Idly / Dosa Podi

There would be no home in South India that has not prepared this spice powder as an accompaniment to the breakfast mains; idly or dosa. Each South Indian state has its own version. Chammanthi podi of Kerala has an addition of roasted coconut and curry leaves, while in Karnataka and Andhra, addition of roasted peanuts and more of chillies make it unique. In Tamil Nadu, roasted chick peas, sesame seeds add to the taste of Idly Milagai Podi.

The one I am posting now, is my mom's version of podi, we grew up savouring and a real special one. The fact that astonished me is that while each home , around the states has varied versions of the this spice preserve, the Reddiars of Kerala had a standard recipe of this one. In one word, truly addictive, with that perfect balance of chillies, garlic and dal with a touch of coriander!

My sis and me still have this habit of  having podi with hot idlies along with sambhar and coconut chutney. My brother, an idly hater who is forced to have them after amma's strict rules would have it with podi, sesame seed oil and lots of sugar :). Strange, but he still loves that way, all mashed up :D
My daughter is an ardent fan of this one, and demands in bulk!

This post is for Maria and Evin, the girls I love :)

Idly / Dosa Podi

Yield - 1 3/4 cups
Cuisine - South Indian.
Prep time - 10 minutes
Time needed for frying - 20 minutes 

Get ready with:

1 cup broken urad dal /uzhutham parippu (sun dried)
3.5 tbsp coriander seeds / kothamalli (sun dried)
50 nos medium sun dried and destalked redchillies / milagai (weighed approx 50 gms)
1/2 tsp Hing
1 tsp table salt
15 nos slender garlic pods (I used nattu poondu or country variety)
3-4 sprigs washed and wiped dry
Few drops of oil- for frying


Method:




Assemble the ingredients. As mentioned above, I sun dried urad dal, coriander and the red chillies. Esp the chillies until they were light and crisp. The hing, you see near the table salt, is the rock variety for the added flavour. The garlic is country variety which also adds to the final flavour.





Mince the garlic and let it sundry for a couple of hours. This is to absorb the extra moisture in them. The fresh garlic if used directly would interfere with grinding of dry powder, towards the final stage.





Heat a wide thick bottomed kadai with a few drops of oil. Add urad dal and coriander seeds and fry together in low-medium heat to 5-7 minutes, or until they are golden brown in colour. Transfer to a stainless tray. Always use a heat resistant metal tray as the fried ingredients transferred, tend to be too hot.





Fry the curry leaves for a few seconds and transfer to the plate. Do not bother to fry them until crispy. The heat of the dal is enough to turn the leaves, crispy.
 Fry the hing next, for a few seconds and transfer.





Trickle a few drops of oil and fry the chillies for a few seconds until the aroma emanates, taking utmost care not to burn them.





Let it cool to room temperature. Transfer to a mixie and pulse for a few seconds. Do not pulse too fine. Add the sun dried garlic bits, while still coarse and pulse / dry grind again. It's again a personal choice to make it a bit coarse or fine. I prefer my podi, slightly coarser.

Sun drying the ingredients before frying, enhances the shelf life. We do not want moisture in them so that it grinds fine after frying as well. If you cannot sundry, microwave the dal and coriander for a few seconds, toss and return for some more time. You can do the same with minced garlic too.

My family prefers  podi, a bit towards the spicier side. Addition of gingelly oil while serving would bring down the heat and spice levels . If you are still apprehensive, you may cut down the number of chillies to 25-30, for a milder version.

Bring down the numbers to 5-6, if you use larger cloves of garlic.

 2.5 kgs of  fresh podi for my daughter,  packed right away all set to go to the US.

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Chammanthi Podi - Roasted Coconut n Spice powder

Chammanthi podi, a fine medley of roasted coconut and spices, is a common preserve in Keralite homes. Each home has its own variations.
The “Spice powder” goes well with steamed rice, dosas and idlies. I love this as an accompaniment for plain, cold curd rice; an excellent comfort meal by itself...
You Need:
Grated coconut- 1 ½ cups
Coriander seeds-2 tbsps
Black pepper corns- 1/2 tsp
Red chillies- 7-8 nos(or according to your spice level- Use 5 chillies if you like it medium spicy or less than 5 if you like it milder)
Tamarind-a fat one inch piece; pinched to smalled bits.
Salt-to taste
Curry leaves-4-5 sprigs

Heat a broad and wide iron wok.Do NOT use even A DROP of OIL.
Dry fry, coconut until the moisture in it evaporates and turns the colour into mild brown. Cool and pulse twice for not more than 2 secs . We do this, for even frying later, as this brings the powder to even particles. Freshly grated coconut, while getting fried doesn't brown equally. Hence this step.
Tranfer all the ingredients with pulsed coconut, to the wok stirring all the time in slow-medium flame,evently. Fry until the coconut gets a deep brown hue and the roasted coconut-spice aroma spreads around.This will take around 25 minutes.
Cool and powder.Add tamarind and check salt.Pulse/grind again.See to it, you don’t throw in the tamarind piece before you powder the mix in the first stage.Let the Chammanthipodi be a little coarse, coz that’s the way it has to be ;).Store in airtight-glass bottles.The powder has a high shelf life and stays well for a month in room temperature and stays better in fridge/freezer compartments.



