A warm sunny afternoon….sounds of light banter coming from the courtyard…..the aroma of strong spices being roasted separately…followed by the sweet smell of all roasted spices being ground together……every soul would be attracted to the vortex of such a utopian kitchen. This was the setting I grew up in and learnt different kinds of spice blends. The one I’m recounting here is a speciality my Eldest cousin, Kalyani makes for dual use - as a curry spice, as well as when mixed with salt and jaggery and served with a dollop of ghee ,makes for a yummy chutney podi.

My entry to “Preserve it ” hosted by Coffee of The Spice Cafe. She made my day and accepted this post for the event! Thanks Coffee!

Curry Spice/ Koora Podi

Ingredients:

1 cup of Bengal Gram/ Chana Dal /senagapappu
1/2 cup peanuts/ pallilu
1/2 cup split Black gram/Urad dal/minapappu
1/4 cup cumin seeds/Jeera/Jeelakarra
A fistful of dry red chilli/endu mirapakaya
A fistful of Curry leave/kari patta/karvepaaku
Golf ball sized tamarind /Imli/chintapandu
2 tablespoons of grated Jaggery/Gur/bellam
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida/hing/Inguva
Oil, salt to taste

A few Ingredients

Dry Roast on a low flame Chana dal, Urad dal, Jeera separately and keep aside

Heat oil in a wide skillet and add the red chillies and roast until done.

Once cool,take all the roasted ingredients along with tamarind and hing and grind into a slightly coarse powder and the spice is ready!

This powder can be used in most curries like ridge gourd, brinjal, bottle gourd, beans, capsicum, bitter gourds. I also used it to stuff veggies by mixing it with some gram flour/ besan.

Chutney Podi:

Once I make the curry powder , I add some salt blend it again in the grinder and use it to serve dosas, idlis , vadas, upma and sometimes mix it with hot rice and avakaya with a dollop of ghee. Comfort food for me!!!