Curry Leaves Powder & Idli Powder

Ingredients:

• Curry leaves- 1 cup (washed and dried of moisture)
• Chana dal- 1/3 cup 
• Urad dal- 1/3 cup 
• Coriander seeds- 1/4 cup(dhaniya)
• Cumin seeds- 1 tbsp (jeera)
• Dry red chilies- 50 gms
• Tamarind- 1/8 cup (wash once and keep aside)
• Oil- 1 tsp 
• Salt- 1 1/2 tsp 
• Garlic- 4-6 unpeeled (optional)

Method:

1. Wash curry leaves and dry them on a clean cloth. The aim is to remove excess water. 
2. Meanwhile, take a pan and add 1 tsp oil. 
3. To that add chana dal and urad dal. Roast until they become golden in color. Keep the heat on low at all times. 
4. Add coriander seeds. 
5. Make sure to keep stirring it regularly. We do not want to burn any of the items. 
6. After a minute, add cumin seeds (jeera) and then the dry red chilies. 
7. Take care to not let the red chilies turn dark. 
8. Once they become crisp, turn off the heat. 
9. Transfer onto a plate and place the washed tamarind on the hot spices. 
10. This will help clean up the moisture from the tamarind. 
11. Now, in the same pan, add the curry leaves (without oil) and fry until crisp.
12. Turn off the heat. Transfer onto another plate.
13. The spices should be at room temperature for us to grind them along with the tamarind. 
14. Transfer to the mixer jar and blitz until it becomes a rough powder.
15. Then add salt, and unpeeled garlic (optional) and grind again. 
16. You can keep the powder a bit coarse or totally smooth. It depends on your preference. 
17. Then separate half of the powder and add the crisp curry leaves to the remaining half. 
18. Grind it again to make powder. 
19. Now, we have two version of powders- one without curry leaves and another with curry leaves.
20. Transfer to clean, dry airtight containers and let them cool for a few minutes.
21. Then close the lid and store in a dry place. 
22. The powders will stay good for up to 3 months.
23. Serve with idli, dosa, parantha or add to curries. 
24. The normal brown powder can be used as stuffing in bitter gourd, brinjal, ridge gourd, etc curries. 

Coconut Podwer

Ingredients:

• Dried coconut- 1/2 cup cut into pieces)
• Roasted chana dal- 3/4 cup (Putnalu)
• Coriander seeds- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds- 1 1/2 tbsp (Jeera)
• Dry red chili- 12-15 broken into pieces
• Salt- 1 1/2 tsp or more
• Garlic cloves- 5-6 unpeeled

Method:

• Dry roast all ingredients except salt, garlic cloves. Let it cool and grind into fine powder. Add garlic cloves and salt while grinding. 
• Roast coconut pieces separately. 
• Store in an airtight box. 

For detailed procedure, please watch the video.

Roasted Chana Dal Powder

Ingredients:

• Roasted chana dal- 1/4 cup (Putnalu)
• Dry red chilies- 7-9 whole, broken into pieces
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp (Jeera)
• Garlic cloves- 5-6 unpeeled
• Salt- 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Dry roast the putnalu for half a minute and add the cumin seeds and dry red chilies.
2. As they change color turn of the heat and let it cool.
3. Transfer to the mixer jar and grind once. To that add the unpeeled garlic cloves and grind into a fine powder.
4. Add 1/2 tsp of salt mix and store in an air tight container in room temperature.
5. It will stay good for up to 20 days.
6. This powder can be added to curries like lady finger curry, potato, arbi etc.
7. It can be served with idli, dosa and hot plain rice also. 

Coconut Paste Mix

Ingredients:

• Coconut pieces- 1 cup
• Curry leaves- 10-12 
• Garlic cloves- 5-6
• Coriander leaves- one small handful
• Green chilies- 3-5 broken into two
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp or less
• Carom seeds- 1/4 tsp (Ajwain)
• Coriander & Cumin powder- 1 tsp or a little less (I use store brought)

Method:

1. Cut coconut flesh into small pieces. Or if you already have grated coconut you can use it.
2. Now to a mixer jar add all the above ingredients and grind into a paste. Do not add any water. Just mix and grind again. Also do not add any salt.
3. Once it is done transfer to an air tight box and store in refrigerator for a week to ten days. 
4. This paste comes in handy when preparing dry curries like beans and beetroot. 
5. All you have to do is boil or cook the vegetable and add this paste it.
6. Saute for 2-3 minutes and that's it. Serve the curry with rice or roti. 
7. Also you can add this paste to gravy curries. Just a tsp or two and it will add a new flavor to it.
8. The same mixture is added to certain raitas also. I will show you those in the coming days.
   
   

Rasam Powder

Ingredients:

• Tur dal- 50 gms
• Coriander Seeds- 50 gms
• Cumin Seeds- 1 tbsp
• Peppercorns-  1 tsp
• Garlic cloves- 5-6 unpeeled
• Dry red chilies- 8-9 broken into pieces

Method:

1. Dry roast all the ingredients except garlic cloves.
2. First add tur dal to the pan add roast till it turns slight brown in color. Keep tossing the pan to roast evenly.
3. Add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and keep mixing. Once these start to shade, add the dry red chilies. 
4. Make sure the heat stays on low throughout, as we do not want to burn the spices.
5. The red chilies should not burn black or dark brown. 
6. Turn off the heat and let the pan sit of the hot stove for a minute. 
7. Set it aside to let it cool down and transfer to the mixer jar. 
8. Grind once and now add the unpeeled garlic cloves. Now grind again into a fine powder.
9. The mix heats up a little and that's fine.
10. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes and transfer to an air tight bottle.
11. Store it in your kitchen shelf away from sunlight. 
12. Use this to prepare tasty rasam at home.
13. The powder stays fresh as long as it is kept away from dampness.
14. It can be made in small batches from time to time.

Now that you have the recipe of rasam powder her is the recipe of Rasam.

Tips:

1. Exclude garlic if you do not eat it.
2. The quantities can be adjusted according to taste.
3. If you prefer a darker color of the powder roast the ingredients to a darker shade. But take care not to burn those.