Idli podi, also known as gun powder or idli chutney is a flavourful dry chutney recipe from South India. Made with roasted peanuts, garlic, curry leaves, tamarind, and a few spices, this vegan and gluten-free dry chutney can make any savory dish taste better.
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Last Friday, Amit and I didn’t have much to do and there was also no good movie on his laptop so we watched a few episodes of Malgudi days on youtube. For those of you who don’t know about it, Malgudi days is a very popular Indian TV series of the ’80s, based on a book of short stories by the same name, authored by R.K. Narayan.
It has different simple yet amazingly beautiful short stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located in South India. Even though the book was published in 1943, when you read or watch these stories, you realize that basic human psychology never gets changed and that’s the greatness of this book which portrays it so well that you enjoy the stories even after almost 80 years.
Since it was a weekend, I thought of making something special that night but watching Malgudi days changed our plan.
In one of the stories, a couple served Sambhar rice to an old man, who relished it. They were insisting him to have some lime pickle and buttermilk with it. Watching that scene, made the foodie inside me, crave for a South Indian meal. I dropped the idea of making something special and decided to have a simple dinner of sambhar rice. I didn’t have lemon pickle so I made a South Indian side dish Idli podi also known as gun powder or idli chutney and it became a simple but special and tasty South Indian meal for us.
What is Idli podi/ gun powder/ idli chutney
Idli Podi is a very tasty and flavorful side dish from South India. It’s basically a dry chutney that is made by dry roasting and grinding different spices, lentils, peanuts, garlic, etc.
Every state in South India has a different way of making Idli chutney. Even every family in these states has its own unique way of making it.
The recipe which I am sharing today was shared with my mother by one of our neighbors many years back. She was from South India but I don’t remember which area. I have tried various versions of Idli podi but this one is still my favorite.
How to eat
Traditionally Idli podi is served as a dry chutney with Idli or eaten with rice and ghee. However, when I have it in my kitchen, I sprinkle it on almost every savory thing. You can also try following different ways of enjoying podi:
- Sprinkle it on your simple rice and dal
- Shallow fry leftover idlis and add some gun powder to it. A quick vegan and gluten-free snack is ready.
- Add it to savory oats, upma, even khichdi.
- A teaspoon of gunpowder to your sandwich stuffing will enhance its flavors.
- You can even add it to your bland soups to make it more flavorful.
- Sprinkle some on your plain salads and it won’t be boring anymore.
You can add it to anything to make it tastier.
More easy vegetarian/ vegan south Indian recipes
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Step by step photo instructions
Recipe
Podi/ Gun powder/ idli chutney
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp peanuts
- 10-12 curry leaves
- ยฝ teaspoon gluten-free asafoetida
- 5-7 dry whole red chilies adjust as per taste
- 7-8 garlic cloves un-peeled
- 1 tbsp seedless tamarind
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash and dry the curry leaves and garlic cloves with a kitchen towel. Don’t peel the skin of garlic. Once completely dry, roughly crush with the help of a mortar and pestle.
- Heat a pan and dry roast all the ingredients in it one by one. Roast till they lose the moisture and become fragrant (around 2-3 minutes each). Roast the tamarind at the end, it won't become completely dry but try to do as much as possible without burning it.
- Put everything on a plate and allow them to reach room temperature.
- Once they reach room temperature, put in a grinder and make a coarse powder. Take out in a bowl, add salt and mix.
- Store in an airtight container for 2 weeks at room temperature and 3-4 months in the freezer.
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