Kolhapuri masala

    Kolhapur, city from South-west Maharashtra, has been blessed with delecious cuisine.  From, taambda rassa, pandra rassa to  sukka, they have also been entrusted with loads of vegetarian dishes like Misal, bharleli vaangi and ghavachi kheer as well.  What makes Kolhapur additionally special is largest production of jaggery owing to massive sugarcane fields around.  Not only on culinery terms, they excel in Jewellery, leather chappals and wrestling.  Relegiously, they have also been termed as, 'DAKSHIN KAASI' due to presence of Goddess Mahalakshmi.

    Though they multi-excel, our key point to note would be the entire soul for Kolhapuri cuisine - Kolhapuri masala.  The unique combination of dry roasted spices like sesame seeds, coconut,  garlic along with garam masala like cinnamon, cloves, star anise flavours this masala in an wholesome way.  Special regards to the chilly used here - Bedgi mirch (dark in colour, mildly spicy), Jawari mirch (lightly toned, but highly spicy)  So, when I saw an recipe by Prachi Joshi from GOOD FOOD Magazine (May 2014), I could hardly resist myself from preparing them.

So, here they are.  The given recipe yields 250 gm of Kolhapuri masala (You could half them, for an small batch also).  At room temperature, this can be stored in an airtight container, for almost ten months.



Preparation time equalled an hour (including cooling and grinding)

Ingredients required: 

OIL ROAST, batch 1

• 2 tbspn oil
• 5 tsp turmeric powder
• 21/2 tsp hing/asafoetida

OIL ROAST, batch 2

• 1 tbspn oil
• 3 tbspn finely chopped onions
• 11/2 tbspn finely chopped garlic
• 11/2 tbspn finely chopped ginger
• An large bunch of coriander leaves

OIL ROAST, batch 3

• 2 tbspn oil
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 14 green cardamom
• 4 black cardamom
• 5-6 bay leaves
• 2 star anise
• 1-inch piece dagad phool
• 1 mace

DRY ROAST, batch 1

• 7 tbspn coriander seeds
• 1 tbspn cumin seeds
• 1 tbspn shah jeera/ caraway seeds
• 1 tbspn fennel seeds

DRY ROAST, batch 2

• 3 tbspn grated dry coconut/kopparai
• 2 tbspn white sesame seeds
• 1 tbspn poppy seeds

OTHER

• 1/2 cup chilly powder (I used Aashirvaad brand)
• 1/2 cup Degi mirch powder (I used MDH brand)
• 21/2 tsp salt

Method

First, add 2 tbspn oil to pre-heated pan.  Add turmeric powder and hing.  Fry them under simmer flame, stirring constantly for about 2-3 minutes untill they slurry becomes thick, brightly coloured and glossy.  Keep this aside.

Wash the coriander leaves and leave them to dry completely.  In another pan, fry onions, ginger and garlic with 1 tbspn of oil.  Cool them, and grind  (without adding water) along with completely dried coriander leaves, keep aside. 

Also, fry the garam masala with 2 tbspn oil.  Cool them and blend coarsely, keep aside.

Dry roast our batch one ingredients for 4-5 minutes under simmer flame, cool and grind into powder.  Keep aside.

Dry roast sesame seeds together with poppy seeds and coconut.  Cool and grind them.  

 Finally add all the ground masalas (along with roasted turmeric and hing), chilly powder, degi chilly powder and salt together in an dry vessel.  Mix very well and store them.

I am now having an large batch of this flavourful masala.  Can't wait to try them into my cooking :D

Sending this to CCC Challenge by Srivalli