This is my recipe for an extremely flavourful spice mix powder, made in less than 20 mins, from my kitchen to yours! I’ve added a quick gorgeous brinjal dry curry recipe also in this post so you can see how it is used.

Ingredients

Coriander seeds – 2 cups

Split chana dhal – 1 1/4cups

Whole Urad dhal – 1/4 cup

Asafoetida – 1 tsp

Dry red chillies – 10 (or to taste)

Kashmiri dry red chillies – 6 (or to taste)

Uncooked rice – 2 tsp

Peanut oil – 1 tsp

For the dry curry:

Cooking oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Brinjal – 1/2 kg

Salt – to taste

Dry mango powder – 1/2 tsp

Jaggery/sugar – 1/2 tsp

Brinjal podi – 4 tbsp

For the Podi:

Yield
3 1/2 cups

Prep time
5 mins

Cook time
15 mins

For the Dry Curry:

Yield
Serves 3

Prep time
10 mins

Cook time
15 mins

Method

1)   Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add oil. Reduce the heat to minimum and add all the ingredients except asafoetida. Roast on low heat until the dhals turn golden.

2)   Transfer all the roasted ingredients to a flat plate, add asafoetida and mix once. Let it cool completely.

3)   Grind everything coarsely in a mixer/grinder. Your flavourful brinjal podi is ready. Store this in an airtight container and refrigerate. So easy!

To make brinjal dry curry using brinjal podi:

1)   Wash and cut baby brinjal lengthwise and put the pieces in a bowl of water as you’re cutting them. Squeeze some lime/lemon in there to add acidity and let it soak in that water for 5 mins. Then drain the brinjal pieces in a colander. This process of soaking will stop oxidation and prevent browning of the pieces.

2)   Heat a kadai and add some oil (as you would for stir frying). Add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add turmeric powder. Immediately add brinjal and enough salt for the curry. Mix once, cover and cook on medium heat until brinjal is almost done. This should take around 5 to 7 mins.

3)   Now open the lid and add the dry mango powder and jaggery/sugar. Mix once. Cook the brinjal for a further 2 mins. Finally add the brinjal podi to the curry, mix gently and simmer the heat completely and cook for 1 more min. Switch off the heat and serve this tasty curry with any south Indian rice variety.  

Notes

1. The quantity of dry red chillies (both varieties) can be adjusted according to your preference. Just note, dry red chillies is more spicy and less colourful and kashmiri red chillies are more colourful and less spicy. A combination of both gives the right amount of heat and colour.
2. This spice mix adds great flavour to many dry curries and can be used to make some mixed rice too. Just do some basic tempering, toss finely chopped onion and add plain cooked rice and salt. Add this brinjal podi to the rice and toss gently. Sprinkle some coriander leaves and serve. A quick, tasty dish when you return late from work or as a last minute lunch box dish (if you have some leftover cooked rice).
3. If you are using asafoetida in crystal or lump forms instead of powder, then take a tsp of crystals or 1 inch piece of lump and fry it in the oil before frying the other ingredients. Wait until it puffs/swells up and doubles in size. Then add all the other ingredients and continue the process. Crystal or lump form of asafoetida gives more flavour and aroma to brinjal podi.
4. When refrigerated in an airtight container, this spice mix stays fresh for at least 6 months.
5. Check out similar spice mix recipes like Rasam Powder, Dosai/Idli Milagaai Podi, Kollu Karuveppilai Podi and Sambar Powder for simple and tasty south Indian cooking.

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With minimum Indian grocery ingredients, rasam powder can be made in less than half an hour and the best part is, this powder can be used not only to make rasam, but also to spice up dishes like vegetable koottu (a traditional vegetable and lentil based gravy) and dry vegetable curry. There are literally as many variations in rasam powder as the number of south indian families, because each family alters the basic recipe to suit their preferences. This one is my mom’s recipe and I’m happy to share it with you all. Stored in refrigerator, stays fresh for 6 to 8 months.

Ingredients

Coriander seeds – 2 cups

Dry red chillies – 1/2 cup
(more spice, less colour)

Kashmiri dry red chilly – 1/2 cup
(less spice, more colour)

Whole black pepper – 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds – 1/2 cup

Toor dhal – 1/2 cup

Chana dhal – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 2 tbsp

Yield
~3 1/2 cups

Prep time
5 mins

Cook time
15 mins

Method

1)   Heat a heavy bottomed pan and dry roast each one of the ingredients from the above separately, except the turmeric powder and cumin seeds. Keep the heat in low and roast each ingredient one by one until aromatic and just warm to touch.

2)   Transfer all the roasted ingredients to a flat plate and let it cool completely. Once cooled add the turmeric powder and cumin seeds and mix once. 

