Curry Podi | Poriyal Podi (spice blend for veg stir fries)

 Curry podi / Kari podi is a quintessential spice blend in a Tambrahm household . Curry/Poriyal here means a vegetable stir fry and Podi in Tamil means powder . 

Curry podi is used in Brinjal stir fry popularly known as kathrikai podi pota curry. I use this curry podi while making potato roast or even raw banana roast . The nutty flavor and texture from the lentil in the podi gives a nice punch to the poriyal and enhances the taste. 

To make curry powder  3 basic ingredients viz channa dhall , dhaniya (corriander seeds) and red chillies are roasted and ground to a semi fine powder . In addition to these ingredients some recipes also make use of curry leaves,  few fenugreek seeds and at times a combination of udad dhall and channa dhall . 

The lentils add a nice crunch and volume to the spice powder while dhaniya gives it the perfect flavor . Today the recipe which I am going to share is what my amma used to make . Amma would make a delicious vazhakkai (raw banana) curry using this podi . I shall share the recipe of it very soon . I would wait to have that crispy banana curry with chilled curd rice and trust me it is a total match made in heaven . 

You can also use this podi to thicken up the vethakolambu or even sambar incase you feel it is has become runny for some reason.

Preparation Time -5 mins
Roasting Time - 7 to 8 mins
Complexity - easy 

Ingredients 

1 cup dhaniya /corriander seeds

1/2 cup channa dhall/gram dhall

Few  curry leaves 

5 to 6 dry red chillies 

Pinch of asafoetida (skip for GF ) 

1 tsp oil 

Method 

• Heat the oil in a pan and roast the channa dhall till it turns golden brown and take it out on a plate .
• Next roast the corriander seeds , red chillies and curry leaves until they turn crisp.  The corriander seeds will let out a nice aroma once it is roasted to perfection. 
• Allow all the roasted ingredients to cool down for a while and then blend it into a semi fine powder along with asafoetida. 
• Cool the blended powder and store it in an airtight container and use as and when needed .

Some other flavorful spice blends used in South Indian recipes used in variety of recipes is listed below .

• Pudina podi (mint leaves spice powder)

• Karvepillai podi (curry leaves spice powder)  {video recipe}

• Idli milagai podi

• Thengai podi (coconut spice powder)

• Hurigadle podi (chutney dal spice powder)

• Paruppu podi (dhall rice spice  powder)

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