If you are a regular reader of Kannamma Cooks, you know about the legendary kola urandai that is a signature dish of neikarapatti amma. This ellu podi is another signature dish on the breakfast table at Neikarapatti. This is my brothers favorite. So throughout the year, whenever amma came to Coimbatore, this ellu podi would be packed in initialed stainless steel dabbas and left at my aunts place for my brother. Those days, all the dabbas / boxes were made of stainless steel or brass. It would have the initials of the lady of the house, carved on them. There would be so many dabbas coming and going from ones house. The initial would tell the identity of the dabba and it would be returned correctly. Then came the world of Tupperware and zip-locks. Aw! my beautiful eighties and nineties. Life was slow, people met more often in person and life was just nice. Its all but beautiful memories now! Coming back to this ellu podi! This is an excellent lentil powder that can be served with idli and dosa just like idli milagai podi. It also goes well with rice mixed with some ghee. Here is how to do ellu podi!
Ellu Podi – Sesame Seed Lentil Powder for Idli Dosa and Rice / Sadam. Tamil style recipe from kongunad. Black Ellu Idli Milagai Podi.
We will be roasting all the ingredients separately. First we will roast the black sesame seeds. Traditionally the seeds and lentils are dry roasted. But I add a teaspoon of peanut oil while roasting. It fries really well bringing the robust aromas out. Take a pan and add in a scant teaspoon of oil. Add in the black sesame seeds and fry on a low flame. Low Flame is the key while making any South Indian lentil powder. Cooking on high flame will burn the ingredients. Fry the seeds till they have a glossy shine and they are very hot to touch. It will look oily. The seeds will start to burst. That’s a sign that the seeds have been roasted. Remove from the pan and spread on a plate or a newspaper to cool.
In the same pan add in a teaspoon of oil and add whole white urad dal. Use unpolished urad dal. Roast the lentil until it smells nutty and the dal turns color. It should be really golden in colour. Always roast on low flame. That is the key. Remove from the pan once the dal is golden. Set aside on a plate to cool.
In the same pan, dry roast the curry leaves and the dried red chillies. Wait for the curry leaves to dry and the chillies to fluff up. Remove from the pan and spread on a plate or a newspaper to cool.
Spread all the ingredients on a news paper and let it cool completely.
Add in the cooled ingredients to a mixie jar. Add in the salt and asafoetida (hing). Grind to a slightly coarse powder. If you like your powder to be smooth, pulse several times mixing in-between. I like the slight crunch of the lentils. So I keep it very slightly coarse. Grind to a consistency that you like.
You can store this ellu podi at room temperature for upto 15-20 days. If you are going to need it for a longer time, then store the podi in zip tote bags in the freezer. It stays fresh for upto 4-5 months in the freezer.
Mix the ellu podi either with sesame oil (nallennai) or ghee and serve with idli or dosa. If serving with rice, add a teaspoon of the powder and a teaspoon of ghee to a cup of rice. Mix well and serve.
- 2 teaspoon peanut oil
- 1 cup black sesame seed
- 1 cup whole white urad dal
- 4 sprigs curry leaves
- 10 dried red chillies
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil and roast the sesame seeds until they are glossy and aromatic. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- In the same pan add in a teaspoon of oil and add whole white urad dal. Roast the lentil until it smells nutty and the dal turns color. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- In the same pan, dry roast the curry leaves and the dried red chillies. Wait for the curry leaves to dry and the chillies to fluff up.
- Spread all the ingredients on a news paper and let it cool completely.
- Add in the cooled ingredients to a mixie jar. Add in the salt and asafoetida (hing). Grind to a slightly coarse powder.
- You can store this ellu podi at room temperature for upto 15-20 days. If you are going to need it for a longer time, then store the podi in zip tote bags in the freezer. It stays fresh for upto 4-5 months in the freezer.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Spice Powder
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
- 2 teaspoon peanut oil
- 1 cup black sesame seed
- 1 cup whole white urad dal
- 4 sprigs curry leaves
- 10 dried red chillies
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil and roast the sesame seeds until they are glossy and aromatic. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- In the same pan add in a teaspoon of oil and add whole white urad dal. Roast the lentil until it smells nutty and the dal turns color. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- In the same pan, dry roast the curry leaves and the dried red chillies. Wait for the curry leaves to dry and the chillies to fluff up.
- Spread all the ingredients on a news paper and let it cool completely.
- Add in the cooled ingredients to a mixie jar. Add in the salt and asafoetida (hing). Grind to a slightly coarse powder.