3)   Grind everything coarsely in a mixer/grinder. Your rasam powder is ready. Store the rasam powder in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Notes

1. Quantity of dry red chillies and black pepper can be adjusted slightly to suit your preference. 
2. This powder can be used to make a variety of dishes like rasam, vegetable koottu, dry curry etc. Use your imagination to create more mouthwatering dishes with this spice mix.
3. You can roast a handful of washed, dried curry leaves and add it to the other ingredients before grinding for added flavour. But any residual moisture in the leaves will reduce the shelf-life of the rasam powder so be a bit careful if you are doing this.
4. Do not roast the cumin seeds. Roasted cumin has a totally different taste and it will alter the taste of the rasam powder. Fresh cumin seeds along with the other roasted ingredients is the perfect way to get an aromatic rasam powder.

Beginners tips

1.  Keeping the heat in minimum is very important while dry roasting. This will ensure even roasting of the ingredients without actually changing the colour.
2. We roast each ingredient separately because they all roast at different rates.

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Kollu Karuveppilai Podi literally translates to Horse gram (Kollu) Curry leaves (Karuveppilai) Powder (Podi). There’s a saying in Tamil which translates to “Give Sesame seeds to a person who is very weak, thin and needs to put on weight. Give Horse gram to a person who is having very low energy because of obesity and needs to reduce weight”. Horse gram and curry leaves are a great combination for good health, wellness and come under the category of super foods. So this spice mix powder is a perfect recipe for a quick and extremely nutritious meal supplement.

Horse gram is considered the most protein rich lentil, a very high energy food and helps to control excess weight. That is precisely the reason race horses and cattle are fed this. Curry leaves also help in weight loss and boost the immune system. With a combination of spice, sourness, sweetness and saltiness, this powder is very tasty and can be used in many ways.

You can make and store this spice mix for lazy meal days when you want to whip up something real quick. Use it to make a mixed rice, or add it as a flavour enhancer to any of your dry vegetable curries. You could also use it as an accompaniment for Idly, Dosai or Utthappam. Sprinkle this on top of your soup or salad too!

Ingredients

Kollu (Horse gram) – 1/4 cup

Chana dhal – 1 tsp

Karuveppilai (Curry leaves) – 2 hand fulls

Whole black pepper – 1 tbsp

Dry red chillies – 2

Salt – 1/4 tsp (or to taste)

Dry Mango powder – 1 tsp

Jaggery powder/brown sugar – 1 tsp

Cooking Sesame oil – 1/2 tsp (optional)

Ghee – 1 tsp (optional)

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Yield
3/4 cup

Prep time
10 mins

Cook time
20 mins

Method

1)   In a medium heavy pan add cooking oil (if using) and heat on low flame. You can also dry roast the following ingredients. Add the horse gram, chana dhal, black pepper and red chillies to the pan. On low heat, roast all this evenly, until the chana dhal becomes slightly golden. Remove the pan from heat and transfer the roasted ingredients to a plate. Add salt, mango powder and asafoetida to this. Mix once and leave it to cool down.

2)   In the same pan take ghee and heat on low flame. Add curry leaves and roast until the leaves dry out and become crisp (should take around 5 mins if they are wet but only 2 mins if they are already dried). Mix continuously so the leaves don’t get burnt unevenly and char. Switch off the heat now. Keep mixing the leaves every 2 mins or so until they come to room temperature, then transfer it to a plate.

3)   In a mixer jar, take all the roasted ingredients except the curry leaves and pulse once or twice. Then add jaggery/brown sugar and the roasted curry leaves into the mixer. Grind everything to a coarse powder. 

4)   Your Kollu Karuveppilai Podi is ready. Spread it on a plate for 15 mins to cool it down. Then transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate. 

Notes

1. Whenever you roast pulses or any ingredient that has to be powdered after roasting, use a reasonably medium or heavy bottomed pan. The ingredients have to be roasted slowly for best results. If the pan is very light or thin at the bottom, then the ingredients may char, without getting roasted evenly. Slow, even roasting brings out maximum flavour from the ingredients.
2. You can use tamarind instead of mango powder. If you are using raw tamarind,  a small marble sized piece is enough for this recipe. Add the tamarind along with curry leaves and roast. In case you are using tamarind powder, then add 1/2 tsp for this recipe.
3. I’ve used cooking sesame oil to roast the dry ingredients. I love the flavour of sesame oil. I’ve also roasted the curry leaves in ghee for a nice aroma. Ghee really brings out the flavour in curry leaves. You can roast all the ingredients in a dry pan also, if you want your spice mix to be completely fat free and vegan friendly.
4. You can sprout horse gram just like you would Mung beans (see our Banana Stem & Mung Sprouts Curry recipe to get tips on sprouting). Sprouted horse gram is easier to digest and adds a lot more nutritive value to this recipe.
5. When refrigerated, Kollu Karuveppilai Podi stays fresh for nearly 3 to 4 weeks.

