Pedatha's Andhra Chutney Powder

A couple of weeks back, I chanced upon Pedatha.com, when I was following some links from some other sites. 'Cooking at home with Pedatha' has become a standard reference book specially for chutneys, ever since I was gifted this book by Miri

I got to know thru this, that she had passed away earlier this year, and though my association with her was just this book, I did feel a loss...



I regularly try recipes from this book, but the chutneys are my favourite...I knew I just had to make something as a tribute to this very wonderful and charming woman.
I had never tried any of her dry chutney powders, so decided on making this one, a famous Andhra spicy chutney powder...

Thank you Jigyasa and Pratibha for this wonderful book. May her soul rest in peace...

Andhra Podi Chutney

Recipe Source - The vegetarian cookbook of traditional recipes "Cooking at home with Pedatha" by Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain

What you need -

4 tbsp oil
2 tsps ghee
salt to taste

To be roasted without oil
1 cup bengal gram dal / chana dal
1 cup split black gram husked / urad dal
1 tbsp poppy seeds / khus khus
3/4 cup grated dry coconut / kobri

To be roasted in oil
2 cup red chillies ( I used about 20 byadgi chillies)
1/2 cup cleaned and wiped curry leave
1/2 tsp asafoetida / hing
lemon sized ball of tamamrind

Tempering
1 tbsp Split black gram / urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida / hing

What you do with it -

On a low flame, dry roast the grams, each separately to a deep brown. I use a tava to do this, given a more even heat to the grams
Dry roast poppy seeds and dry coconut each to golden brown
Heat 3 tbsp oil and roast the chillies until crisp and bright red, but not brown Remove the chillies from oil and set aside
Roast the curry leaves in oil until crisp and dark green, set aside
Dry roast the asafoetida powder
Next, roast the tamarind, Press with a ladle so it roasts well and set aside
Grind all these ingredients with salt to a coarse powder
Heat the remaining oil for tempering. Add the urad dal, as it turns golden, pop the mustard and switch off the flame. Add the asafoetida and pour this tempering into the prepared powder and mix well
Pour in the warm ghee and mix well. Cool and store in an airtight jar