Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Neem Flower Powder


Ingredients:

Dried Neem Flowers 1/2 cup Urad dal powder 1/2 cup Salt to taste Ghee 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Heat ghee in small pan, add dried neem flowers. Stir constantly and let them brown a bit. When they turn golden brown, remove from heat.

In a bowl, mix urad dal powder, fried neem flowers and salt thoroughly. Serve with rice and ghee.

Notes: You can add garlic while frying neem flowers.

Urad Dal Powder


Ingredients:

Urad dal 1/2 cup Whole dried red chillies 5 Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Heat oil in a skillet on medium low, add broken red chillies. After few seconds add urad dal and mix well. When dal turns light brown, cool down the mixture to room temperature. Grind into somewhat fine powder and store tight for further use.

Notes: some recipes using this powder are Garlic balls, Sweet coconut chutney,Cauliflower pickle, Spinach pickle, Spicy plantain, Fenugreek leaves pickle.

Spicy Curry Leaves Powder


Ingredients:

Curry leaves 50 -70 leaves app. Urad dal 3/4 cup Coriander seeds 1/4 cup Whole Red chillies 6-10 Tamarind 2 inch sized ball Garlic pods 3 Oil 2 tsps Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Wash curry leaves thoroughly and pat them dry. Heat a deep pan, add curry leaves and roast on low heat until they lose green color.

Heat tsp of oil in a pan, add urad dal. When they start to change color, add coriander seeds. Toast the seeds, remove from heat and keep aside.

Heat a tsp of oil in same pan, add broken red chillies. Toast them for few seconds and keep aside.

Grind toasted urad dal, corainder seeds, red chillies into fine powder using a spice blender. Then add pieces of tamarind and grind again. Now add roasted curry leaves, garlic cloves and salt. Grind into somewhat fine powder and serve with rice or idly with a dollop of ghee.

Notes: Store tight and karam podi stays for months.

Dalia Powder


Ingredients:

Split Roasted Bengal gram/ Dalia 1 cup Dried whole red chillies 2-4 Cumin seeds 2 tbsps Garlic pods 5 Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Grind all the ingredients into fine powder using spice blender. Adjust quantity of ingredients according to taste. Store tight and it stays fresh for months. Serve with rice and ghee.

Notes: This is mostly used as last minute spice powder for curries and chutneys.

Dry Coconut Powder


Ingredients:

Dry coconut 1 cup grated Chana dal 2 tbsps Urad dal 2 tbsps Dried red chillies 5 Tamarind 1 inch sized ball Salt to taste Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Heat oil in a pan, add broken red chillies, chana dal and urad dal. Saute them until they brown a little bit and then add grated dry coconut. Remove from heat let it cool in same pan.

Grind the contents of pan along with tamarind and salt into powder.

Notes: Tastes great with rice and ghee.

Sesame powder


Ingredients:

sesame seeds 1cup dry red chillies 6-10 salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Heat a pan, dry roast sesame seeds and red chillies by stirring continuously. Cool it and grind into coarse powder along with sufficient salt. Nuvvu Podem / Noopodem can be served with rice.