Nellikai, amla or Indian gooseberry rice is healthy, delicious as well as easy to prepare rice. Made with the big variety amla. We always make neer nellikai, thayir pachadi with this one. Recently tried pickle with this nellikai and now, recently when I was chaating with my friend Suji, she told me she made nellikai sadam and I thought I too should try making rice and post it here too. Got some fresh amla in Mustafa and made it. I remember once I have tried making rice with arai nellikkai, but this is the first time I make it with periya nellikai. My MIL makes nellikkai thogayal by grinding nellikai with green chilli and tamarind. I thought I will try the same combo in rice but by grating the amla and replacing tamarind with lemon (idea adapted from Kamala’s corner). I loved this rice like any other variety rice and going to make often. On a different note, was very happy to see Rak’s kitchen topping the list in this infographic on”Top 50 Food blogs In India”
Nellikai sadam recipe
Recipe Cuisine:Indian | Recipe Category:Lunch
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook time: 10 mins | serves: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook time: 10 mins | serves: 2
Ingredients
Cooked rice – 2 cups
Nellikai/ amla – 4
Lemon juice – 1 & 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – A pinch
Salt – As needed
Nellikai/ amla – 4
Lemon juice – 1 & 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – A pinch
Salt – As needed
To temper
Ghee/ sesame oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard – 3/4 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Chana dal – 1 tbsp
Ground nuts – 2 tbsp
Green chillies – 5
Curry leaves – A sprig
Asafoetida – A generous pinch
Mustard – 3/4 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Chana dal – 1 tbsp
Ground nuts – 2 tbsp
Green chillies – 5
Curry leaves – A sprig
Asafoetida – A generous pinch
Method
- Pressure cook rice and cool down with little salt and a tsp of oil/ ghee. This makes the grains separate. Grate amla in a fine grater. Heat kadai and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table in order.
- Once the dal, nuts turns golden, add grated amla and fry for a minute in medium flame.
- Add required salt, asafoetida and mix well. Switch off the flame, add lemon juice and mix well.
- Add cooked rice and mix well. Transfer to the serving bowl.
Notes
- My amlas were very big, so I used just 3. Adjust green chilli as per the spice level u require and the chilli’s nature.
- Make sure ground nut is fried in low flame to ensure even cooking and gets crisp.
- Ghee and smesame oil works best for this rice.
- You can replace groundnut with cashew nuts.
I had it with keerai kootu and some fried vadam. You can have it with mix veg kootu also.
