Huli pudi is another word for sambar powder and is popular along the Western coast of South India, especially along Udupi-Mangalore and places in the vicinity of these two. I came across this recipe recently as I was looking to cook cow peas (also called as red/brown chawli beans). I also had a field marrow (Mangalore/yellow cucumber) that I had to put to good use. I saw just the right recipe for these two in a cookbook I bought sometime last year. Most recipes call for coconut to be roasted along with the rest of the spices, but the one I referred to didn’t have any coconut in it which was perfect as I didn’t have any coconut with me the day I was making this recipe.
The author, Jaya V Shenoy had given the recipe for a large quantity of huli powder but I simply scaled it down to suit my requirement. What I prepared is sufficient for the preparation of sambar another four times and that’s all I ever need! Do stay tuned for the recipe of the southekai huli or field marrow sambar coming up shortly!
- 25 grams 25 medium-sized dry red chillies (preferably Byadge variety)
- 25 grams 2 tablespoons black gram dal (urad dal)
- 10 grams 2 tablespoons coriander (dhania) seeds
- 5 grams 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
- 2 grams 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek (methi) seeds
- 1-2 teaspoon coconut oil for frying
- Heat the oil in a heavy based skillet/pan and fry all the ingredients separately for a few seconds until you get a nice aroma. Remove on a plate and allow the spices to cool until they turn crisp.
- Grind everything together to a powder in a spice blender/mixie. It doesn't have to be very fine. While grinding, due to the presence of oil that was used to fry the ingredients the powder will cake up on the walls of the mixer jar. Scrape it down using a clean, dry spoon and continue until you get a fairly fine powder.
- Store in a clean, dry, airtight container/jar and refrigerate. Use as required in the preparation of Mangalorean huli (sambar/curry). This recipe yields approx 5 tablespoons of powder and can be used in the 'southekai huli' recipe on the blog for about 5 times
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