Cooked rice mixed with a dry sesame-chilli powder and sesame oil tempering — a simple festival rice preparation of Telangana made for Sankranti and Ugadi. The roasted sesame powder mixed through the rice creates a nutty, earthy flavour with very little oil needed.
Ingredients
3 cups cooked rice — cooled and grain-separated
For the nuvvula (sesame) powder:
1/2 cup white sesame seeds — dry roasted until golden
Make the nuvvula powder: Dry roast sesame seeds 3 to 4 minutes until golden and popping. Dry roast dried red chilli and cumin separately. Cool all. Grind together with salt to a coarse powder — not completely smooth. The texture should be like coarse sand.
Ensure rice is completely cooled: Hot or warm rice makes the dish sticky. The grains must be separate.
Toss rice with 1 tsp sesame oil: Add 1 tsp sesame oil to the cooled rice. Toss to separate any clumped grains.
Make the tempering: Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds — pop. Add curry leaves and asafoetida. Add turmeric. Stir 10 seconds.
Pour tempering over the rice: Pour the hot sesame oil tempering over the cooled rice. Toss immediately.
Add the sesame powder: Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of the ground sesame powder over the tempering-coated rice. Toss well to distribute evenly.
Add lemon juice: Squeeze lemon juice over the rice. Toss once more.
Taste: The nuvvula annam should be: nutty from the sesame, slightly spicy from the dried red chilli, tart from the lemon. Add more sesame powder, salt or lemon to taste.
Check texture: Each grain of rice should be separate and coated with a light layer of sesame powder.
Serve at room temperature: Nuvvula annam is not served hot — it is eaten at room temperature as a festival rice or travel food.
Note: Nuvvula Annam (nuvvula = sesame, annam = rice in Telugu) is made specifically for Makar Sankranti and Ugadi festivals in Telangana — the sesame is connected to the Sankranti tradition of offering sesame to the sun deity. The preparation requires no complex cooking — the quality of the freshly roasted sesame powder determines the quality of the dish. Like pulihora, nuvvula annam travels well and is a standard preparation for religious pilgrimages and long journeys.