When Rosy was a little girl, she lived in a small village in Goa. There were farm animals like hens, pigs, etc. that were reared in her homestead. One day Rosy was out playing and she accidentally stepped on a little chick and killed it. Rosy, my God, was traumatized and heartbroken that she had killed the chick. She didn’t and hasn’t eaten any chicken meat from that day on. Poor Rosy! Rosy is my maternal aunt Alleluia. And my hubby is happy (evil man), that she stepped on the chick because he believes that the murder of the chick lead to a food evolution. You see, he hates chicken mostly and Rosy doesn’t eat any (although she cooks some for her spouse and two loving girls) and is good at cooking red meat. Hubby dear, loves Rosy’s potato chops, green beef, mince, etc., etc. and can’t stop ranting about how good Rosy cooks. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I asked Rosy for her secret and voila – the spice mix (the secret of secrets which she shared with me – Thanks Rosy! I love ya) – And I name this mix ‘Rosy’s Spice Powder’ with pride and present it to you all eager to cook. You can add it in various meat dishes to enhance flavor and maybe even in chicken dishes too. Thank you once again Aunt Rosy.
Ingredients:
- Lavang [Cloves] – 1 Vatti [ 1 measure]
- Tikki [Cinnamon] (broken into bits) – 1 vatti [ 1 measure]
- Kalimiri [ Black Peppercorns] – 1 ½ Vatti [ 1 ½ measure]
- Jeera [Cumin Seeds] – ½ Vatti [ ½ measure]
- Tejpatta [Bay Leaf] – 1 big
- Moti Elaichi [Black Cardamom] – 2
- Elaichi [ Green Cardamom] – 2
Make sure all the whole spices are dry or let them soak some sunlight. Grind all the ingredients to a fine powder and store in the refrigerator for future use. Leave out the last three ingredients if you want to make a small quantity of the powder.
What is 1 vati (could u please tell me in table spoon. Thank u.
That’s how my aunt explained it to me and that’s how I kept it to maintain originality. A vati is a small bowl. Consider it as 1 measure. So, 1 measure cloves, 1 measure cinnamon .. and so on. Hence you can use any measure and make quantities you are comfortable with or how much you need.
Thanks but i still do have one doubt. If the bowl size varies, then number of cardamoms will also have to change. Kindly advise on this.
You have to use the same size bowl to measure each spice. It is basically ratio; for example 1:1:2:1
What she means is that the number of cardamoms will need to change depending on the vatisize.
If the vati is 4″ in diameter and one uses 2 cardamoms will one still use 2 cardomoms if the vati is 20″ in diameter?? Does not sound correct
Vatti here is used like a unit. It can be any container or bowl you use. For Instance in the recipe 1 Vatti of Lavang (Cloves) may mean any number of cloves depending on the size of you Vatti / Container. When measuring, you just have to keep the unit the same for measuring and double and triple, etc for the amount you need to make. A unit can also be a tablespoon or a teaspoon or a hand measure ! Different hands – different measures !
Hi, could we use 1 cup as 1 measure? or wd that be too much?
We would suggest to go with a measure like quarter cup or even less than that and try it out and then if you like it make it in larger quantities. But we prefer to make small quantities as the flavours are thus not lost.
Hi Ina, I made ‘Rosy’s spice powder’ and used for the green beef curry, which turned out yummmmmmmmmmmy 😛 thank you very much!
Thanks for the feedback Mandy