Nellikkai Sadham || Amla Rice

It is sometimes boring to have routine kulambu/curry along with plain rice every day. On such days of boredom and need quick fix meal days, I opt for a variety of rice. South-Indian taste buds are so much imbibed towards lemon rice. Be it in travel or lunch box for school/college/office, Lemon Rice stands first. The yellow color along with the sourness from a lemon is definitely a hit. In the same family of variety rice, the less often done, but an equal competitor of lemon rice is Amla Rice/ Gooseberry Rice/ Nellikkai Sadam. The goodness of amla is so much. It is a storehouse of Vitamin C, but less looked upon. In our tradition, we mostly use amla during the Tamil new year celebration and make a simple nellikkai pachadi, nellikkai pickle out of it. In this season, we get plentiful of amla all over Tamilnadu. After this, though some shops carry them, not many prefer to buy it. After moving out of India, I usually buy them from the frozen section. I usually prepare pachadi or pickle out of it. Recently, amma told me to try replacing the tamarind added in chutney with an amla, owing to its goodness. I tried it a couple of times with coconut and found it tasty and more so, it rendered a pure white coconut chutney. After this, I also wanted to incorporate them into any rice or curry. While looking on for this, I came up with the Amla Rice. After trying them, a couple of times and applauded by the H, I am confidently posting a recipe of Amla rice here. Do try this Vitamin C rich Amla rice and am sure this will become your family’s favorite too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGv2dFTd-wo&feature=youtu.be      
Servings: 4 yield(s)
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 60 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Cooked Rice
  • 0.5 cup Grated Gooseberry/ Amla/ Nellikkai
  • 2 stick Green Chilli
  • 0.25 tsp Mustard Seeds
  • 0.25 tsp Urad dal
  • 0.25 tsp Channa dal
  • 1 tsp Peanuts
  • 0.25 tsp Turmeric Powder
  • 1 dash Asafoetida powder
  • 2 tsp Gingelly Oil
  • 1 dash Salt
Instructions
  1. Wash the rice and pressure cook it for three whistles. Once the pressure settles off, transfer to a large bowl, add a teaspoon of gingelly oil and allow it to cool down.
  2. Heat a pan and add gingelly oil to it. Once it turns hot, add mustard seeds, Urad dal, and channa dal. Sautee until they are roasted. Add peanuts and cook till golden brown. Slit green chilies and curry leaves go in next.
  3. Add grated gooseberry / Amla to it and saute well for 2- 3 mins. Add turmeric powder and asafoetida. Cook until the rawness of the turmeric powder goes off.
  4. Add the amla mix to the cooked rice and combine them together. Serve with potato roast or any poriyal of your choice.
Recipe Notes

  • In this recipe, I have used grated gooseberry / Nellikkai/ Amla. If you find it difficult to grate, rough chop them and run them in a mixer jar coarsely and follow the steps.
  • If you like rice very tangy, squeezing a lemon might be an option. You may avoid it too if you don't like it.