Curry leaf Powder /Kariveppilai Podi

The other day we got this big bunch of curry leaves.  It is so hot already, the leaves were showing signs of drying out. I had made curry leaves podi long long ago and could not remember the measures and followed the one on Shanti Krishnakumar's Cook Book.  These spice powders are always useful for those 'I do not want to cook' days.  Some hot rice, a few drops of oil and the powder makes a good meal.  And if you have some fries with it, you would be forgiven for not cooking anything elaborate.

Ingredients:
Curry leaves - 3 cups - these should be dry * and tightly packed

Roast the following:
Red gram dal ( Tuvar) - 3/4 cup
Black gram dal (Urad) - 1/4 cup
Pepper corns - 1 tbsp
Red chillies dry - 6-7
Salt - to taste

Remove the leaves from the stem.  If the stem is tender, you may use it if you wish.  Wash well. Drain
Place on a newspaper for about 30 minutes or so
And then on a microwave safe plate and microwave till the leaves are dry and crumble when crushed ( this may vary - I put them for about 2 minutes or so)
Meanwhile roast the other ingredients - the dals, pepper, and chilies till you get a lovely aroma. You will know what I mean as the roasting proceeds.  Make sure you do not burn the ingredients.
Put these ingredients into a food processor and grind to a fine powder, then add the dry curry leaves and salt and grind again till well blended.

Enjoy with hot rice, gingelly oil ( or any oil will do ).  Since this is mainly mixed with rice, you may need to add more salt and chillies while grinding.

* if you are not using the microwave, the leaves may be roasted in a pan.  But the microwave method is really quick.

Tip:
If you want to pack it for your lunch.  Mix in the rice and season with a spoon of ghee, mustard, and cashews.  Maybe a few veggies too

Basics - Sambar Powder

I have just discovered the joys of freshly ground spice powders.  And it has been a few months now since I stopped buying the readymade ones.  The sambar powder here is from Meenakshi Ammal's Samaithu Paar - which in her English version has been quite simply translated to Cook and See.  The book was gifted by my father in law 30 years ago, when he moved into our home.  I guess he thought he would introduce tamil cuisine to me subtly through this book.  The ploy worked.  The book is now dog-eared and some pages are close to tatters.

I generally make only small quantities of the recipe that will last me for a fortnight.  And if you are not the sort to weigh ingredients use a tablespoon ( 15 gms) and teaspoon ( 5 gms) as a measure.

Dry Red chilies - 350 gms ( you could even substitute this with good quality chilie powder)
Coriander seeds - 350 gms
Pepper pods - 45 gms
Turmeric - 25 gms
Bengal gram dal (Channa) 60 gms
Red gram dal (Tuvar) - 150 gms

Dry roast ingredients individually if you are making large quantities. Till you get  the lovely aroma of the ingredients.  Cool and then grind to fine powder.

Proceed to make the sambar!