Kollu Ellu Podi (Horsegram and Sesame Powder)

Kollu Ellu Podi (Horsegram and Sesame Powder)

Horsegram is meant for those trying to lose weight and sesame is for those trying to gain. This powder is a combination of both. It is a great way of getting goodness from both these wonderful ingredients. I had bought roasted horsegram sometime back from a Srilankan shop and did not know what to do with it (yes, silly me!). I was arranging my pantry (again, finally!) yesterday and made it a point to start using some ingredients. This was one of it and it was well worth the little effort it takes. I made kal dosa (dosa made with batter made the same day as the dosa is made i.e. unfermented batter) and spread the powder on top. Wow! The one teaspoon of sugar brings so much flavour to this powder. Here is the recipe...

1 cup horsegram

12 dry red chillies

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt to taste

¼ cup white sesame seeds

¼ teaspoon asafoetida

Roast horsegram in a kadai until it starts to darken. Roast sesame seeds until it become brown and begins to pop. Also roast the asafoetida for a minute or so, it will start getting sandy

Cool everything and grind to neither too coarse nor too fine consistency. Just remember to add sugar and blitz once. Cool and store in dry airtight container. I love to re-use glass bottles and you can see mine is stored in Nescafe bottle.

Serve with idli, dosa or even mix with rice

Garam Masala

Garam Masala


One of the essential ingredients in an Indian kitchen is garam masala. If you eat south Indian food only you may not need it often. I tend to use it in sabjis, gravies or even pulavs. I used to buy readymade garam masala from the store but there came a point when they were infested with tiny bugs so I took that as my excuse to spend some time making my own masala. After looking at a number of recipes online, I finally chose to follow Tarla Dalal’s Punjabi Garam masala. The quantities specified in the book was too much for me so I scaled it down so I could make the powder for say about 2-3 months of cooking. What I noticed with home made garam masala was that you need far less quantity than store bought masala. For some dishes, I have used just couple of pinches and enjoyed the flavours coming through. So the said quantity will come a long way. Each one makes their blend differently, for instance you could add a small piece of javatri, some black pepper corn . You could use this as your basic recipe and try to add ingredients to your taste. This is one recipe that will have to do without pictures for now as I did not take any and do not intend to make another batch in the next couple of months. I still wanted to post the recipe as I have had quite a few people ask for it.

¼ cup cumin seeds
1/8 cup coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cloves
4-5 cinnamon sticks
4-5 bay leaves
1 teaspoon caraway seeds/aniseeds/saunf
2 tablespoon cardamom pods
½ teaspoon dry ginger powder

Roast all ingredients except the dry ginger powder until they are all aromatic. Ensure the flame is low so they get roasted well. Breakdown cinnamon sticks to small pieces so they are all of similar size and do not over or under roast. Cool and grind to powder along with dry ginger powder

Store in an airtight container and use as required

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.

Kollu Podi (Horsegram Powder)

Kollu Podi (Horsegram Powder)


Some of you may already be familiar with ‘paruppu podi’ (lentil powder) typically made with toor dal aka pigeon peas. It is one of the recipes I grew up with and afterall these years I was happy to give another lentil an opportunity. The recipe is very similar to the traditional one I already posted however I hope to give some options here. I realised that not all the readers of this blog will enjoy rice with ghee and lentil powder but horsegram is good for health that I would want all my readers to benefit from it. Brown lentil aka horsegram is well known for its ability to help weight loss. It increases the metabolic rate of the body and hence helps burn calories. It is also said to help regularise menstrual cycles in women and also get rid of stones like in the kidney. It is also said to give one plenty of energy and some even joke that it is why it is ‘horse’ gram. If you do not like mixing the powder with rice and eating, you could add heaped spoons of this powder to soup or rasam. It also helps soup thicken and if you do not like the heat from the chillies, cut it out and roast and grind just the horsegram. You could also add the horsegram powder to boiled water to make it like porridge, something like horlicks. Here is the recipe...

½ cup horsegram
3-4 dry red chillies
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
Salt to taste
Few drops of cooking oil

Heat very little oil in a skillet and add the horsegram, chillies and asafoetida and roast. You will know you have roasted enough when the horsegram begins to change colour and also becomes smaller in size.

Cool and grind along with required amount of salt. Cool and store in an airtight box.

As I said earlier, you could roast horsegram alone, cool and grind depending on how ou intend to use it.

