Karuveppilai Podi

     I make karuveppilai podi every week. But there are a couple of reasons for such a high regularity in frequency though. Here, Curry leaves are available in the supermarket only for few days in a week. And they are costly too. Even if we pay the price, it is very hard to keep it in reserve in good condition, till the next stock arrives.
    I would say that buying curry leaves demands a very good skill, which comes by default to us, the Chennaites. We have to dig our head into the store's refrigerator and go for a typical Indianish sorting activity of the ziplock packs, to get the one containing the freshest leaves.

     Every gobble of this podi with rice or idly, sets the film rolling to a flashback of my vegetable purchase at Chennai, where I get some vegetables with the only final intention of picking up huge amounts of karuveppilai for free !!! :D Golden days:)

Prep Time:  20 mins || Cook Time: 5 mins || Category: Ready Mix powder

Ingredients:

1. Curry Leaves - 1 cup

2. Dry red chillies - 2

3. Urad dal - 2 tbsp

4. Bengal Gram (Kadalai paruppu) - 1 & 1/2 tbsp

5. Pepper - 1 tsp

6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

7. Oil - 2 tsp

8. Salt - as required

Method:
1. Wash and dry the curry leaves in a clean towel. Once the leaves have dried, roast them in a pan without oil. Roast the other ingredients in oil until golden brown.

2. Cool the roasted ingredients. Grind the dal mixture into a coarse powder and keep aside in a bowl.

3. Grind the roasted curry leaves coarsely. Then add the dal powder on top of the curry leaves powder and desired quantity of salt and blend on low speed for about less than a minute, to ensure even mixing of the dals with curry leaves.

Store the powder in an air-tight container. Keep refrigerated until and after every use. This will keep it good for about 5 to 6 days.

Enjoy it with hot rice topped with gingelly oil or for idly or dosa.