Poondu Sadam
Poondu sadam cooks rice with a large amount of garlic in sesame oil, a Tamil dish eaten for its pungency.
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35 mintotal
25 min hands-on10 min hands-off
Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Medium
Ingredients
Quantities are for 2 servings.
You'll need: Stovetop.
Includes prep-ahead time.
Method
In a wide pan, heat the sesame (gingelly) oil over medium heat until very hot. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.
Introduce the split black gram (urad dal) payload. Impose a highly disciplined, continuous fry until it mutates into a structurally rigid, resonant pale golden-brown armor.
Add the broken dry red chillies, fresh curry leaves and a good pinch of asafoetida to the pan. Flash-sauté for a few seconds to release their aroma.
Add the finely chopped garlic. Sauté it patiently over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes, until it is crisp and deeply golden. Do not let it burn: burnt garlic will make the whole dish bitter.
3–4 min
Add the cold cooked rice and the measured salt to the spiced oil.
Using a wide spatula, toss everything together very gently and steadily, so the garlicky oil coats every grain without breaking the rice.
Cover and leave it on a very low simmer for exactly 2 minutes so the rice takes up the flavour. Turn off the heat and serve.
2 min
How to tell it's done
Separate, light grains of rice coated in a nutty, fragrant fat, with crisp golden shards of roasted garlic all through it.
Nutrition
Per serving, from 2 servings.
449kcal
Where the calories come from
- Protein7.7 g7%
- Carbohydrate56.6 g50%
- Fat21.5 g43%
- Saturated fat
- 3.1 g
- Fibre
- 2.6 g
- Sodium
- 1173 mg
- Potassium
- 231 mg
- Calcium
- 69 mg
- Iron
- 1.3 mg
Estimated by calculation from the ingredient list, using USDA FoodData Central. Not a laboratory analysis.
Getting it right
Tip
Cold leftover rice from the fridge works best here. Fresh hot rice sticks together and the grains break up as you toss them.
What to serve it with
Very quick, and good in a lunchbox. Serve it with fryums, crisp potato chips, or a plain cucumber raita.
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