Usirikaya Podi / Karam | Amla Spice Powder

We love the Gooseberry and can eat just like that. I especially remember from childhood when we used to eat it and immediately drink water. The cool sweet feeling you get is simply awesome.

 

Gooseberry known as the Usirikai or Usirikaya in Telugu, Amla (Hindi), Nellikai (Tamil). We get two varieties in Tamil Nadu, I speak from personal experience as I have no knowledge if the other smaller version is available elsewhere in India. It's called Arai Nellikai. Arai (meaning half) Nellikai is much more tastier and easy to eat. I remember these trees from childhood when some of my friends had this at their place. The tiny gooseberry will be so good to eat just like that.

 

I have seen people pickling both the varieties. Though basically not being a pickle person myself, I have only eaten it as such. I am sure the pickle version tastes awesome too. This fruit basically being healthy finds its way as a rice and few other dishes. I always wonder at how I never end up blogging on certain ingredients.

 

So when I got a week's ration of this for Athamma, she decided to make a Karam with it. We refer to Karam to anything that's ground with Red chilies, made either as a wet or dry powder. It finds it's way to different dishes and takes up many forms.

 

This Usirikai Podi / Karam was very delicious with curd rice and I can assure you that you can just about have it with anything. Serve it with Idlis, Dosas, spread it on them, spread it on toasted bread. Just come out with many innovative ideas, you will surely end up with a tasty bite.

Usirikai Podi | Usirikaya Karam

 

Usirikai - 3 nos
Onion - 1 small
Garlic - 3 cloves
Oil - 3 tsp
Chili powder - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

 

Seasoning

 

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few

How to make Usirikaya Karam

 

Wash and pit the gooseberry. then cut into small pieces and grind along with onion, garlic raw.

 

Heat 3 tsp Oil in pan, add mustard, jeera, curry, allow it to pop. Then add the blended mix, sauté till the raw smell leaves.

 

Add chili powder, salt and continue cooking till oil comes on the sides.

 

Allow it to cool, can be stored in fridge.

 

Serve it with rice on the side or any Tiffin dishes.

 

 

This goes for my Condiment Mela.

Microwave Milagai Podi | Molaga Podi | Dry Chutney Powder for Idlis, Dosas | Step by Step Recipe

When I think about either Idly or Dosa, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally the spice powder that's served or the Molaga podi which is an eternally side dish for these tiffins in Tamil Nadu or for that matter, any home in Tamil Nadu.

We always have different spice powders stocked at home for different tiffins. And this is one of the variations we make. Since I decided to make condiments and microwave recipes for this week, I thought those spice powders will make a great choice and quick to make in microwave.

I also made a chutney in microwave, making sure to kill two birds in one shot and the podi will be a great asset for masala dosas. But I finally made just the podi and chutney and saved the masala dosa for another day. 

There are many ways you can make a spice powder and use it in different ways. There are spice powders for enhancing the flavour, like Kootu podi, for enhancing the taste, like idli podi, for making a dish on it's own like sambar.

One can make lentil as the main ingredient, or a herb as the main ingredient in which case the herb is used in its dried form. I am not sure about other cuisines, but from what I seen and done in Tamilian or Andhra Cuisine, spice powders play a vital role in many dishes.

You make a vegetable sauté, finally sprinkle some spice powder and lo you have the most delicious curry on hand! The list is endless.

For today's post I made the famous Molaga or Milagai Podi for are eternally served with Idli, Dosa in Tamil Nadu. And that too in microwave where it took just about 4 mins to get the entire thing done.

 

Cooking mode : Microwave mode
Cooking Time : 3 mins.
Total time : 5 mins.
Mixer with good strong blades.

Idli / Dosa Molaga Podi in microwave

Dry Red chilies (stacks removed ) - 1 cup
Gram Gram dal / Husked Urad dal - 3/4 cup
Bengal Gram / Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Asafetida / Hing - 2 pinches
Curry leaves - handful
Salt - 1/2 tsp (per taste)
Oil - 1 tsp

How to make Molaga Podi in Microwave:

In a microwave safe bowl, add 1 tsp oil and mix in channa dal. Micro for 1 min. Remove the dal to a plate. Add in udad dal. Micro for 30 secs

Once done, remove to the plate, add in the red chilies, salt, hing, and curry leaves. Microwave for 30 secs.

Remove to a plate. Allow it to cool or put it under fan.

First take the lentils, blend or pulse it for couple of times. Then finally add the chilies and blend again.

How coarse you want depends on your preference. I normally make it little coarse so that you get to bite on the lentil.
 

 

I made this for both my events Condiment Mela & MEC : Potluck Party, after all there is no party without this spice powder to spice it up!
 

And of course to Preeti who is hosting MLLA # 38, an event started by Susan.


