Monday, November 14, 2005

Garlic-sesame molagapodi for dosa/idli



I guess there are as many recipes for molagapodi as there are people who make it... and I'm happy to try out all of them (the recipes, obviously!).

For a change, I have no objection (hallelujah!?) to coconut as one of the ingredients of molagapodi - in fact, my mother has a recipe for thengai (coconut) molagapodi that's particularly yummy. Probably handed down by my paternal grandmother, who was apparently a wonderful cook. It's just a pity that I have hardly any memories of her, much less her cooking.



Anyhoo, I like using lots of sesame seeds in my recipe, and sometimes - like this time - I throw in a dozen pods of garlic while roasting the dals. I like the garlic flavour to be right there at the forefront, fighting with the sesame seeds, but if you want a shyer, less obvious garlicky taste, use fewer pods.

Gingelly oil is favourite to mix with this molagapodi, but I'm sure ghee would work as well.

Recipe for:
Garlic-sesame molagapodi for dosa/idli




Ingredients:

1 cup urad dal
1 cup gram dal (bengal gram/kadalai paruppu)
10 dry red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
10 garlic pods, peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp asafoetida (optional)
5-6 curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Dry-roast the urad dal and gram dal in a pan over medium heat until they turn golden. Set aside to cool.

2. In the same pan, roast the sesame seeds next, till they give out a nice smell. They will pop if the heat is too high, so keep it on medium-low. Set aside to cool.

3. Finally, heat a 1/2 tsp of oil in the pan and fry the sliced garlic pods, the curry leaves and the red chillies till the chillies begin to turn a darker colour and then turn off the heat.

4. Once all the ingredients get to room temperature, grind them to a powder that is the texture of sand, add salt to taste and mix well.

5. To serve as an accompaniment for idlis or dosas, put a tsp or so of the molagapodi on a plate and mix with a tsp or two of gingelly oil or melted ghee, as per taste.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of molagapodi too. Is it a molagapodi week? I just read Indira's Kaaram podi similar to Tamilian molagapodi. Can you post the thengai podi recipe too. I've lost mine. Its yummy with idli. Mix it with coconut oil and smear over idlis, generously - a great food for train journeys or picnics in India.

Anonymous said...

hehe... no, it isnt Molagapodi Week, that I know of :) I was going to post a recipe for it when I made some, but Indira obviously made hers first :) I'm glad about that because now I have two kinds of molagapodi at home!

Thengai podi recipe will be posted as soon as I find a suitable thengai! ;)

rokh said...

i love idli. but do not know where to get it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rokh,

I see that you're from Malaysia. I'm quite sure there must be south indian eateries there (if you're in KL) which offer dosa, idli, etc. If not, you can always try making it at home - one of these days soon I'll post a recipe for it :)

Mika said...

I am always in the search of molagai podi recipes. I have got two now to try out-from Indira and you. I love poondu podi and yours looks great.

Anonymous said...

Shammi, I know what you say about 'suitable' thengai. The ones you get here (in US) are 'bleh'... I recenlty found some organic coconuts in a Organic Foods store and it is yummm. Arent there any such stores in UK?

Ravi said...

Shammi, wow! I couldn't literally smell the aroma of the ingredients as I went thru' the receipe. Btw, is kadalai parappu and garlic a variation to the usual molagapodi because I remember my mom use only ulundhu and eLLu. I know of a different podi called the poondu (garlic) molaga podi which is generally an accomplice for vendhaya (fenugreek) dosai or modakathaan (a kind of spinach) dosai.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ravi, garlic is something I add sometimes, as a variation. But the rest of the recipe is as my mother makes it - except perhaps that I use more ellu than she would :)

How about you give us a recipe for modakathaan? :)

Ravi said...

Thanks Shammi. No big deal about the modakathaan dosai (Btw, in my prev comment, it should have read "I *could* literally smell..."). Modakathaan is one kind of spinach (since they call it modakathaan keerai). Its a climber variety rather than a plant. The leaves are a bit similar to coriander but with pointed ends.

You have to make the batter similar to vendhaya (fenugreek) dosai and then add paste of the modakathaan (or grind the leaves along with rice or ulundhu) and allow to ferment as usual. The batter turns out to be green in colour. The taste is similar to vendhaya dosai with a slight greens' smell. But people who like it just go gaga over it and there are also people who totally detest it. But I hear its very very good for health.

Best combo is with the poondu molagai podi.

After a bit of searching (thanks to google), I could find this and that too in our very own arusuvai.com site :
http://www.arusuvai.com/fooditems/greens/mudakkaathan_keerai_95.html

Let me know if you need more info.

Anonymous said...

Shammi ~
I'm all set to jet on cooking this up as soon as I WAKE up. (It's Sunday. Bear with me.) I'll let you know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

Hi shyamala,Iam a regular visitor of Mahanadhi and luckily happened to see ur site. i tried molagapodi recipe and thavala adai today. I amde thattai too few weeks back , it was great , the tips of holes with fork was gr8.Iam sorry cudnt post the feedback then.Both adai and molaga podi.were really tasty.Usually my mom makes all kinds of adai, she adds a little bit of murungai keerai or boiled maravalli kilangu or curry leaves to the same ingredients of ur recipe. urs is simple , easy and tasty.Iam yet to try pulikachal and kara sambar. Can u post some recipe of typical tamilnady style kulambu's and curries. Thank u and keep up ur good work. Ur photos are gr8.
priya,ar

Shammi said...

Thank you for your kind comments, Priya, and for dropping by my blog.

Priya Bhaskaran said...

Hi Shammi,

I tried your adai.... It was something different from my home preparation. It was tasty. I add muranga keerai, but I think it is not in season now. I dont see them in my Gorcery stores. I am yet to try your pulikachal...it tempts me when ever I see it.....

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Alapat said...

Your Molgapodi recipe is really crunchy and yummy..it even goes very well with paruppu sadam..Thanks Shyam..I was wondering what else will go with dosai other than sambar...