Have you heard about the zealous tribe who live amidst the blue mountains (Nilgiris)? They are the Badagas who enjoy full cultural freedom and excitement in terms of the various festivities, dance and music. As in any culture, food is an integral part of their culture. There are occasion-based foods, daily foods and seasonal foods. They use minimal ingredients yet they can prepare favourful curry and powders to make their gravies and main courses outstanding.
Food practices
Badagas being nature lovers, most of their customs are nature oriented. This ensures their excellent health. They prepare food with a lot of ardour and care, according to the season. They source fresh vegetables and herbs from their own vegetable gardens. Mostly every household has one or two vegetable gardens to meet their food needs, apart from their tea gardens. Seasonal foods are in great demand. Greens, especially spinach is consumed on a large scale. There are special foods that cater even to specific to age groups. Home remedies through food are widely prevalent. There are special pregnancy and post-pregnancy diets. In recent years, however the scale of agriculture has been steadily decreasing with people taking up different occupations across the world.
Here are some healthy and wholesome curry powders and curries of this traditional cuisine. After all who can say no to a sumptuous meal!
What is curry powder?
The Indian cooking has a masala base, which means we use a lot of power packed spices like cardamom, cumin, turmeric, corriander, pepper, fenugreek etc. We grind them into nice or coarse powders and mix these in certain proportions to create various masalas for cooking. These are curry powders. Different recipes require different masalas. For example, a vegetarian dish might have a different curry base compared to a non-vegetarian dish. Even among vegetarian dishes, the curry powder used for sambhar, rasam etc are different. If you walk into an Indian supermarket, you can see whole aisles of brightly coloured 100 g to 200 g packets of curry powders. Each of this curry power generally has a distinct taste, aroma, feel and finish. The Badaga cuisine uses less spices compared to other cuisines in India.
Uthuka Masudi (Gravy curry powder)
Ingredients:
Red chilly – 500 gm
Corriander seeds – 300 gm
Cumin seeds – 50 gm
Black pepper corn – 20 gm
Toor Dhal – 50 gm
Fenugreek seeds – 50 gm
Garam masala – 20 gm
Asfoetida – 1 tsp
Procedure:
- Roast all the ingredients separately in medium flame till it turns color (golden brown).
- Mix all the ingredients and cool it off.
- Grind the mixture to a fine powder.
- To the ground powder add the asfoetida and mix well.
Additional Tip:
Store in air-tight container. It can be used for all vegetarian recipes.
Koi Masudi ( Flavourful curry – chicken)
Traditionally the koi masudi is reserved only for cooking non-vegetarian foods especially chicken. The Badagas are fond of chicken and mutton as they raise hens and goats in their farms and houses. They started eating fish delicacies much later. Still there is record of my great grandfather liking karuvadu (dried fish). He is said to have consumed it regularly. Compared to the other delicacies, fish lovers were rare back in the day. As their settlement across various continents grew, so did their twist on the Badaga Cuisine. Today most families just dry fry the uthuka masudi a little bit longer to deepen and colour and flavour and use it in non-vegetarian dishes.
Kappu Sandage Udi
Ingredients:
Corriander seeds – 100 gm
Black pepper corns – 100 gm
Cumin seeds – 50 gm
Procedure:
- Roast all the above ingredients separately.
- Mix the ingredients and allow it to cool off
- Grind the mixture to a fine ready made powder.
Kappu Sandage
It is a flavourful curry using garlic as a base for the curry.
Ingredients:
Whole garlic ( medium size) – 3 nos
Tomato (medium size) – 1 no
Kappu sandage udi – 2 tablespoon
Uthuka masudi – 1 tablespoon
Ghee – 1 tablespoon
Oil to saute
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Procedure:
- Roast the whole garlic and tomato in direct flame separately. (Rotate it evenly till it becomes dark on all sides)
- Grind the roasted garlic, tomato, kappu sandage powder, udhuka masudi along with a little water.
- Pour and heat oil in a pan. Add mustard. When it sizzles, add the ground paste with required water.
- Boil for 2-3 minutes and remove from flame.
- Add ghee and stir well.
Benguve Maseer
Ingredients:
Whole Garlic (Medium size) – 3 nos
Little Millet or thuvaram parupu – 11/2 table spoon
Salt to taste
Grated coconut – 1 small cup
Tomato – 1 no
Onion (Sliced) – 1 small cup
Oil to fry
Curry leaf & corriander leaf
Uthuka masudi – 1 tablespoon
Procedure:
- With garlic cloves add millet rice, ( in case of adding thuvaram parupu (toor dhal) instead of millet, it has to be fried prior to adding) and grated coconut. Grind it into a nice paste.
- Pour a little oil. Add mustard seeds. After it sizzles, add sliced onion, tomato, and curry leaves.
- Add uthuka masudi and fry it well. To the mixture add the ground paste.
- Add salt and water to the required consistence ( whether thick or watery).
- Bring it to a boil in medium flame. Add chopped corriander and curry leaves at the time of removing the gravy from the flame.
The Benguva maseer can be had plainly but also treated as a base for adding lentils like dried peas or dried beans. It adds an extra complexity to the flavourful curry. Badagas prepare a variety of lentil curries using this. Before adding any kind of lentils, it is advisable to dry fry them in a kadai for three mins on medium flame.
Conclusion
The curry powders are ground from whole grains and chillies by drying them well in the sun. The process is elaborate and time-consuming. Many people outside Ooty have actually stopped making these by themselves today. The traditional curry powder lasts anywhere between four to six months depending on the quantity ground at any given time. They have to be stored in air tight containers to avoid exposure to moisture. Curry powders are a mark of love and are distributed among relatives whenever ground. Such customs are helpful for young and busy mothers who cannot dedicate time for the elaborate process of making these.
Such ground masala is stored in silver containers for locking aroma and flavor. It is the reason for their flavourful curry. If firewood cooking is practiced (like in ancient days) instead of the modern stoves or induction stoves, it lends a rich smoky aroma and taste to the curry. Commercially available curry powders are little different from the original taste and aroma. Nevertheless good food can improve your health as well as your mood. So if you are looking for authentic healthy recipes, you can give these masalas a chance.
