Karibevu Pudi --Curry Leaves Powder

Karibevu is Kannada for Curry Leaves and Pudi translates to Powder. Pudis and Pickles have always been an important part of our meals since childhood for several reasons. One, because granny made varieties of pudis and pickles all the time and another all of our summers spent at granny’s place ensured we ate them at almost every meal.

More than pickles, ajji makes various pudis (better known to some as chutney pudi) with curry leaves, fried gram (Dalia), dried coconut, groundnuts,cumin and the list goes on. Our favourite is the Poppindi, made with fried gram (dalia). Next, is the one made with curry leaves. These pudis were eaten with everything from idlis,dosas and everything in between….even bread toasted on a tava with ghee. Mmmm, the perfect combo! Often meals started with Pudi anna - mixture of rice, any one of the pudis, and a little bit of ghee.

I bought a big pack of the curry leaves a couple of days ago and I knew I wouldn’t be using all of it in cooking. So I made the curry leaves powder – Karibevu pudi, using ajji’s recipe from her cookbook.

You will need: (Makes about 1 ½ cups of Pudi)

4 cups packed, fresh curry leaves
¾ Cup dry grated coconut
8 Dry red chillies
2 Tbsp Urad Dal
1 ½ tbsp Cumin seeds
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp Powdered Jaggery
1 tsp Tamarind (remove seeds and fibres)
½ tsp Mustard seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Wash and dry the curry leaves. Dry roast them in a hot non stick pan till they are crisp and crumbly to the touch. Turn off heat and let cool.

Meanwhile dry roast each separately the urad dal, cumin seeds, dry red chillies and the dry coconut. Grind these to a fine powder.

Powder the roasted cooled curry leaves. Combine this with the other powder and blend one last time with tamarind, jaggery and salt.

In a pan, heat ½ tsp oil. Add mustard seeds and asafetida. When the seeds splutter, add the powder and sauté till fragrant and slightly changes colour. About 6-7 minutes.

Let cool completely before storing in an air tight jar.