Garlic Podi (garlic powder)

Garlic Podi (garlic powder)


Garlic powder brings back nice memories to me. It was one of the recipes that I tried as part of my food experiment about three years back. I looked up the internet and made a powder very similar to usual idli milagai podi but with garlic in it. This recipe I have posted below is different from that will post the former once I recall it. Anyway, it was during the winter that I made it and we were going on a day out with some friends. I made a brave attempt to make idlis and take this powder along. I say brave because I barely had any tools to make the idli batter. I soaked the urd dal and used idli rava and had to grind using Tesco value handheld blender. I took the idlis with the podi I had made and I must say the idlis were by no means soft but my friends were just glad to get packed idli near Inverness when it was snowing heavily. For whatever reason, I never made garlic powder again until recently. This time I wanted to try something different and came across a recipe here. I thought it is a good starting point and have lined up some ideas to improvise this and will post them as I succeed.

1 full garlic, skin peeled
2 tablespoon channa dal
1 tablespoon urd dal
5-6 dry red chillies
Generous pinches of asafoetida (use a small portion of the solid one for better flavour)
Salt to taste
Little oil

Heat few drops of oil and roast the dals and asafoetida until dals become golden brown then roast the garlic until golden brown then follow with red chillies until they begin to darken

Add required salt and grind to powder consistency. Some like it coarse, while some like it fine

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. I made a batch about 10 days back and it is still good in the fridge.

Enjoy with idli, dosa or rice, especially curd rice.