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8

Chinta Chiguru Podi | Spice powder made with Dried Tender Tamarind Leaves

Fresh tender Tamarind leaves are very famous for its tangy yet delightful taste it renders to anything that you make with it. These leaves finds itself placed in an important place in Andhra cuisine, with the leaves being used in varied forms as a dal with toor dal, Chutneys, Pulihora and finally a podi.

This condiment that's made with red chilies and kopra is the best you can assemble quickly to experience the leaves and also happens to be very simple to make.

Athamma who is known for her podis and chutneys, never miss a chance to store these leaves in it's different forms. She makes a variety of podis and chutneys with these tender leaves.

In this recipe, she has made use of the dried leaves that were shade dried and stored. She got these leaves last summer, washed and shade dried. The leaves were preserved in an air tight container to be used in different ways.

Recently she made this simple podi that makes a great combo with Dosas or Rice. When I took this for lunch along with pappu, none could identify that it was made with greens.

Chinta Chiguru Podi

Chintathaku / Tender Tamarind Leaves - 1 cup
Red Chilies - 7-8 nos
Kopra/ Dried Coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Garlic cloves - 3 -4

Method to prepare:

Wash and shade dry the leaves.

Heat a pan, dry roast the leaves, Keep it aside. Then dry roast the kopra, finally red chilies.

Grind once it's all cooled along with salt.

Finally add garlic cloves and pulse it couple of times.

Spread it on a plate so that it gets to room temperature and also as we added garlic the condiment should be dry when we store it.

This spice powder stays good when stored well for over 10 days or more. If you refrigerate it can stay even longer. But frankly I have experimented for that long.

Other Spice Powders on Spice your Life!

Chutney Powder with Curry Leaves, Coriander leave and Sesame Seeds

Today's podi is all about a mix of herbs and spice. Its a lovely combination of Coriander, Curry Leaves along with Sesame seeds. Sesame seeds are very integral part of Andhra cuisine. The most famous being the Nuvulla Pulihora. Sesame seeds take the mixed rice to a different level. I felt the same when I tasted this combination. Roasted Curry leaves leave your heady but when combined with Sesame seeds it was potent.

This can be used as chutney powder and served with Dosas too. 

Chutney Powder with Curry Leaves, Coriander Leaves & Sesame Seeds

Chutney Powder with Curry Leaves, Coriander leave and Sesame Seeds

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Makes: Around 1 cup of Chutney Powder
Shelf Life: Up to 1 month when refrigerated

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup Fresh Curry Leaves, loosely packed
1 cup Fresh Coriander Leaves, loosely packed
8-10 Dry Red Chillies, about 3 inch long and stalks removed
2 tbsp Black Sesame Seeds
5 -6 Garlic flakes
2-4 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method to prepare:


Remove curry leaves from its stalk, pick the coriander leaves and rinse them clean. Wipe them dry using kitchen towel.

Heat a wide pan on medium flame and dry roast Sesame seeds till they start popping. Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan, add oil roast red chilies till its done, remove then add the dried curry leaves. Roast till the curry leaves turn crisp but retain that lovely green colour. Then roast coriander leaves till its well roasted and become soft, it takes about 3-5 mins. Keep it aside to cool.

Once all the ingredients have cooled enough, transfer them into dry mixer or food processor jar, add the peeled garlic along with all the ingredients and grind to fine or coarse powder according to your preference.

Transfer ground powder into dry and clean jar. Pop it in refrigerator for longer shelf life. You can serve this delicious Chutney Podi/Powder with Dosa, Idli or steamed rice with a dollop of ghee and enjoy.

Chutney Powder with Curry Leaves, Coriander Leaves & Sesame Seeds

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Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 2 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya
Seven Days of Soup: Ila, Smita P 
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,
Seven Days of Cakes:  Bhagyashri  
30 Minutes Meals: Archana  
Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Watermelon Seeds Spice Powder | Tarbooj Podi | Step by Step Recipes

I was feeding the boys their dinner when I happen to smell an heavenly aroma hitting my nostrils. Before I could even ask Athamma was it was, I saw a dosa being shoved on the plate I had on hand. I wasn't about to eat my dinner but as Athamma made dosa for herself she knew I wasn't going to eat soon. So she made one for with that some spicy powder smeared over it. While still feeding the boys I managed to eat that and couldn't explain the feeling that came over me. It was that good.

On asking what it was, Athamma sheepishly confessed that it was watermelon seed spice powder. Well I stopped being surprised at what she says. I very well know she is capable of such magic. She is known to make a chutney or a podi with anything you give her. Since it was quite late and that the spice powder got over fast, I couldn't take a picture. Now that I decided to do condiment for this Marathon, I thought I should make that podi again.

Since it's the watermelon season now, we have been saving up the seeds just for this. We made this batch last night and though I didn't enjoy with dosa, it was great with Chapati too.

It's only been two days since holidays started for Konda and she is so restless not knowing what to do. And it's a holiday for the boys because of the election. I will have to rush back to office after casting my vote. Of course the better of the worse gets voted. No choice.

