Thengai Podi (Coconut Powder)

This recipe brings back memories of my paternal grand mother. My paternal grand parents are from a small village in the interiors of Andhra Pradesh. Since my mom's side is from Tamil Nadu I had a chance of experiencing a fine blend of Telugu and Tamil cultures (not that they are very different from each other).
My grand mom calls this in Telugu as Kobbari podi/karam. They never had a gas stove until much later. So my grand mom used to place 3 big stones with some fire wood in between and make our meals. I used to sit beside her while she is doing away...what she has to do.
This is fairly easy to make and goes very well with Idly, Dosa, Upma, besan dosa and you name it. My hubby even eats it with plain rice with a drop of ghee mixed in it! If you have iron pan, try this out in that. Somehow the taste is different when i make this in a non-stick pan.

Ingredients:
Fresh coconut thinly sliced: 2 cups (1 coconut would yield 2 cups) We need to thinly slice the coconut so that it is easier to dry roast them.
Urad Dal: 1/4 cup
Channa Dal: 1/4 cup
Curry leaves: 3 strings
Red Chilies: 12-15
Salt: as per taste

Method:

• Dry roast the coconut until the slices turn golden brown. Use iron pan if you have one. 
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• Dry roast all the other ingredients one by one separately until they turn slightly brownish. For Curry leaves, you may add 2 tsp of oil to fry (I used peanut oil).
• Let the ingredients cool so that when you grind them together, they do not become like a paste. 
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• Take a blender (I used stainless steel) and grind all the above ingredients with some salt.
• The powder is meant to be slightly coarse. So after you grind for a few seconds, open the lid and check. 
• When its all done, dry the powder for a few minutes in a plate before you transfer into a container. 

This will store well for at least 3 weeks if stored in an air tight container. Enjoy!

P.S: While I was making this the other day, I became nostalgic. I cant believe so many years have passed since I was a little girl sitting beside grand ma and see her make this. Now, my husband sits beside me while I do this :)