Karivepaku Podi | Curry Leaves Powder for Rice

A typical south Indian meal is incomplete without a Podi(spicy powder).We prepare various podi varieties,while few are paired with breakfast others with rice.Mom makes various podi varieties and she always packs a few varieties for me when I visit her.Her Kakarakaya(Bittergourd) podi is quite tasty and is the most favorite one at our home.

As I usually stock these podi varieties sometimes it is really helpful on those lazy days.I just prepare steamed rice and mix various podi varieties with hot rice and ghee along with fryums and papads- a satisfying meal for me.

My mom prepares this Curry leaves powder in a different way and we use dry coconut as the base while in Andhra and Tamilnadu they use lentils like chana dal and urad dal to prepare it.This version with dry coconut is quite different and tastes really delicious- give it a try. Please go through the recipe and notes carefully before proceeding to prepare,I assure you that you will love it.

Karivepaku Podi Recipe:

shelf life:2-3 months

Prep time:10 mins | Cooking time:40 mins | Total time:50 mins

Cuisine: South Indian | Category: Accompaniments - Podis

Ingredients:

3 Cups Curry leaves

1/2 cup grated Dry Coconut

8-10 Red chillies

1 small gooseberry sized Tamarind

2 tsp grated Jaggery(optional)

2 tsp Mustard seeds

2-3 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash the curry leaves and wipe them with a kitchen towel completely and spread in a thin layer and let them dry for few hours until no moisture is left. They would not get dried completely, they will just loose the moisture content slightly.
• Heat 1 tsp oil and add red chillies and fry them until they turn brown and remove them and let them cool.
• Grind red chilies with grated dry coconut  and salt to a coarse powder. Add jaggery and tamarind and grind it again. Remove the mixture and keep it aside.
• Grind the curry leaves(slightly dried) to a coarse powder in WHIPPER mode. Do not run it in normal mode as it might turn to a chutney.
• Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a thick kadai and crackle mustard seeds and add coarsely ground curry leaves to it and fry until the curry leaves are browned and become slightly crispy. They will turn to brown to slight blackish in color. This will take 15-20 mins.
• Add ground coconut- chili mixture to it and fry again for another 3-4 mins.
• Cool the powder completely. Store it in air tight container.

Serve it with hot rice and ghee and raw onion if you prefer.

 

Notes:

1. My mom usually grinds the slightly dried curry leaves first and then fry it in oil. Hence the color of the curry leaves is not preserved but it tastes delicious with wonderful flavor and also can be stored for long.
2. If you want you can even fry the curry leaves in oil and then powder it along with the red chili - coconut mixture.
3. In Andhra,instead of coconut they use chana dal and urad dal to make this podi. Instead of  dry coconut you can use 4 tbsp of chana dal,2 tbsp urad dal and 1 tsp cumin seeds fry them in oil and grind with roasted red chillies,curry leaves,salt and tamarind to a powder. Check out a verison of Karivepaku Karam podi here which is prepared for tiffin varieties.

Check out few podi varieties which goes well with rice:

• Bittergourd(Kakarakaya) Podi
• Flax Seeds Powder for Rice 
• Kandi Podi | Andhra style Gun powder
• Kobbari Karam/Dry Coconut Podi
• Tamarind leaves Powder | Chintaku Podi 

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