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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Karuveppilai Podi / Curry leaves Spice Powder | Side Dish for Idli Dosa

What is more fascinating than using fresh herbs straight from your garden? Well, nothing else in cooking I would say. Pick, wash, use. How easy and intriguing is that. Speaking of fresh herbs, curry leaves always plays a vital part in Indian cooking. 
Curry leaves is well known as Karuveppilai in Tamil and KariBevu in Kannada. Karu - Black/darkened; Veppilai - Neem leaves. Widely used as a flavor enhancer for food while seasoning, it also has its unique place in ayurvedic medicine. It has anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-oxidant properties and also rich in Iron. Did you know that it is good for the strength of your hair, taken both internally and applied as infused oil. Grandma used to prepare hair oil for us using pure coconut oil (organic and made at home by grinding dry coconuts aka copra), curry leaves and hibiscus leaves. And now we are talking about being "organic" as something rare and rich.



Ingredients:
Curry leaves - 2 cups - cleaned and tightly packed
Chana dhal - 3 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Moong dhal - 1 tbsp
Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 7 or 8
Tamarind - a blueberry/gooseberry size (skip if you do not have)
Salt - to taste

Method:
Dry roast chana dhal, coriander seeds, urad dhal, moong dhal, pepper corns and asafoetida one by one. Let it cool in a plate. Add half a tsp of oil in the same skillet and roast the tamarind and add it to the cooling dhals. Add the curry leaves in batches to the same skillet and roast them until it becomes lightly toasted and becomes light in weight. Cool and grind everything together in a mixer grinder / blender with salt until fine. Serve with steamed rice with ghee or gingelly oil. Excellent pair for idlis and dosas or with some hot steamed rice and ghee.
Note: The curry leaves may get stuck in the mixer blades while grinding. If it happens, filter the spice powder with a sieve, add the curry leaf fiber again and rerun the mixer.


Sending this healthy, flavorful and aromatic powder to B2B - Dry podis event by Jaya, Flavors of South India event by Nayna and to Srivalli's Condiment Mela.


Also sending this to Akila's Dish Name Starts with K

35 comments:

  1. Flavorful podi...Lovely color...nice presentation.

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  2. I love curry leaves a lot and use it in daal all the time. At times I just fry some extra cause I like to munch onto these too! This malasa would be an excellent way to add flavor.
    www.sunshineandsmile.com

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  3. Spicy and aromatic podi..Just love this rice n lil bit of sesame oil..slurp

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  4. Nice and aromatic podi !! well presented and lovely clicks !!

    Ongoing Event - CC-Appetizers

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  5. Wow that looks absolutely tempting podi. gorgeous pictures that make anyone drooooooooooool.

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  6. Very flavourful. I like the aroma of curry leaves a lot.

    Cheers,
    Uma

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  7. Very flavourful....very healthy n tasty...one of my fav from childhood...
    nice clicks....

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  8. Woww.. lovely podi.. looks super perfect.. love the presentation too.. awesome job dear :)
    Indian Cuisine

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  9. looks very nice. healthy podi and would be best with hot idli/dosa.

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  10. Lovely presentation krithi. Handy one when you are out of time to have with rice.

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  11. Healthy, flavourful n yummy podi

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  12. wow good pics n this is one of my pass time to make podis with leftovers .. awesome.. will try this method soon..

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  13. ummmmm...wanna have this with rice now. Gorg clicks Krithi!

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  14. I made this just the day before!! An almost similar version...slight changes here n there...I even love it with curd rice :)
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  15. Flavourful podi,luks so delicious...

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  16. Gorgeous pics! looks very tempting

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  17. Since we don't we use curry leaves as much, I always wonder what to do with them...this is great recipe to store my curry leaves as a podi Thanks.

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  18. I make this rarely,but it is very healthy,nice recipe !

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  19. a wonderful post, usually curry leaves are discarded by most of us when having food...this sure is a great idea to include it in our diet, a very healthy podi with high medicinal values..

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  20. Wonderful pictures, such a flavorful recipes!

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  21. thanx for sharing this flavourful spice powder and yes..earlier it was everything organic

    Hosting Monsoon medley

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  22. Flavourful podi, love to have with rice topped with ghee..

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  23. lovely clicks krithi.. havent tried this podi before.. definitely giving it a try !

    Richa @ Hobby And More Vegan Food Blog
    Hobby And More on Facebook

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  24. Perfect with steaming rice and ghee!

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  25. I love relishes that go well with a bowl of plain rice and yoghurt. And anything using curry leaves is like comfort food to me :) That said, I've never tried this recipe at home and now I know where to come for a recipe!

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  26. Healthy podi and lovely clicks ...

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  27. wOWW.. This is one yummy podia. I have to try this out.. But the prob is to find so much curry leaves. My garden has very little.. :D

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  28. Love your final picture "sun" picture .. yeah I make it too. Healthy and tasty.

    Vardhini
    Check out my 100th post giveaway.
    Current Event: Herbs and Flowers - Garlic

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  29. Looks so good..thanks for the entries!

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