South Indian Sesame Rice

This is great for using up leftover white rice.

Ellu Sadam / Sesame Rice Recipe
Source: Southern Spice by Chandra Padmanabhan

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked rice
Salt to taste

For the Spice Powder:
1/2 cup white sesame seeds / til / ellu
2 tbsp grated coconut
4 dry red chillies
1 tsp oil

For Tempering:
2 tbsp gingelly oil / nallennai / sesame oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 tbsp shelled peanuts
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
2 dry red chillies, halved
1 tsp urad dal / ulutham paruppu
1 tsp channa dal / kadala paruppu
A few curry leaves

Instructions:
1. Dry roast the sesame seeds and grated coconut separately in a pan until nicely browned. Add oil for spice powder and lightly fry the red chillies, taking care not to burn them. Cool, grind to a fine powder and set aside.
2. Heat oil for tempering and add the roasted peanuts. When almost fried and brown, add the rest of the ingredients. When the mustard seeds pop and the dals turn golden, remove from heat.
3. Stir in the rice and the spice powder. Serve at room temperature with raita.