Beginners’ tips

1. The colour of horse gram is light to medium brown. For beginners, it might be difficult to find out when it’s roasted to golden colour. That’s the reason I’ve added a small quantity of chana dhal in this recipe. When you see chana dhal changing into golden, then the horse gram also would have roasted to golden at the same time.

Every vacation, when I visit my mom, there are a list of things she will make for me without fail. One of them is Sambar Powder. She will buy the ingredients fresh, make sure it is of very good quality, dry them in sun for 2 days or until it becomes crisp to touch and then get it ground to a fine powder from a local mill. 

As there are no flour mills around where I live, I have modified her recipe so it can be made at home without sun-drying and milling. It’s an easy alternative and even beginner cooks can make this. My recipe makes about 750 g but you can scale up or scale down according to your usage.

Ingredients

Coriander seeds – 250 g

Dry red chillies – 250 g

Whole black pepper – 50 g

Toor dhal – 100 g

Chana dhal – 50 g

Fenugreek seeds – 50 g

Turmeric powder – 3 tbsp

Yield
~750 g

Prep time
5 mins

Cook time
30 mins

Method

1)   Heat a heavy bottomed pan and except turmeric powder, dry roast each one of the other ingredients separately. Dry roast all these one after the other in very low heat for a few mins or until the ingredients become warm to touch. After roasting, the ingredients will become very aromatic. Transfer the roasted ingredients to a wide bowl/flat plate and allow it to cool completely.

2)   Once cooled, add the turmeric powder to this and grind all of it to a fine powder.

3)   Sieve the sambar powder once if you feel it is slightly coarse to touch. This is dependent on how powerful your mixer-grinder is. If you have some coarsely ground bits that are leftover in your sieve, don’t throw it away – see note 3!

4)   Your aromatic sambar powder is ready! Transfer to a dry, airtight container and refrigerate. Use it to make flavourful sambar, koottu, vegetable sabzi for roti, rasam or spicy karabath (a spicy variety of pulav) and much more.

Notes

1. Using 50% normal dry red chilly and 50% kashmiri red chilly will give bright colour to your sambar powder. It won’t drastically change the taste of your sambar powder, but it will increase the eye appeal, that’s all.
2. Keep the heat to a minimum while roasting. The ingredients should not change colour, but evenly get roasted.
3. Sambar powder ground in a mill is very fine. While grinding in a mixer/grinder at home, the same fine powder may not be possible sometimes. If you feel the sambar powder is a bit coarse to touch, sieve it and remove the coarse particles. Store this coarse powder separately and use it to top up the flavour of your potato, eggplant, sweet potato or lady’s finger dry curry in the finishing stage.
4. Refrigeration in an airtight container will increase the shelf life of the sambar powder and also help retain its aroma for a longer time. You can store sambar powder in the fridge for up to a year!

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Though you get milagaai podi in many Indian shops nowadays, nothing beats the home made, fresh, hand roasted, perfectly ground milagaai podi both in terms of quality and quantity. For the same cost, you get a lot more quantity when you make at home. Also, you can be sure of the quality of ingredients you use and customise it to suit your taste.

Dosai/Idli milagaai podi can be used in many ways – to toss it with stir fried vegetables, as a topping for uthappam (a special spongy variety of dosai), to make podi idlis (mini idlis tempered in ghee and tossed with onion and milagaai podi), to make onion rice and in many other ways.

There is no water content in milagaai podi, so the shelf life is very good.  Even without refrigeration, it stays fresh for a couple of months and hence ideally suited for longer storage. Generally it is mixed with sesame oil and ghee to a flowing consistency and smeared on top of soft dosais or fluffy idlis and packed for lunch boxes, picnics, travel etc. Like puliyodharai, milagaai podi smeared dosai or idli tastes great after a few hours of making it. The resting time actually increases the taste. 

So, here’s my mother’s recipe for this all time favourite dosai/idli milagaai podi.

Ingredients

Chana dhal – 1 cup

Urad dhal – 1 cup

Dry red chillies – 1 cup (or to taste) 
(more spice, less colour)

Kashmiri dry red chilly – 1/2 cup
(less spice, more colour)

Sesame seeds – 1/2 cup

Asafoetida (hing) – 1 tsp

Salt – 1 1/2 tsp (or to taste)

Sugar – 1 1/2 tbsp (optional)

Sesame oil (for cooking) – 2 tbsp

Yield
~3 1/2 to 4 cups

Prep time
5 mins

Cook time
30 mins

Method

1)   Heat a heavy bottomed pan until medium hot. Now add the sesame seeds and immediately reduce the heat to minimum. Dry roast them until they start to splutter and turn golden. Set aside.