The Authentic Chammanthi Podi calls for a tsp of finely minced ginger, a few cumin seeds and a tbsp of minced shallots in addition to the above mentioned ingredients.I generally avoid these 3, as I personally feel they would bring down the fine roasted "coconut-spice-curry leaf" flavour.
Go ahead if you prefer the, 'gingery,' cuminy’, 'shallotty' touch... :)
You can skip the pulsing part in the first step, if you use dessicated or store bought coconut or if the particles are even sized.





In olden days, Chammanthi podi was ‘hand powdered’ in Ural and Ulakka, the traditional stone mortar and its wooden pestle.The sorted out roasted chillies from the fried mix and rock salt goes in the Ural, first.After they are ‘beaten’, IN goes the roasted coconut and spices. The oil which oozes out at this stage , from the roasted coconut, is absorbed by the ginger, shallots and the tamarind, added next ; the heavenly spice-blend imparting the much authentic taste to the “Thenga Varuthidicha Nadan Chammanthi Podi.”

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A Spice Mix for a Spoonful of Christmas...

It had been quite a surprising discovery that a cute girl residing in Sweden has almost the same tastes of that of a lady who dwells in South India!!.The resemblances of these ladies are the love for chillies, spices, care for their sisters and more..So what if comes, if these attributes blend?...Care for the sisters, love for the spice mixes and sending them over as a gift?..

After having seen and read about the awesome Monday Spice Series , the collection of spice mixes, which the Swedish girl had prepared personally and gifted her sister for her wedding, the idea had been brewing up in me which had eventually turned out to reality now.

Even in her early teens my sister preferred homemade spice mixes and would remark,"when I start cooking, I am never going to get the store bought masalas or powders and will see to it that I make them personally, unadulterated!".

This is my gift to Nags , for her love of fresh spices ; my submission to A Spoonful of Christmas hosted by the sweet Zlamushka .

Sambhar masala or Sambhar powder had earned me the "greatest hit credit" among all the recipes blogged so far; the simple reason of choosing this ingredient to be gifted..

The recipe to make this "spice mix" is here and the "curry" which can be made out of this powder is here.

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GBP-Curry leaves powder-Preserve the Greens!..

Blame the scorching summer in Tamil Nadu!!..most of my plants started dying out.Feeling much disappointed I discouraged myself working more with the Kitchen garden patch, except for a few saplings of curry leaf plants.They demanded to be watered twice, daily, in the shadow of other shrubs, to be protected from the direct heat of the sun.

Forward 5 months..Viola!.. The greens survived !!..They are still small and I had to snap the stalks a few from each of the half a dozen plants to carry on with the Curry leaves powder or the Karuveppilai podi, wanting them to grow well!.


The curry leaves(Murraya Koenigi) are believed to have wonderful medicinal/curative properties and nutritional qualities.Learn more about them here and here.

Green Blog Project was started by Inji of Ginger and Mango. This is my contribution to Deepz of LETZ COOK who is hosting the Green Blog Project - Summer 2007(April-Oct) event.

Ingredients:

2 cups Curry leaves-de stalked,washed and dried
A tsp of Cumin/Jeera seeds
A tsp of Bengal gram Dal/Kadalai paruppu
A tsp of Broken urad dal
6 nos-more or less-Red chillies
A tbsp of Coriander seeds/Kothamalli
A few drops of oil-for frying chillies
A goose berry sized ball of Tamarind-Sundry to remove any water content.
A pinch of Hing/asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Dry roast the ingredients one by one, separately(except tamarind) .
Curry leaves,Coriander seeds,the dals,Jeera and the chillies in that order.

2. Bengal gram and urad dal should acquire a deep red colour.

3. The Curry leaves should be roasted stirring continuously till crisp.Add Hing while doing so.

4. Trickle a few drops of oil while frying the chillies.

5. Keep the flame to medium while frying.Maintain constant temperature throughout.Roasting is the most important part as it decides the quality of the powder.

6. Cool the ingredients.Pulse the dals first, followed by the other spices and dry grind in a mixer. Add the curry leaves and lastly the tamarind.This order is to be followed as the moisture content in the tamarind hinders the uniform powdering of the spices. Let the powder be a little coarse and not too powdery.

7. Store the powder in an air tight container.Stays fresh if refrigerated for 6 months.


Mix the powder with hot rice and ghee to make the instant and healthy Karuveppilai sadam.

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Home Made Sambhar Powder.

The fresh Sambhar Powder

A little restlessness,had been haunting me lately,for not doing justice, nowadays with my header and its description,mainly with my last 3 posts...

I had been thinking of posting this,for the past one month,when I made the fresh stock of the powder,without which I cannot pull along even a single day! A 'must' kept preserve in every Tamil or South Indian kitchen- shelf,is sold readymade nowadays,wrapped up in packets in all sizes and brands.Let them compete,I prefer the home made Sambhar powder,the recipe from my ma in law,to even the best brand available in market.

Here goes the easy recipe,with lesser ingredients of the fresh aromatic Sambhar Podi...

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Idly Milagai Podi

No tamil homes,I would say,without this red spicy aromatic powder,preserved in small or big jars,glass bottles or plastic containers.A 'must' served item of any Tamil home for the 'tiffin'.Of course every home has its own version of making the same...less spicy...more spicy..a bit more of asafoetida/hing added to it...a bit more garlicky or less and so on...

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