Sambhar Powder

Sambhar powder is a mandatory pantry item of any south Indian kitchen. It is a blend of ground roasted spices that lend a unique flavor to sambhar - the split pigeon peas stew that appears on daily menus of majority homes. There is no standard recipe for sambhar powder and each family follows its own "favorite recipe", probably handed down from generations gone by. A sambhar powder / masala can use many ingredients or can be as simple as this one, from my mother's kitchen.

I like trying various versions of sambhar powder and make it a point to copy down any recipe that catches my attention. However the two recipes mostly I follow happens to be the one I posted earlier and this one which is perfectly apt for my "cooking with five ingredients or less" themed BM#8 post for today.

Check what my fellow marathoners have posted for today.  

Ingredients: (for 1 cup)

1/4 cup chanadal

3 Tbsp coriander seeds

2 Tbsp skinned black gram / urad dal

1/2 cup grated, dried coconut

8 red, dried chillies

Method:

* Toast chanadal and urad dal individually on medium flame until they turn reddish. Remove them onto a plate and add the coriander seeds and red chillies to the same pan and toast until they start changing color and you start to smell the aroma of the coriander. Let cool all the toasted ingredients.

* Finely grind the toasted ingredients and coconut together. Store in an airtight container.

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