I was very lucky back in January to catch a twitter exchange between @HeleneDujardin (of Tartlette and http://www.helenedujardin.com/) and @glutenfreegirl (of Gluten Free Girl about Tamarind Rice.
The recipe comprised only two tweets:
recipe for 3 cups dry rice: 3tb oil, sautee 1/2 c raw peanuts, 1/4 unsalted cashews, 1 tb black mustard seeds, (cont)
2:12 PM – 19 Jan 111 tb cumin seeds, 3/4 tsp asafetida powder. When mustard seeds splatter, add 1 cup tamarind pulp, add to cooked rice mix
2:14 PM – 19 Jan 11
Now let me link you to a more detailed version of a Tamarind Rice recipe.
So back in January I favorited these two tweets.
And then in February I ended up with a lot of leftover basmati and looking for a way to package it into lunches I could freeze.
Only I had neither peanuts nor cashews.
But I did have pine nuts and hazelnuts. Okay, so whatever. I can try that. And I did – and I’ve kept making this weird version ever since.
Hazelnut Tamarind Rice Soak a little less than a cup of hazelnuts overnight.
Put a teaspoon or so of oil in a pan and a palmful of mustard seeds. If you remember, add a teaspoon of asafoetida, but I often forget. Turn the heat to medium high, and if you are particularly clever you might cover it with a splatter shield or a clean aluminum takeout container.
Drain the liquid from the hazelnuts.
As soon as the first mustard seed pops, but before many do, add a bunch of pine nuts (depends on how many you have and how much leftover rice you are trying to use up – let’s say 1/3 cup for now).
Oh, and you can add a bunch of whole cumin seeds, too!
After just half a minute, start stirring the pan intermittently because your pine nuts are toasting and your mustard seeds are popping.
As soon as the pine nuts are almost fully toasted, add the drained hazelnuts. Hey! Water-laden things in hot oil! This will hiss and spit very satisfyingly. Don’t stand too close without a shirt on.
As soon as you get a whiff of things getting really toasty – that is, catching it right before your nuts burn – dump in your leftover rice.
Stir it about, heat the rice thoroughly and evenly mix in the nuts and seeds.
Take a jar of tamarind chutney, and pour some in, stir, pour some in, stir – until you like the color and it tastes good.
Done!