I was looking for an easy recipe of podi that did not use dry coconut in the podi. While searching I found this recipe that was close to what I was looking for; readily available ingredients, easy to cook, grind and hassle free storage.  As an added bonus this recipe does not use any oil while roasting and so stays for a longer time.

As the name suggests it can be used as accompaniment with idlis, dosas or even plain rice along with good quantity of oil or ghee.

Adapted from: Vah chef

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup raw rice ( I used sona masoori)
• 8-10 red chillies(whole)
• ½ cup chana dal
• ½ cup urad dal
• 10-15 curry leaves
• ¼ cup pepper corns
• ¼ tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
• A pinch of hing/asafetida

Method:

• Heat a pan/kadai on medium. Keep all the ingredients ready.
• First dry roast red chillies till they turn light brown. Add raw rice and chana dal to this and keep stirring.
• Next add whole pepper, urad dal, methi seeds and keep stirring and cooking until it gets light brown.
• Add curry leaves, hing and mix well. Switch off the flame but continue to stir.
• Allow this to cool. Put it into the grinder, along with salt and make it into a coarse powder.
• Store in air tight container and use as necessary.