Recipe- Simple And Healthy Karivepaku Podi

Karivepaku podi - karuveppilai podi - curry leaves spice powder - a traditional spice powder mix with curry leaves as the main ingredient. Each family has its own unique recipes for gunpowders. Today I'm sharing my mother's recipe. This will be good to eat as a side with hot rice and ghee. We also eat it as a side with idly, dosa or upma.

Curry leaf is a good source of iron, vitamin A, B and is high in antioxidants. These lower the bad cholesterol and reduce your chances of heart diseases. Even though we use these leaves in the day to day curries and dals, generally people won't eat these. They just take them away, and this karivepaku podi is a good way to consume these leaves.

Ingredients

¼ cup chana dal
¼ cup urad dal
¼ cup moong dal
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup coriander seeds
3 cups dried curry leaves
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp methi seeds
½ tsp turmeric powder
8 garlic cloves
5 whole red chili
lemon-sized tamarind
1.5 tsp salt

Method

* Dry roast chana dal, urad dal, moong dal, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, methi seeds one by one, till they turn light brown.

* Add tsp of oil and roast red chili and take them aside. Add one more tsp oil and roast the tamarind. Roast it on low flame till the tamarind turns crisp.

* Take all these roasted ingredients along with turmeric powder, sugar, garlic, salt and grind it into a fine powder.

* Add curry leaves to the grinder and grind into a fine powder.

* Store the powder in the airtight container. This stays good for a couple of months.