Sambar Podi

Sambar podi (Sambar powder)

Sambar powder

Sambar is a staple of South Indian cooking. Although there are any number of ready made sambar podis available in the market, I believe home-made ones are the best. They last longer and you can choose the ingredients with care. 

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dried red chillies packed tightly  (I generally use bydagi chilli but other varieties can also be used. )
• 1 cup coriander seeds (dhaniya)
• 1/3 cup  tuvar dal
• 1/3 cup channa dal
• 2 tbsps. fennel seeds (methi)
• 1 tbsp. cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tbsp. pepper (milagu)
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 small lump of asafoetida (hing)
• a bunch of curry leaves
• 1 tsp of oil

Method of Preparation

1. Dry roast the coriander in a kadai for a few minutes. Keep aside to cool. 
2. Again in the same kadai, dry roast the tuvar dal, channa dal, methi, hing and jeera and keep aside to cool.
3. In a little oil roast the red chillies and pepper till you get the aroma. Keep this aside to cool.
4. Lastly, lightly dry the curry leaves on the hot kadai.

(Note: In some families the ingredients are sun dried, cooled and powdered.)

• Powder all the roasted ingredients with the turmeric in a blender. The powder should be finely ground.
• Cool the powder on a newspaper and then store in an air-tight tin.