Traditional Herbal Spice mix for digestion - Angaaya Podi

Angaaya podi (powder or mix) is a traditional South Indian (specifically tamil) formulation used as part of Pathya ahara or wholesome diet for post delivery nursing women to settle the stomach, alleviate gas and help with digestion. This kind of diet helps the baby in turn. This can also be used by anyone who has digestive issues like slow digestion, gas, bloating etc. Follow the recipe below to make it at home. This recipe can last upto 3 months.

Recipe:

1/2 cup coriander seeds 1/4 cup dried neem flowers (vepampoo in tamil) 1/4 cup manathakkali vattal (dried wonderberry or sunberry) 1/4 cup sundakkai vattal (dried turkey

berry) 20 to 30 berries

1/2 cup Dried curry leaves (optional) 2 Tbsp of Trikatu (I used Banyan Botanicals brand) 3 teaspoons cumin seeds 1 teaspoon ajwain seeds (Omam in tamil) Hing (asafoetida) – 1/8 tsp salt – to taste ( 1/2 tsp I used)

Directions

Dry roast one by one (without oil) in a wok. Grind to a smooth powder in a dry blender. Once you have made the powder and tasted it, you can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. This blend can be a little bitter in taste, so you can reduce the amount of neem to reduce the bitterness.

Store in a clean, air-tight container. This mix can last for a few months. Mix the powder with rice or Quinoa with a tsp of ghee. Eat this when you have digestive issues. It helps with kindling the metabolic fire, alleviating gas and bloating and removing toxins from the body. This is usually taken after delivery when a mother is nursing her baby to help with digestion and reducing colic in the baby by removing gas.

Note: I used Trikatu which is a combination of black pepper, ginger and long pepper dried and powdered. You can use the whole ingredients if you have them as well.