Friday, January 23, 2015

Sambar Powder (Kuzhambu Milagai Podi)

A very versatile podi that every other household in Tamil Nadu would always have this at home. The recipe is passed on from one generation to the other. Each family would have this for sure, only difference would be the change in ingredients or the proportions. We use it in sambar, kuzhambu, stir fry of vegetables like Okra, Potatoes etc and even in rasam.

Sambar Powder at my home is made from my grand mother's recipe. She changes it according to each one's preference of taste. I love my podi to be spicy added with loads of coriander, so she would accordingly tweak the podi. 




Each ingredient is sun dried and taken to a dry mill to grind to a very fine powder. Here at Pune I don't find any mill that grinds Sambar Powder, so I get my stock when I go to Chennai and freeze it. My stock generally lasts upto 5 or 6 months.
 What do you need:
  1. Dried red chilies - 1/4 kg
  2. Coriander seeds - 1/4 kg
  3. Toor dal - 1 3/4 cup
  4. Channa dal - 3/4 cup
  5. Black pepper - 50 grams
  6. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
  7. Turmeric (long turmeric) - 2 nos
How to go about:
  1. Take all the ingredients and sun dry them completely. 
  2. Add all of them to a dry clean container and grind it from a dry mill.
Points to note:
  1. The proportions of each ingredient except fenugreek is purely your choice. Fenugreek if added in excess would give a bitterness to the powder.
  2. If you are grinding it at home, make a small batch. First roast all the ingredients until aromatic in a dry heavy bottomed pan and then grind it.
  3. Also before grinding these in the mixer, first coarsely grind them in a mortar and pestle and then grind them in a mixer. 
  4. This can be used in stir fry of okra, potatoes and other curries too. 
  5. If you do not get hold of long turmeric, you can add turmeric powder (1 tsp) 
Njoy making...

Luv...

Champa

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