2)   In the same pan, on low heat, dry roast the chana dhal and urad dhal separately, one after the other, until they turn golden. Set aside. Add asafoetida to the roasted dhals.

3)   In the same pan, take 2 tbsp cooking sesame oil. Add the chillies and fry for 3 to 4 mins (again on low heat). Switch off the heat and leave the chillies in the hot pan itself. The residual heat in the pan is enough for the chillies to become crisp. The chillies should become crisp without much change in colour. Let it cool down and come to room temperature in the same pan. Keep stirring the chillies every 2 mins once, for it to crisp evenly. After the chillies cool down, remove from the pan using a slotted spoon.

4)   Let all the roasted ingredients cool down and come to room temperature. In a mixer jar, take the sesame seeds, chillies, salt and sugar. Pulse it a few times, without running the mixer continuously (continuous grinding will release oils from the seeds and make it stick to the sides). Do this until it becomes a fine powder.

5)   Now add the roasted dhals along with asafoetida and grind everything together into a coarse powder. Transfer it to a wide bowl and mix thoroughly with a dry spoon. Your dosai/idli milagaai podi is ready! Store it in a dry, airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

1. Use a heavy bottomed pan to roast all the ingredients. It helps in even distribution of heat and reduces the chances of charring.
2. Keeping the heat at the lowest is very important while roasting. This will ensure even roasting of the ingredients. 
3. Each ingredient takes its own time to roast to a nice golden colour. That’s the reason for roasting them separately on low heat. So roasting all of them together is not an option.
4. Always dry roast sesame seeds. For longer shelf life, I prefer to dry roast the dhals. But if you like the aroma of sesame oil, add a few drops to roast the dhals.
5. If you prefer less spice, you can just use the Kashmiri chillies and omit the normal dry red chillies.
6. If you are using asafoetida in crystal or lump forms instead of powder, then take a tsp of crystals or 1 inch piece of lump and fry it in the oil before frying the chillies. Wait until it puffs/swells up and doubles in size. Remove with a slotted spoon and continue to fry the chillies in the same oil. Add the fried asafoetida to the other ingredients while grinding. Crystal or lump form of asafoetida gives more flavour and aroma to the dosai/idli milagaai podi.
7. Adding sugar is completely optional. It definitely helps to balance out the spiciness and make milagaai podi tastier.
8. Refrigeration in an airtight container will increase the shelf life of dosai/idli milagaai podi to about a year and also help retain its aroma for a long time.

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There are different brands and different combinations available readymade in supermarkets, but nothing beats the homemade kada masala powder. Try this recipe once and you will never go back to the store bought masala powder.

Ingredients

Coriander seeds – 2tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1tbsp

Fennel seeds – 1tsp

Black pepper – 1tbsp

Whole green cardamom – 4

Cloves – 4

Cinnamon stick – 2 inch piece

Star anise – 2

Kapok buds – 2 (optional)

Kashmiri dry red chillies – 4

Mace – 1 small piece

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 2 tbsp

Dry fenugreek leaves (Kasoori methi) – 1 tbsp

Yield
~6-7 tbsp

Prep time
8 mins to dry roast the whole spices
15 mins to cool the roasted ingredients

Cook time
5 mins to grind

Method

1)   In a heavy bottomed pan take all the ingredients from the above list, excepting turmeric powder, red chilly powder and dry fenugreek leaves. 

2)   Dry roast all these in very low heat for nearly 7 to 8 mins. 

3)   After roasting, the spices turn very aromatic. Keep the heat to a minimum throughout. 

4)   Transfer the roasted whole spices to a flat plate and let it cool completely. Once cooled add the turmeric powder, red chilly powder and dry fenugreek leaves to this. Grind everything to a fine powder. 

5)   Store in airtight container and refrigerate.

Notes

1. Quantity of chilly powder and dry red chillies can be adjusted to suit your preference.
2. Keeping the heat at the lowest is very important while roasting. This will ensure even roasting of the spices without charring. 
3. This kada masala powder can be used to make a variety things like onion rice, mix vegetable gravy, any instant pulao variety, or even to use in kati/frankie rolls. Use your imagination to create more mouthwatering dishes with this spice mix.
4. Refrigeration in an airtight container will increase the shelf life of this masala powder and also help retain its aroma for a long time.

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