Karuvepillai Podi (Curry Leaves podi)

Karuvepillai podi is something I used to eat most of the days in a week. From my childhood, when I was like 6 to 7 years old, my mom started this ritual (!) in order to keep my curly and thick hair healthy. Till now I am following the same even though my hair has reduced to thin because of child birth, change in water etc,. I make this podi in my mom's way every week in smaller quantity to keep it fresh. Here is the method.

Ingredients:-

1. Curry leaves - 1 packet ( used to get in Indian store here in Calif.)
2. Channa dhall - 2 tbsp
3. Urad dhall - 1 tbsp
4. Asafoetida powder - 2 or 3 pinches
5. Red chillies - 2
6. Black pepper - 2 tsp
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
   
8. Salt to taste
   

First microwave the curry leaves for 2 mts. It will become crispier, accordingly you adjust the time. Then in a dry pan, fry all the other ingredients one by one to golden brown and let it cool. Grind it into a fine powder along with the curry leaves. Enjoy this podi with white rice and a tsp of sesame oil.

Tindora curry

"Kovakkai" - This is how we call this Tindora. Its good for diabetic patients to eat this Tindora atleast once a week. The main ingredients are as follows..

Ingredients:-

1. Tindora (Kovakkai) - 3 cups (chop it lengthwise)
2. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Curry powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
8. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. Onion - 1 (finely chopped (1/2 if its big))
10. Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
11. Red chillies - 1 or 2.
12. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
13. Curry leaves - 5 nos.
    

First pressure cook Tindora upto 2 whistles. Do not over cook. Take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters, add urid dal, red chillies and cumin seeds. Fry it for a minute. Now add onion and fry it till it turns into golden brown. Now add tomatoes to it and saute for a minute. Now add tindora with the onion-tomato mix and add salt, curry powder (see receipe) and turmeric powder to the vegetables and mix everything well for 2 to 3 minutes. While using a spoon or spatula, do not mash the vegetables. Garnish it with Coriander leaves and curry leaves.

Karuvepilai Kuzhambu

This is a wonderful receipe, which all the spicy food lovers like. The main ingredients are as follow:

1. Curry Leaves - 12 sprigs (appx. 1 1/2 cup)
2. Channa dal - 1 tbsp
3. Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
4. Urid dal - (1/2 tsp) ( optional)
5. Black pepper - 1 1/2 tsp
6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Red chillies - 2 (this is optional, we can add the quantity of pepper if we want to ignore this)
9. Asafoetida - 1 pinch
10. Sesame oil - 1/4 cup
11. Tamarind Paste - 3 tbsp (1 small lemon sized)
12. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Salt to taste.
14. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
    

For Seasoning (Thalikka)

1. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
2. urid dal - 1/2 tsp
3. Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
4. Red chillies - 2
5. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 seeds
6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Method:

Before starting, we have to make curry leaf paste. For that, pre-heat a small pan with a drop of sesame oil, add all the above said ingredients Coriander, channa dal, urid dal, black pepper, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, Red chillies and fry them all to golden brown. Now add the curry leaves it. Let it cool and grind it into fine paste.

Now take a wide pan, pour the remaining sesame oil, add the sesaoning ingredients one by one (mustard seeds, urid dal, chana dal, red chillies, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida powder) and stir it for a minute. Now pour the 3 tbsp tamarind paste (with required water to it), salt and turmeric powder it and let it boil for a minute. Now add the curry leaves paste to it. Boil it for 10 minutes. Now put the jaggery in it and let it boil till the mixture turns thick. Now Karuvepilai kuzhambu is ready to serve.

We can keep this kuzhambu in fridge and use it for 10 days.