Anyway I am planning to make a dosa with this topping soon. You must make it yourself if you want to taste a piece of heaven I talked about.

Step by Step pictures

 Roasted ingredients

 Watermelon seeds and red chilies ground to a fine powder

Then add the garlic

Shade dry the powder

Watermelon Seeds Spice Powder

Ingredients Needed:

Watermelon Seeds - 3/4
Dry Red chilis  - 7 -8
Garlic - 4 -5 cloves
Salt to taste

Method to prepare:

Wash and shade dry the water melon seeds. Else if you get from store you can directly go ahead with the procedure.

Heat a pan and dry roast the seeds first. When they are roasted on all sides, remove and keep it aside.

Then roast the red chilies and keep it aside.

When both seeds and chilies are cooled, take them in a mixer and grind to a fine powder. When it is all done, finally add the peeled chopped garlic cloves. Pulse it well.

Remove and add the salt. Spread the powder on a plate for it to get dried.

Notes:
Since you are using garlic, this needs to be dry before storing it. Else it may not stay good for more than couple of days. Best part is, that the aroma is still intact after shade drying the spice powder.

The outer skin need not be removed, but if you are not able to get a very fine powder, you can sieve the podi.

Serve with rice or dosas. You can make a paste of this with little ghee and spread over dosa to make spicy dosas.
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Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 2 BM#4 along with me:

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ
Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya  
Seven Days of Soup: Ila, Smita P, Usha

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,
Seven Days of Cakes:  Bhagyashri
30 Minutes Meals: Archana  
Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Karivepaku Podi | Spiced Curry Leaf Powder - Version 2

I guess this will be the most shortest post I have written in recent times. I had one Curry leaves Powder already. But when you ask Athamma, she will say she has couple of versions more up her sleeves. 

Curry leaf is one of those wonderful ingredients that you can't do without in your typical South Indian Cooking. Yet most times once it's cooked it is discarded. Many advice against this, yet you can't get them eat the cooked leaf as such. So consuming it in form of podi is the best way to do it.

On top Daddy loves this podi, so amma makes it quite often. Knowing Athamma's forte we end up asking her to make one batch or the other. This version that she made recently is much simpler than most others I have seen her making. Hubby dear loves to eat this with Ragi Sangati and Red chili dal.

Curry Leaves Podi

Ingredients Needed:

Curry Leaves - 1 cup

Red Chilies - 8-9 nos

Garlic - 3 cloves

Salt to taste

Method to prepare:

Wash the leaves and shade dry them till they are completely dry.

Heat a pan and dry roast the curry leaves till they turn crisp. Then roast the chilies.

Allow to cool and grind them first to a powder. Finally pulse the garlic cloves along with the podi.

The texture can be coarse or fine depending on your taste.

Since you add garlic, this podi has to be spread and left to dry for a while. The aroma will still be in tact even though you dry this podi.

Karivepaku Podi ~ Spiced Curry Leaf
Karivepaku Podi ~ Spiced Curry leaf powder


Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 2 BM#4 along with me  

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya  
Seven Days of Soup: Ila, Smita P   
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,  
Seven Days of Cakes:  Bhagyashri  
30 Minutes Meals: Archana  
Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Pudina Podi | Mint Spice powder

Gun powder is quite a common item in most Indian dining table. At least I think so in a typical Andhra home. Having grown up seeing various versions of each dish, one can't start to imagine the variety one can come up with. Amma always makes her famous podi.

Apart from that Athamma is know for her Podis and Chutneys. I always joke with her that, she can end up with a chutney or a podi with anything. This Pudina podi was something similar too. We had excess pudina on hand and not knowing what we can do with it, she ended up making this podi. It tasted great with Rice and of course with Dosa.

For it's nutritious value, one can eat these spice powders everyday if possible.

Today is the beginning of the Group 2 in Blogging Marathon. I have listed end of this post on who is going to do what. I have decided to take up Condiment as it's something I haven't done much.

Pudina Podi | Mint Spice powder

Ingredients Needed

Pudina leaves / Mint Leaves - 1 cup, tightly packed (can be little less too)
Kopra/ Dry coconut, grated - 3 tsp
Salt to taste
Red Chillies - 7- 8 nos

Method to prepare:

Wash and shade dry the mint leaves.

Once dry, fry the leaves in a pan. Keep it aside.

Grate the kopra and fry these next. Followed by the red chilies. Each has to be fried separately. Allow the ingredients to cool

Grind to a fine powder once all of them are cool.

Since the leaves tend to get wet after grinding, heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil and fry this ground powder to get a dry powder.

Store this in an air tight container for nearly 10 days.

Best way to serve this would be with Rice and ghee for taste. But as plain podi with Rice too it tastes great.
Increase your spice level by adding more chillies

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 2 BM#4 along with me:

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya
Seven Days of Soup: Ila, Smita P   
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika, Padma Rekha 
Seven Days of Cakes:  Bhagyashri  
30 Minutes Meals: Archana    
Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli