Mulgai Pudi, the South Indian Super Spice and How to Make it at Home
Apoorva Prakash shares her family’s closely-guarded family recipe for mulgai pudi, the star of every south Indian meal!
Down the lanes of any South Indian city you are, without doubt, bound to encounter a well-practiced arm moving in circular motion, smoothing batter onto a piping hot skillet. Dosa (or dosai, to be true), the fermented rice flour crepe ubiquitous to the four southern states, is the culinary equivalent of the vada pav in Bombay or the beef cutlet in Goa.
In a country like India, almost everything is eaten with an accompaniment. People dip dosais in coconut, mint and tomato chutneys, others wait for the hot tanginess of sambhar. But the undisputed queen of accompaniments has always been the mulgaipudi. Fierce in both taste and appearance, this south Indian spice blend is made with dried red chillies and lentils. Mulgai translates to red chillies, and pudi to powder. Each ingredient is dry roasted individually before being ground together; a crucial step in maximizing flavour.
Mulgaipudi must always be always freshly prepared, stored not longer than a week or ten days. Ideally, it is mixed with warm oil or ghee, then dipped into, liberally. Every household has its own variable ratio of ingredients, but the essential remain the same. Tamarind lends a tangy flavor; jaggery adds subtle sweetness. Few very pantries now are privileged enough have homemade blends and handwritten recipes that have been passed down generations. These beautiful traditions are often jealously guarded by families and communities; but tragically, they more often than not, do not leave the pages of these cherished recipe books. I found that these recipes are my family’s heritage, and sharing them is celebrating my heritage, and cooking it in my own kitchen, or a friend cooking it in his, breathes life back into them, and carries forward our legacy, now a living thing shared across tables, conversations and hearts.
Apoorva Prakash's Recipe for Mulgai Pudi
Ingredients
45-50 dried red chillies
1 cup chickpea lentils (chana dal)
½ cup black lentils (urad dal), without skin
100g white sesame seeds
½ tsp hing
1 tsp jaggery powder
½ tsp tamarind
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt, to taste
Method
Dry-roast the lentils on low to medium heat separately, until aromatic and golden. Set aside to cool.
In a pan, heat the oil and roast the chilies till crisp. Set aside to cool.
Dry roast the sesame seeds till they pop.
Combine the chilies and lentils in a blender jar.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and blitz to form a coarse powder.
Store in an air-tight glass container. Mix with a spoon of warm ghee or oil when eating.
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