Recipe: Kanu Podi

Kanu Podi is a special powder for Kanu. The Ellu Sadham I was referring to earlier is prepared by mixing this powder with cooked rice. A few years ago, we had my paternal uncle and his family as guests on Kanu day. As usual, I had prepared kanupodi and ellu sadham. My chithappa (uncle) enjoyed the podi so much he said, “I am tasting such wonderful kanupodi for the first time since I left home”. He was then 65 years old and he must have left home after his studies when he was 15 or 16.

Ingredients:
Sesame seeds (Ellu) : 100gms (Black or white)
Jaggery :50 gms
Red chillies : 1 or 2
Salt to taste

Dry roast the sesame seeds in slow heat . The sesame seeds will splutter, so be careful to close it with a lid with a knob, but at the same time keep stirring the contents. I use a pan with a handle and lid and keep rotationg the pan holding it at the handle. Once the spluttering stops, remove from the stove and add the red chilli. The red chilli will get fried in the heat of the roasted sesame seeds. Crush the jaggery into small pieces.

Now comes most tricky task. Dry grind the sesame seeds, redchillies, salt and jaggery pieces ever so gently. Just grind for a second, open the jar, scrape the sides and grind again for a second. As soon as the contents are ground to a powder, immediately remove. This is the most delicious Kanu podi or ellu podi.

This tastes good with thayir sadham also.

If ground at a fast speed in a mixer, the sesame seeds will extrude oil and the result will be a messy mass. So be careful.