. Absolute triumph!
Thing is, Tamarind rice has so much of nostalgic value to most south indians. Reminds one of temple prasads, picnics and family outings and so on. Still, not everyone gets it right. There are variants with dry coconut and so on, all have their merits, but my favorite version of this comfort food is ambat bhath.
The raita helped balance the tangy, tart nature of the rice, and the smell of mustard mustard provided an interesting contrast.
Thanks again.
Thanks Sandhya. I am glad you liked it. Yes the right amount of tamarind makes a dish taste so good.