Kariveppilai podi (curry leaves powder)

Ingredients:

Curry leaves (washed and dried in shade) - 2 cups
Urad daal 4 tablespoons
Mustard seeds 1/4 tea spoon
Dry chilly - 1
peppercorn - 1 tea spoon
Salt as required
Refined oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

Roast the urad daal, mustard seeds, chilly, pepper in a heated pan. Take it separately and let it cool. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the curry leaves keeping the flame in sim. Once that cools down, grind it as a fine powder.

A variation is to add a little tamarind and making it a semi dry paste.

Should be eaten with rice with a little ghee/gingelly oil. The semi dry version can be eaten with dosa and rotis also.

Sambhara podi (coriander leaves powder)

Ingredients:

Coriander leaves (separate the stems, wash, strain and dry it in shade) - 2 to 3 cups
urad daal - 4 tablespoons
dry chillies - 4
Tamarind - 1/2 of amla size
Salt as required
Jaggery 1 teaspoon
refined oil - 2 tablespoons
mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon


Method:

Roast the urad daal, chillies in a heated pan. Pop the mustard seeds separately. Grind these separately into a fine powder. Then grind the coriander leaves, tamarind and salt and grind it without adding any water. Add the daal, chilli powder to this, grind it till it get mixed completely. Add jaggery at the last.

Can be eaten with rice or as a side dish to dosa, idli, rotis etc., I like this the best with curd rice.

Kothamalli virai podi (coriander powder)

Ingredients:

Dry coriander seeds 1 cup
Urad Daal 2 tablespoons
Dry chillies 1
Asofoetida (perungayam) 1 pinch

Method:

Roast the urad daal, dry chilli and asofoetida in a heated pan (kadai) till you get a nice aroma. Add the coriander seeds to this and roast it nicely. Grind it to a fine powder.

Should be mixed with rice and eaten. A little gingelly oil or ghee will enhance the taste. This is good for digestion and also for headache and nausea.

Paruppu podi (2 types)

Ingredients:

Toor daal (thuvaram paruppu) 1 cup or 150 gms
Dry chilli (Red) 1
Asafoetida little
Salt to taste

Method:

Roast the toor daal till it turns golden brown. Add salt and asafoetida to the daal and let it cool. Grind it to fine powder in a mixie.

Variation:

In the above ingredients list, replace red chilli with 4 pepper corns and 1/4 table spoon of kus kus.

Roast the kus kus first and then follow the same method.

Paasi paruppu payasam (Moong dal kheer)

Ingredients:

Milk 150 ml
Moong dal (paasi paruppu) 1 cup or 50 gms
Jaggery (vellam) 1 cup or 50 gms
cardomom powder a pinch or two
Cashwenuts (fried in ghee) 3-4

Method:

Roast the moong dal in a tawa for a few mts. Take it out when the color starts changing to brown. Add 1-1.5 cups of water to the dal, keep it in a cooker and cook. (two whistles will be sufficient). Add jaggery to the mixture in a separate vessel and let it boil. Add cardomom powder and cashews. Add milk and let it boil for a couple of minutes.

Serve it hot or chilled. Easiest payasam that you can ever make and healthy too because it is protein rich. Can be done with skimmed milk also. Add more milk/water to variate the recipe to your taste.