I love podis a lot. Growing up, podi meant kalathupodi, since it was the only one made at home. Later, staying in a hostel for my graduation, in Andhra Pradesh, I was introduced to variety of podis by my roommates. Every year, Varalakshmi pooja was observed in our hostel. The pooja was set in our dining hall. So the food was served on the corridor outside and we were expected to eat on the verandha of the ground floor. Food was never allowed to be taken to the room unless someone falls sick and that too with the permission slip along with it. During this pooja, we somehow manage to take dinner to our room and enjoy eating with our room mates. In our hostel, we were 8 in each room and seniors & juniors are mixed up. During those dinner sessions, one of us will mix rice with podi and ghee in a plate. It will be made into balls and passed to the rest of the roommates. I can go on and on about my hostel life. I surely miss those hostel days.
Now coming to the recipe, I have written down this recipe from a Tamil Magazine. Its very easy tasty and features in my kitchen very often.
Ingredients
- Roasted groundnut - 2 cups
- Chutney dal/Porikadala/Pottukadalai - 1 cup
- White sesame seeds - 1/2 cup
- Hing - a small piece
- Khus Khus/Poppy seeds - 1 tblspn
- Red chilli - 8-10 nos (Adjust according to your taste)
- Salt
- Oil - a teaspoon
- Dry roast sesame seeds and khus khus separately till they crackle.
- Heat a teaspoon of oil. Drop the hing piece. Remove it when it is roasted.
- Roast chilly in in the same oil.
- Powder the ingredients when its cool. Mix with hot rice and a dollop of ghee. I usually eat with sesame oil (Nallenai)
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Here is the picture of a pot painted by my 16 year old neice, Soumya. She has not taken any formal training on this. I had posted some bookmarks done by her. She was overwhelmed reading the comments received for that. During my last trip there, I clicked few pictures of her paintings.
