Kolhapuri chutney/dry spice mix

Description

This is a traditional spice mix of Kolhapur.  We Kolhapuris (आम्ही कोल्हापुरी) cannot cook without this spice mix.  This mixture contains most of the spices used in Indian cuisine and one need not add anything else to the recipe after adding this.  Kolhapuri rassa and sukka recipes are incomplete without Kolhapuri chutney.  Local Kolhapuri people generally prepare this in large quantities (5-6 kg of chillies which yields about 10-12 kg of chutney) in the summer and store it in large china containers.  The chillies and spices are pounded (not ground in a flour mill).  The pounding gives a distinct flavour to the chillies.  My mother-in-law used to own a pounding machine that she operated in a room attached to the house.  The aroma of the chutney floating through the house during the summer months was mesmerising.  Today, I am bringing to you a recipe she taught me that has been graded down and can be prepared at home.

Ingredients:

Red chilli powder - 500 gm

Refined cooking oil - 1/2 L (approx)

Rock salt - 500 gm

Dry coconut - 150 gm

Ingredients for dry roasting:

Coriander seeds (dhaniya) 75 g

White sesame seeds (til) - 75 g

Ingredients to be roasted in a generous amount of oil

Bay leaves (tamalpatri) - 5-10

Black pepper  (kali mirch) - 3-4 (if you do not like it too spicy, skip)

Cloves (laung) - 8-10

Cinnamon (dalchini) - two 2-inch pieces

Black cardamom (kali elaichi)- 5

Green cardamom (hari elaichi)- 8-10

Star anise (Badam phool ) - 2

Mace (Jaipatri)- 2 (also called Ram patri or Ram phool)

Tailed pepper (nakeshwar) - 1 tsp

Asafetida (hing) - 1/2 cube (usually 1 inch x 1 inch)

Turmeric stick (halkund) - 3

Nutmeg (Jaiphal) - 1/2

Black stone flower (dagadful) - one pinch

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp.

Onions - 250 gm

Ingredients to be added raw

Garlic - 100 gm (peeled)

Ginger - 100 gm (washed and skinned)

Coriander leaves (washed, dried and chopped) - 1 cup

Cumin seeds (jeera) - 75 g

Black cumin seeds (shahjeera) - 1 tsp

Method:

1.  Peel and slice the ginger, peel the garlic, peel and chop the onions, slice the dry coconut in thin slices.

2.  In a pan, dry roast sesame seeds until they splutter.  Set aside.

3.  Dry roast the coriander seeds till the aroma is liberated.  Set aside in a separate plate.

4.  Ensure the rock salt is absolutely dry (you can dry it out in the sun or roast in a pan).

5.  Check your cumin seeds.  If they are not very crisp (usually happens in cloudy weather/monsoon) warm them up for a couple of minutes in the pan.

6.  Heat approx 100 ml of oil in the pan.  Roast the dry coconut till golden brown in colour.  Remove from oil and set aside.

7.  In the same pan, add in some more oil and roast each of the ingredients under the heading " Ingredients To Be Roasted In A Generous Amount Of Oil" (excluding onions) one by one in the order they are listed.  Add in oil as needed.  You can collect all of the oil-roasted ingredients in the same container. 

8.  Add in rest of the oil and roast the onions on a low flame till golden brown.

9.  Let all the ingredients cool down.

10.  In a mixer grinder, finely grind all the coriander seeds.  Run the powder through a sieve.  If there is too much residue in the sieve, grind again with some salt.  Run through the sieve again.

11.  Grind the sesame seeds with a handful of salt to a fine powder.

12.  Grind the dry coconut slices finely with some salt.

13.   Grind the oil-roasted spices (add in the cumin seeds) finely with some salt.

14.  Drain oil from onion.  Grind the mixture of oil, garlic, ginger, and coriander leaves with all the remaining salt to a fine paste.  DO NOT ADD ANY WATER.

15.  In a large bowl, add in the chilli powder, coriander powder, sesame powder, dry coconut powder, and all the ground spices including the ginger/garlic/onion/coriander paste and mix uniformly.  Add in the oil drained from the roasted onions and mix again.  Cover with a clean fabric and set aside to cool down for 10-12 hours.  Store in an airtight container.  Stays well for over a year.

Tips

• Adding salt while grinding helps to make a fine powder or paste of the ingredients without having to add water. 
• When using this spice mix in your daily cooking, skip salt or add minimum salt after tasting.  You will get an idea of the amount of salt needed after cooking a couple of times.
• Do not store the mix in a metal container as the salt will corrode the metal.  Ideally, it is stored in chinaware, but Tupperware or food-grade airtight plastic containers should also do.