Home – made Sambhar Podi

I have mentioned in my earlier posts, that no matter how many attempts I make, never could I cook a delicious sambhar like the one mom makes back at home.I guess the taste to her sambhar always lies in the sambhar podi (spice powder) that she makes.  The sambhar podi that I am posting today is one of the versions that I learnt from my friend keerthy’s mom whose sambhar reminds me of the taste I had at a hotel in madras (now called ‘chennai’) when I was 10 years old. I usually make this in small batches that would last a month. This recipe yields about 1 cup of sambhar powder.  Well, since I started it finally, I am going to call this a ‘How to make homemade’ series here after. My readers have been mailing me asking ‘how to’ questions so I guess this is going to be an appropriate post to start with. So, dear readers, this is for you all from my kitchen to yours. I promise to blog my moms version of homemade sambhar, but its going to be only after I’m back from my India trip which is a few more weeks away. Oh I’m so excited!   Ok! So here is how we make it :

Sambhar Podi Ingredients

Ingredients:

Kandipappu (toor dal/red gram dal) – 2 ½ tbsps

Pachi Senagapappu (Chana dal/Bengal gram dal) – 1 ½ tbsps

Minapappu (Urad dal/split black gram dal) – 1 ½ tbsps

½ tbsp raw rice (I used sona masoori)

½ tsp menthulu/fenugreek seeds

5 tbsps dhaniyalu (coriander seeds)

½ tsp avalu (mustard seeds/rai

1 tsp jeelakarra (cumin seeds/jeera)

2 tsps miriyalu (black pepper corns/kali mirch)

12 endu mirapakayalu (dried red chilies)

12-14 karivepaku (curry leaves)

½ tsp pasupu (turmeric powder/haldi)

½ tsp inguva (asafoetida/hing)

How To:

• Heat a wide, heavy skillet or vessel. On medium flame, add all dals + rice (ingredients 1 to 4) and roast for 4-5 mts till they turn golden brown and the aroma comes out. Keep frying them so they roast evenly on all sides. Transfer them to a plate and set aside.
• In the same skillet, on low flame add methi seeds and roast them for around 3 mts till they turn red. Remove to the plate of dals. Set aside.
• Return the skillet, and on medium flame roast the coriander seeds for about 4-5 mts or till they turn brown in color and the flavor is released. Set aside.
• Now in the same skillet, on low flame add avalu/mustard seeds. In a few seconds they start to pop. Remove and transfer to the plate of dals. Set aside.
• Again, in the same skillet increase the flame to medium low, add cumin seeds and pepper corns and roast for about 3-4 mts till the flavor comes out. Remove, and transfer them to the same plate that was set aside earlier.
• Lastly, in the same skillet, on medium low flame, throw in the dried red chillies, and fresh curry leaves, and fry for about a minute. By this time the red chillies start turning their color and the curry leaves appear little crunchy. Remove, transfer to the plate that was set aside and allow all the ingredients to cool completely.
• Once cool, add asafoetida, and turmeric powder, all the roasted spices to a blender and grind it to smooth powder as shown in the picture.
• Remove and Store in an airtight container or a glass bottle. This stays fresh up to 2 to 3 weeks.