Paruppu Podi

This item was an indispensible part of my menu as a child. Well, it still is until date. I always need to have a box of the podi in my pantry. For those unfamiliar with this, South Indians usually have some powders (usually a mixture of spices and lentils) handy so it can be mixed with hot rice and ghee and eaten. They come in very handy on days when you barely have any time and energy. Paruppu podi is my favourite and needless to say it has to be mom’s recipe. I very clearly remember the ‘dabba’ in which mom used to keep the powder. It was part of her routine to make the podi periodically and store in it. The ritual includes roasting the ingredients and waiting on the maid to go to the mill to get the powder ground. As the ‘mixies’ (Indian food processors) do not do a good job of making fine powders, it is usally sent to the mill. They used to have funny timings and was always a struggle to go ourselves as my mom was working as well. There would be a series of instructions to the maid because mom would always fear that she may keep the ingredients or ground podi in wrong places (poor hygiene) and also that the guy in the mill may put the powder in same machine that grinds sambar powder. This would be a big issue as it would make the powder way too spicy and lose its original flavour. The maid usually would get to keep the change. Anyway, in this post, I have shared my mom’s recipe and another recipe. The second one is a common recipe if you buy the powder from a store. I prefer my mom’s but you could try both.

Recipe 1:
½ cup toor dal (pigeon peas)
1 dry red chilly
1 small piece of asafoetida
Cooking oil
Salt to taste

Heat few drops of oil and fry the asafoetida. Roast the dal until it just starts to change colour (brownish) and roast chilly until it turns crisp. Add salt to the hot skillet and keep all ingredients together to cool.

 Grind to fine or coarse powder depending on your preference.

Recipe 2:
½ cup toor dal (pigeon peas)
½ cup channa dal
4-5 dry red chillies
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 piece of asafoetida
2 sprigs curry leaves

Similar to previous recipe, fry asafoetida in oil and roast the toor dal and channa dal separately until they begin to darken. Roast chillies until they are crisp; roast peppercorns until they begin to pop in the skillet and roast the curry leaves until it dries; add salt to hot skillet.

 Cool all ingredients and grind to fine or coarse powder. Add the curry leaves last and just pulse the mixie.

Recipe 2 is quite spicy and is better when ground fine. If you do not have solid asafoetida, use powder. Salt is quickly roasted to remove moisture and improve shelf life of powder. They will last even over a year! I love paruppu podi rice with vathal kuzhambu or avakkai pickle (mango pickle).

Curry Leaf Powder (Karuvepillai Podi)

Curry Leaf Powder (Karuvepillai Podi)


Busy days and lack of energy for an elaborate meal happens more often now. I would always fancy homemade ready meal on such days but is there any limit to what one can fancy? The closest I could get to such a meal was using wonderful powders that I could mix to a steaming plate of rice and pamper myself with some ghee (clarified butter) on it. Wow, I am drooling just thinking about it. When I relocated to UK, I was given a batch of many such powders and one of my favourites is curry leaf powder prepared by my grandmother. I am aware there are other ways of making this powder but I like this best.

Curry leaf shrubs are a common sight in the backyard of many south Indian houses. It has a lovely aroma and colour. It is said that because of its aroma, it initiates salivary action and that is its very first influence on helping digestion. Curry leaves are said to improve the quality of digestive juices. It is considered a good remedy for loss of appetite, tastelessness of mouth associated with fever, nausea vomiting etc. I did not know that curry leaves help control blood sugar in non-insulin dependent diabetics. A paste made with 8-10 mature leaves taken first thing in the morning for 3 months is said to be very helpful and also help weight loss.

With all this goodness, there is one more goodness in this recipe – dal; so you get your protein as well. Here is granny’s recipe...

1 cup toor dal

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 dry red chilly

Salt

About 30 sprigs of curry leaf (karuvepillai)

Dry roast toor dal until golden. While the dal begins to change colour add the peppercorns and chilly. Keep aside

Dry roast curry leaves until they appear very dry. I tend to keep my curry leaves in the fridge for a few days and this makes them lose moisture and dry up. I then wash it and roast it until leaves turn crisp. Keep aside

Roast required amount of salt briefly

Once all the ingredients have cooled, grind the dal, peppercorn, salt and chillies to desired consistency (fine or coarse depending on preference). Then add the curry leaves and grind until leaves have ground fine/coarse.

Allow the powder to cool and keep in an airtight container. The powder keeps well for ages.