- You can store this ellu podi at room temperature for upto 15-20 days. If you are going to need it for a longer time, then store the podi in zip tote bags in the freezer. It stays fresh for upto 4-5 months in the freezer.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Spice Powder
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Find it online : https://www.kannammacooks.com/ellu-podi-ellu-milagai-podi/
This pristine looking rice pudding called palambali from the kongunad region is a sublime dessert. Miniature Rice dumplings are cooked in milk to a consistency of a pudding. Making palambali is an occasion in itself. All the ladies of the family would sit across a dhoti lined dining table. They would roll the rice dumplings for hours together amidst a sea of gossips, sarees, jewelry and jokes. The dumplings would then be cooked with care and distributed to the families. Palambali is labour of love and is very special. The dessert is so smooth with a little textural bite from the rice dumplings. This is my mother in laws recipe. These days in kongunad, they do add cardamom to flavor the palambali. My mother in law says that cardamom was never added to palambali during the yesteryear’s. Palambali had no extra flavoring. The flavor of cooked rice in milk is very delicate and it shines in the recipe. She says that cardamom if added over powers this delicate flavored dessert.
So here is how to make Palambali
We will be using two varieties of rice for this recipe. Par boiled rice (puzungal arisi) and raw rice (pacharisi). Soak both the rice in water for 8-10 hours or over-nite.
First lets prep the Par boiled rice (puzungal arisi) We will have to grind the soaked and drained par boiled rice to a smooth paste. Add a mere two tablespoons of water while grinding. Grind to a perfectly smooth paste in a small mixie jar. Really smooth. Smooth like paint. Take care not to add too much water while grinding.
The Indian mixie does this job perfectly. I have a panasonic mixie and love it! Its a mean machine in the kitchen.
Transfer the ground mixture to a cotton absorbent cloth. Wrap the cloth and set aside for 15 minutes. The cloth would absorb most of the moisture from the rice.
We will repeat the process one more time. Transfer the mixture to a fresh dry cloth so we can pull out some more moisture from the rice mixture. Wrap and set aside for fifteen more minutes.
After the time, take a small piece and try rolling it into a small ball. If you are able to roll a ball, the dough is done. Else repeat the procedure to take some more moisture out from the ground rice paste.
Now get yourself a comfortable place to sit and some music to play as we are going to roll smally small balls out of the mixture. Start rolling the balls. Make balls that is somewhere close to the size of a corn and not bigger than that of a peas. Yeah. that’s really small. Place the rolled balls on a cloth lined plate. This rolling will take an hour to do.
Let the balls dry for a couple of hours. After couple of hours, the balls should not stick anymore.
In the mean time, grind the soaked raw rice with 1/2 a cup of water to a really smooth paste. Add in the milk and sugar to the ground rice. Mix well and set aside.
Lets start cooking! Bring 1.5 cups of water to a full boil on a wide pan. When the water is boiling, add in the rolled rice balls all over the water. Do not dump the balls all at once. Sprinkle the balls in the water. By sprinkling, the balls wont get stuck to each other. Do not disturb the water for 3-4 minutes. After the time, if you have some balls attached to one another, use a spoon to separate.
Now, add in the milk-sugar-rice mixture that we prepared earlier. Reduce the flame to sim. Cooking the milk mixture in a high flame would create lumps. So low and slow is the key. Cook the milk mixture stirring CONSTANTLY for 20 minutes.
The milk mixture will start thickening up considerably. It will be really thick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Refrigerate the mixture for 4-5 hours and serve chilled. It tastes awesome when its cold! One word to describe palambali – Its a sublime dessert.
This dessert can be stored in the refrigerator for up-to 3 days.
- Measurements Used – 1 Cup = 250 ml (approx)
For grinding Par Boiled Rice
- 1/4 cup Par Boiled Rice
- 2 Tablespoon Water
For Grinding Raw Rice
- 1/4 cup Raw Rice
- 1/2 cup Water
Other Ingredients
- 1.5 Cups Water for boiling dumplings
- 1 Liter Milk
- 1 Cup Sugar
- Soak the rice (both varieties of rice) over nite seperately.
- Grind the Par Boiled Rice with water to a smooth paste.
- Transfer the ground mixture to a cotton absorbent cloth. Wrap the cloth and set aside for 15 minutes. The cloth would absorb most of the moisture from the rice. Repeat this procedure if necessary to remove more moisture.
- Make small balls out of the mixture and let the balls dry for two hours on a cloth lined plate.
- Grind the raw rice with water to a smooth paste. Mix in the milk and the sugar. Set aside.
- Bring a pan with water to a boil. Sprinkle the balls and boil for 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the milk mixture and simmer constantly stirring for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Refrigerate the mixture for 4-5 hours and serve chilled.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
