Mint and Curry Leaves Powder

Hey all, ya I am back after a short break. I have got you guys some lovely home made Mint (Pudina) and Curry leaves powder. In the south Indian Kitchen some powders are very mandatory in the pantry like the rasam powder, sambar powder, rice powder, curry leaves powder and many more. My grandmother, mother and Mother-in-law, never purchased store made powders. The recipes for these powders is carefully passed through generations and if any one even whispered about buying them in stores it would be of great disgrace and shame to the family. Now things are slowly changing though.
For the first time I made Pudina (mint) powder which goes great with rice, dosa and idly.


Ingredients

2cups Mint leaves
1-1/3 cups of roasted chana dal (bengal gram dal roasted)
4-5 dried red chillies
2tbsp cumin seeds
dried coconut flakes (optional)
Salt

Preparation

Remove the mint leaves from the stem and wash them. Dry them with the help of a paper towel and keep aside. Slightly roast the roasted gram dal , cumin and red chillies separately in a deep bottomed pan on a medium low heat. Be careful not to burn them. Turn off the stove and to the same pan add the mint leaves and gently roast until there is heat in the pan. This is just to get rid of extra moisture. Don't roast the mint in a very hot pan as they change color and lose the fresh mint fragrance.
Now grind them all together by adding salt, in to a coarse powder and its ready. This powder tastes great when the mint marries hot rice.

Curry leaves powder

Karivepaku podi in Telugu, and karuvepilai podi in Tamil. After coming to US, when ever the curry leaf was separated and discarded from the plate I used to feel it as a great waste. I always dried them, powdered and used it as and when needed.
This is another Aromatic powder relished with rice.

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh curry leaves
1/3 cup bengal gram dal
2tbsp split black gram dal
2tbsp coriander seeds
1tbsp cumin seed
5-6 dried red chillies
Tamarind one lemon size
Salt
Dried coconut flakes (optional)


Preparation

Wash the curry leaves and dry them with a paper towel. In a deep heavy bottomed pan, dry roast all the ingredients separately. The bengal gram should be roasted until it turns red on a medium low heat and continuous tossing. Same with split black gram dal. Coriander and cumin should be roasted until the aroma is out into the kitchen. Dry chillies just for about 2 minutes.
Clean the tamarind. Now dry roast the curry leaves too until they turn crispy. Remember not to burn them.
The curry leaves looks like how it is in the picture after it is roasted.


Combine and grind them all together with salt. Aromatic curry leaf powder is ready to go with rice, dosa or idly. Both the powders are dry roasted and no oil is used. Oil is used only while having them with rice. This way it has a longer Shelf life.

My MEME will be in the next post.