Sujatha’s Karivepaku Podi (Curry Leaf Powder)

A tasty and spicy way to jazz up some plain rice! You should be able to find curry leaves at your friendly neighborhood Indian grocery.

My coworker Sujatha gave me this recipe using grams as a measurement . . . so it might take some playing around to get the right proportions.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
125 grams urad dal
10 – 12 dried red chilis
35 grams dhaniya (coriander seeds)
10 grams jeera (cumin seeds)
45 grams sesame seeds
Leaves from 12-15 stems of curry leaves
6-7 pieces of garlic
Salt to taste
20 grams dried tamarind

Head oil in a pan for 2 minutes; add ural dal and fry until it’s light brown. Add chilis, coriander, cumin, coriander, sesame, curry leaf and fry till it’s a light brown color. Make sure you don’t use too much oil here; you want the mixture to be fairly dry. Toss the garlic and tamarind in towards the end.

Dump all the ingredients in the food processor; add salt and grind. You want it to be a powder, but Sujatha tells me that if you let it get TOO fine, then it’ll get bitter. Stir it into rice, and eat with curry, raita, and other yummy Indian things.