Nalla kaaram – నల్ల కారం

My mother-in-law makes the best andhra spice powders. Karivepaaku kaaram, kobbari kaaram, senaga pappu kaaram, nalla kaaram and the list goes on. I had made some futile attempts in the past to get nalla kaaram like hers but could never get close. Yes, even with the recipe. A few days ago, DH’s Indian <Gujarati> colleague was expecting his first child and had invited us for his wife’s baby shower. His parents were visiting and during my conversation with them, his father expressed his immense liking for these andhra kaarappodis. Next day, I sent about 10gms of Nalla kaaram (one I got in 2003, from India – sorry, that was all I could spare!) with DH to this elderly man. The next day, DH came home asking me what I had asked him to pass on, who made it, how much else we have left and if we could spare some more, where else we could buy the same exact one etc., etc., My answers were a series of ‘no’s. No other powder comes close to the one that my mother-in-law makes. For this elderly man’s sake I decided to try one last time. Determined to break down the formula, I took a little of this nalla kaaram in the center of my palm and examined each and every grain of it, tasting one by one. I kind of got the ingredients; now the ratios with trial and error. By the end of next hour, I felt that mine was pretty close to the original one. I am jotting it down here so that I will never loose it. Here it is –

2 big fists Coriander seeds
1 big fist whole dry red chillies, unbroken
1 big fist washed and dried curry leaves
3 heaped tablespoons urad dal
Key lime sized tamarind ball
one big fist garlic cloves
2 tsps cumin seeds
1/2 cup oil
salt to taste (may be like 1/2 cup)

Mind you, my cup measures here are rice cooker cups and not 8oz measuring cup.

Roast coriander seeds, red chillies, urad dal and curry leaves separately, in very little oil over low-medium flame. Seeds have to turn slightly brown. Keep stirring every few seconds not to burn any of these. Curry leaves have to be crispy dry. Using the dry grind jar of your blender, grind the roasted items to a coarse powder. Add tamarind and pulse till it is torn into tiny pieces. Add garlic, cumin and salt. Pulse till garlic seemed to have coarsely crushed.  Now take all of it into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the oil and adjust salt if needed. It might seem a little wet on the first day, but by the next day, it dries out considerably.

Tastes best in steaming hot rice with a blob of ghee.

Curry powder named ‘Sambaru kaaram’ (కూర కారం, సాంబారు కారం)

In Krishna, Guntur and parts of West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, a special curry powder is used in most dishes instead of the plain red hot chilli powder. This is a special blend of super hot, dried red chillies, roasted lentils, methi seeds, aromatic curry leaves and tons of garlic pounded with cumin. Plain chilli powder adds the needed heat to the dish and a mild zap to the palate. But, this curry powder lifts up the flavors in the curry. Sometimes one would even take an extra helping to savour the flavor of this spice blend, more than for the vegetable in the curry itself.  ‘Sambar kaaram’ is really a mis-nomer, because this is not used in sambar. Sambar has it’s own powder in which, garlic is definitely out. This curry powder also serves as idli-kaarappodi in many house holds. When recovering from any illness, when nothing seems appetizing and nothing tastes good, steaming rice with a spoonful of this podi and ghee wakes up all the dormant senses.

The authentic method of preparation is pretty elaborate. Sambaru Kaaram is prepared in summer, when the new crop of chillies is out. Each household makes enough to last for the whole year. Chillies are spread out in the sun, lentils, coriander & fenugreek seeds are roasted, branches of curry leaves (yes, practically branches) are washed and layed to dry on cot made of ropes called nulaka mancham(నులక మంచం), heads of garlic are peeled non-stop in bamboo trays called chETa (చేట). All of them are finally pounded in a certain order, in big stone mortar half buried in the ground. Yes, that’s a whole day’s work of all the women of that household. My parents left country side even before I was born, in search of livelihood. My in-laws’ side of the family is pretty big and their siblings still live out there. They have mostly been our kind and loving suppliers of goodies like pickles and podis. Once in a while I do run out and try to make my own with the closest possible substitutes. Here is my tried and tested recipe. Also quick! Quantity would last for 10 months, for two people.

Recipe:
200gm Lakshmi brand red chilli powder
2cups (rice cooker cups) coriander seeds
1/2 cup urad dal
1/2 cup channa dal
1/4 cup fenugreek/methi seeds
3 big pods of garlic
1/3 cup cumin seeds
2/3 cup vegetable oil (can you believe that in good old days they used castor oil!)
Salt to taste (may be 3/4 cup)

Dry roast coriander seeds, methi seeds, urad dal, channa dal and a few curry leaves. Grind them separately and mix them together in a big bowl. Peel and crush all the garlic-could use low setting in your mixie or just use the pulser switch. When you are half way done crushing garlic, add cumin to it. So by the time garlic is done, cumin would be somewhat beaten up but not ground. Mix this paste with the above powdered batch, chilli powder, salt and oil. Don’t worry if it looks a little wet on the first day. It takes a while for the moisture in garlic + oil to be absorbed by other ingredients.

Stays red for a year or even longer, if refrigerated.