Spring season is the right time to prune the curry leaves plant and I pruned my curry leaf plant so it can grow bushy during the summer months. Due to the pruning, I was able to harvest fresh curry leaves. With the harvested curry leaves I tried the karuvepilai podi recipe which turned out amazing.

Ingredients

Curry leaves – ½ cup

Urad Dal – ½ cup

Cumin seeds – 1 tablespoon

Whole black pepper – 1 tablespoon

Salt – To taste

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash the curry leaves and let it dry on a towel for 6 – 8 hours.

STEP 2: Heat a pan and dry roast the urad dal until it is golden brown.

STEP 3: Dry roast the curry leaves until they turn crispy (Should not be burnt. Make sure the green colour is retained)

STEP 4: Dry roast the pepper until the pepper starts spluttering.

STEP 5: Dry roast the cumin seeds until it turns golden brown and fragrant. Add the salt to the roasted cumin and cook for a minute

STEP 6: Once the roasted ingredients are at room temperature, add the ingredients to a blender and make a slightly coarse powder.

Recipe idea:

• Add a teaspoon of karuvepilai powder and a teaspoon of ghee or gingelly oil to 1/4 cup of cooked rice, mix well, and serve.
• Cook 1 cup rice with salt. Add a teaspoon of oil to the cooked rice, mix well and let it cool down. Heat 2 tablespoons of Gingelly oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal and peanuts. Wait till the peanuts turn golden brown and turn off the heat. Add the rice and 7 – 8 teaspoons (or to taste) of the karuvepilai podi and mix well. Karuvepilai rice ready to serve.