Cranberry Pulihora (Seasoned Cranbeery Rice):

Fresh Cranberries are sour in taste. Cranberry pickle (vuragaya) was my first cranberry recipe. It was so yummy. I Couldn't get enough of these Berries so I wanted to try out another recipe.

 Before the cranberry season is over I made a trip to the grocery store and got 2 bags of Cranberries, thinking that I will try different recipes. Since the Berries are tangy I want to try out the pulihora first .But I was suspicious since they have little bitter after taste. First I ground the Berrys to a smooth paste and tasted em. Voila! they taste better means not bitter:-). There I made a toung twister while cooking.

So being more confident than before I made this pulihora and tested on my clan. There you go.. It was a success. Also you could make this rice in a breeze as it needs minimal cooking and pose like a pro in front of your guests ;-).

So here is the recipe. 

Servings:

Two (2)

Total time:

50 min

Category:

Rice Dishes

Author:

Praveena Gudipati

Ingredients: (I use US standard measuring; 1cup=8oz=250ml)

1 cup Cranberries 

1 cup rice

3 green chillies

Salt to taste

For seasoning:

1 tablespoon peanuts (Pallilu)

1tea spoon Chana dal (Senagapappu)

2 teaspoon Urad dal  (Minapappu)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (Aavalu)

1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)

Curry leaves

Couple pinches of Asafotida (Hing/Inguva)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric (Haldi/Pasupu)

1 red chilli

Cranberry Pulihora step-by-step Recipe with Photos

1. Cook the rice in rice cooker or in a vessel. I always use sona masoori  rice for pulihora. You can get this from any Indian store.
2. While rice is cooking:
3. Take 1 cup Cranberries, wash em, take them in a blender and make a smooth paste.Keep it aside.
   
   
   
   
4. Cut green chillies into halves.
5. Heat a small pan for seasoning.
6. Take peanuts in the pan first as they take more time frying.As peanuts changed color add chana dal.fry for a minute and then add Urad dal and fry em.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. When dals are almost done add mustard Jeera, red chillies and curry leaves one by one.
   
8. Now add green chillies.
   
   
   
   
9. When everything is fried turnoff the stove and add hing.
10. Keep the seasoning aside.
11. When rice is done take it in a wide vessel. Add turmeric, salt to taste and 1 teaspoon oil to the rice and toss with a fork and leave the rice to cool down.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. The oil in the rice keeps it from sticking while cooling down.Adding salt when hot makes it melt and coat rice properly.
13. Mix the rice in between to cool it faster.
14. When the rice is cold add 6 tablespoons cranberry paste and mix nicely with hand. Do not squish rice.
    
15. Taste it, if you want it more sour add more cranberry paste.For me 6 tbsp was good.
16. Now add the seasoning and mix with a spoon or hand one more time.
    
17. Cranberry Rice (pulihora) is ready.
    

Tips: 

• If you have leftover paste freeze it in ice tray it in a ziplock and use it in Dal or rasam or wherever you use tamarind.
• You can keep extra cranberry paste in freezer as this is a seasonal fruit and not available year round. Thaw it and you can make this recipe any time.

Related Recipes:

• Cranberry Pickle (Vuragaya)
• Cranberry Chutney
• Nimnakaya pulihora (Lemon rice)
• Chintapandu pulihora (Tamarind rice)
• Usiri pulihora (Amla/Gooseberry rice)
• Mamidikaya pulihora (Raw mango rice)