Sanskrit maami 's Paruppu milagai podi!!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2007

Sanskrit maami 's Paruppu milagai podi!!

Sanskrit maami's paruppu milagai podi!!

Growing up ,i remember there always used to be a huge bottle of paruppu milagai podi on the fridge ,to be had when we kids were fed up of eating eggs,chutneys or sambhar with our idli & dosai breakfast. In case we kicked up a fuss to eat dosai & chutney , my mom would quickly take some milagai podi, mix it with some melted ghee & give it to us to be had with dosai or idlis, or chop a banana, sprinkle some sugar on it, fry it in ghee & will give it to us ! No question of missing the morning breakfast! Nowadays since i have started cooking idli & dosais regularly, i was reminded of this chutney pwd & called up my mother for the recipe. She told me " oh, the milagai podi recipe? Very easy! just grind some urad dal, dry red chillies...... etc together( a very simple & basic recipe)& serve"! But there was no mention of the coconut, jaggery etc in her recipe. So i asked her impatiently,"But amma ,dont you add coconut ,jaggery etc ,for i still remember the taste of jaggery & coconut in the podi"! To which she replied,"Oh! that one? It was sanskrit maami( A paati who taught sanskrit in my aunt's school in bangalore) who used to regularly supply me with that podi! but nowadays i prepare paruppu podi like this only for your appa & he prefers this recipe! Try it this way ,very simple & you will like it"! And since sanskrit maami no longer worked in my aunt's school, i was thinking to myself that perhaps this recipe was lost for ever!! So imagine my happiness ,when i found the recipe on 'mangayar choice'! I quickly noted it down & tried it out in my kitchen & found that it tasted just like Sanskrit maami's paruppu milagai podi!!:)) Try it & you will love it!;))


Ingredients:
Toor dal - 1/2 cup, urad dal - 1/4 cup, channa dal - 1/4 cup, dry grated coconut( do not use copra) - 1/2 cup, salt to taste, asafoetida - 1/2 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, dry red chillies - 8 to 10 , tamarind - 1 tsp , jaggery - 1 tsp.

Method:
Dry roast the toor dal, urad dal & channa dal ,one by one separately & keep aside. Then dry roast the rest of the ingredients together except the salt & allow to cool. Once all the ingredients have cooled down, combine everything together & grind to a coarse powder ( sand like consistency) . Store in an airtight container & serve with idli, dosai or rice.

Recipe source: 'Mangayar choice' , Sun tv samayal! I used 10 chillies & the unsweetened grated dry coconut . My mother also advised me not to use the tamarind paste ( hence i used the normal tamarind) to prepare this podi . This tastes great with idlis & dosais, but try it with some steaming hot rice & a tsp of ghee ( my favourite way to eat this podi!) , pure heaven!:))