Monday, December 21, 2009

Quinoa and Flax Spice Powder (Chutney powder)

Quinoa with its numerous health benefits is beginning to appear more frequently in my dishes as I learn new ways to sneak this super healthy grain like seed into our diet. After trying potato curry with quinoa and flax I decided I would love to have quinoa in a chutney powder.

Chutney powders like this spice powder(molaga podi) are an essential part of my pantry. A few drops of sesame oil transforms dry chutney powder to a perfect accompaniment for dosas or idlis (crepes and steamed cakes) and this lasts a long time without refrigeration making it perfect for emergency " I don't know what to make to go with this " days :-)

Despite my wariness about the result of this experiment, this quinoa spice powder turned out very well. Its spicy and slightly nutty taste worked very well when I used it in place of the above mentioned Spice powder(molaga podi) . It was also versatile enough that it can be used to spice up curries, to spicing up sandwiches and can even be mixed with plain yogurt to create a quick healthy dip.


Quinoa spice powder 3

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa dry spice powder

1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup split black gram lentil (udad dhal)
1/4 cup split chick pea (chana dhal)
1/4 cup flax seed meal
approximately 35 dry red chillies or according to taste (see notes)
salt to taste

Dry roast each of the ingredients separately (quinoa, split black gram lentil, split chick pea lentil) until reddish, remove from heat and keep aside seperately.

Dry roast flax seed meal until aroma from it releases and keep aside.

Dry roast dry red chillies until it starts to turn darker and seems crisp, keep aside.

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When all of the above ingredients are cool, powder them in a spice grinder separately at first until it forms a coarse powder.

Then add everything together and grind to a finer powder.

Add salt and give it another turn in the blender/ grinder until it mixes well.

Cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container. This will keep for a few weeks easily without refrigeration, in case you want to store longer keep it in the refrigerator as flax seeds get rancid quickly.

Use this spice powder to spice your curries, or use in place of molaga podi (spice powder ) with a few drops of sesame oil along with dosai/ idli or add it to your soups or sandwiches to spice them up.

Notes
You can skip the flax seed meal and increase the quantity of either of the lentils instead. In case you skip the flax seed meal you can store this without refrigeration.

The red chillies I have right now are not at all very spicy and so I have to use quite a bit of them to get a little spice. Please adjust the quantity of red chillies according to taste and the level of heat you want from this powder.

19 comments :

Priya Suresh said...

Such a unique and tremendous podi, healthy!!!

lata raja said...

Wonder podi!!! Now start thinking what will I make to go with this podi days will be in soon:)

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Sounds nice...

Shama Nagarajan said...

yummy podi..different one

Indhu said...

love all your podi recipes... would love to have this with rice and ghee.

Unknown said...

Chutney podis, we use them alomost around all meals. Adding some nutrition is very nice thing. Nice recipe.

Unknown said...

Lovely podi, looking forward for your entry to our event.

Vaishali said...

Lovely idea to use quinoa and flax seed powder in molaga podi. I would've never thought of this. Thanks for sharing!

Gita Jaishankar said...

This podi is such a great idea Usha...packed with protein...must have tasted great too :)

Nandinis food said...

Awesome podi! Must be tasting really really good!

chef and her kitchen said...

gr8 podi dear..unusual usage of ingredients..

Jaya M said...

Thats a great podi/masala powder , very healthy too .
hugs and smiles

Cham said...

Very unique never thought quinoa as chutney podi!

Siddhi Shirsat said...

Hey usha, thnx for visitng n commenting in my blog...hope 2 cu agn...u hv a very nice blog with awesome n interesting recipes...this powder is superb combo, m sure it vl taste very nice when used as a spread on sandwich n dosas...i am following u 2 get more such good recipes from u

Unknown said...

I like the way you have Indianized this podi!

Champa said...

Nice twist.

Bhargavi said...

havent tried any podi yet.. this sounds different.. what is quinoa?

Bhargavi said...

forget the bit about quinoa.. i checked u r other recipie on quinoa and got to know more abt it . thanx !

Anupama said...

Aaahaaa! Super podi this is... I'm on the watch for different recipes with Quinoa these days

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