Mullangi/Daikon Radish Sambar

Dear Foodies,

In most South Indian homes sambar is a dish that finds a place on the meal table almost every day. Its a simple recipe that provides vegetarians our daily dose of protein without much effort. Everyone knows that Madras is ever so popular for its Sambar but almost every region in the South has its own adaptation of the recipe and the variations are endless. Some like it spicy while others add a touch of jaggery to sweeten it, in our home sambar does not contain tomatoes as a rule while it could be common ingredient in other homes. Ground coconut, freshly ground vs pre-ground sambar powder, simple onions to a whole array vegetables - pick a variation and you have a completely different flavor profile to relish.

No matter what the version though, Toor dal/kandi pappu/pigeon peas is the lentil of choice for sambar and also the most commonly used dal in the South. During the busy week day mornings, my mom had her routine perfectly planned. My dad left for work at 7:50AM on the dot and breakfast had to be made and a complete lunch packed for him. My brother and I left at 8:30AM and she left home at 8:50AM. It was rush hour every morning and just like the famous Mumbai dabbawala's, our very own dabbawali never missed a beat either. Every move in the kitchen was streamlined in order to get wholesome meal prepared for us. The cooked toor dal served two purposes  - the thick mashed dal was added to the sambar while the dilute cooking liquid found its way into a warming rasam. My mom always adds a pinch of turmeric while cooking the dal in a pressure cooker but here it stains my stovetop and being the lazy one I avoid it altogether and add a few methi seeds and a pinch of asafoetida instead. A few drops of oil to the cooking water helps minimize foaming.

All you need for a comforting pot of sambar is a vegetable component which could be one or more of these - regular onions, pearl onions, carrots, bottlegourd(sorakaya), lady fingers (bhendi), brinjal, pumpkin, capsicum, potatoes, daikon radish (mullangi), drumstick (Munagakaya), chickpeas, fresh shelled broad beans, green peas. From the pantry you'll need tamarind, toor dal and some fragrant mom-made sambar powder! Thats it, you are just 30mins away from a bubbling pot of delicious sambar. Serve it simply with warm rice, dunk your idli's and vada's in it or serve it alongside hot upma or pongal and you have a wholesome meal to wrap your family around. I usually cook a double batch of toor dal and store it in the freezer so that on a busy week night dinner is really quick to put together.

Mom's Sambar Podi

Serving Size: ~2 cups

Prep Time: 20mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup - Coriander seeds/Dhaniya
• 1 Tbsp - Channa dal/Senaga pappu
• 1 tsp - Fenugreek seeds/Menthulu
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds/Aavalu
• 1" piece of dried turmeric root (optional)
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 the amount of spice powder got from blending the above ingredients

Method

1. Dry roast coriander seeds on medium heat until fragrant. You don't want to brown or darken their color, once they become fragrant transfer to a plate to cool.
2. In the same pan add the channa dal and dry roast until it begins to change color, transfer to the plate and cool. Repeat the step with fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and turmeric root, roasting each individually.
3. Once all the ingredients have cooled down, transfer to a blender jar and finely powder.
4. Transfer to a air-tight jar, add in the chilli powder and blend it in with a spoon. It's going to be a challenge, but avoid taking a close whiff of the powder or you'll end up in a sneezing marathon!

Notes: It you don't have dried turmeric root, skip turmeric all together and add a pinch of it when making sambar. The purpose of channa dal is to thicken your sambar.
- Don't let the fenugreek seeds turn dark or it'll make the powder bitter! Dried curry leaves can be added when preparing smaller batches.
-For my mom's rasam powder recipe check this post

Mullangi /Daikon Radish Sambar

Servings: 4-5

Prep time: 30mins

Cooking time: 30mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup - Daikon radish, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 3/4 cup - Toor dal, cooked and mashed
• keylime sized ball of tamarind pulp or 1/2 Tbsp store-bought tamarind extract
• 1.5 Tbsp - Sambar Powder
• 1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
• 1 - Green chilli, slit lengthwise (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 2-2.5 cups water

Tadka/Seasoning

• 1 tsp - Vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 4-5 - Curry leaves
• pinch of asafoetida/hing 
• Optional - 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds & a dried red chilli
• Coriander leaves for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. In a deep saucepan, add a cup of water, sliced daikon, slit green chilli. Cover the pot and cook on medium heat until the radish slices soften a bit. You can use a microwave for this step.
2. In the meantime, place tamarind pulp in 1/4 cup water and nuke it for 1 min. This makes the extraction of the pulp easier. Alternatively, soak the pulp in 1/2 cup water for 30-40mins. Using your hands, squeeze out as much of the pulp as possible and reserve.
3. Once the radish slices are soft, add the tamarind extract, sambar powder, turmeric powder, salt and cook uncovered for 10mins or until the raw smell of the tamarind is lost.
4. Mash the dal well and add it along with a cup of water to the sambar pot. Taste test for salt and cook for 8-10 mins more until slight foam forms on the top and you can smell the comforting fragrance of the sambar. Adjust the consistency by adding more water as needed and taste test for salt.
5. For the seasoning, heat oil in the tadka pan, add mustard seeds, cumin and once they begin to splutter carefully add curry leaves and a pinch of hing. Pour this over the sambar and keep covered until its time to serve. Garnish with coriander leaves right before serving.

Notes: If using vegetables like onions/brinjal/capsicum start by sauteing them in a Tsp of oil instead of cooking them in water in step 1. I like a really a tangy sambar and tend to use more tamarind extract, customize the recipe to suit your taste.

Served with warm rice, a tiny drop of ghee and crispy popadams/vadiyam on the side will send me to a very happy place. Those who fear the smell of raw daikon will have no worries enjoying this sambar. The soft daikon becomes mellow in flavor and are a delight in the sambar. You can sneak in almost any veggie into a sambar and make it taste good.
                                          Now you tell me how you make sambar at home ?

Majjiga Pulusu/Mor Kuzhambu

Dear Foodies,


After a very long time I am posting a recipe from my mom. She sent me a few recipes with pictures quiet a few months back, but I never got around to putting it up. She had made Aratipoola pappu podi ( also known as patoli or usili) and majjiga pulusu for lunch at home. I was going to put in both of them in this post but realized there was a lot more I wanted to write about the plantain flowers, so thats again going to be a post some time hopefully in the near future !! For today I'll be serving some cool and extremely comforting pulusu made with buttermilk.

This one is called 'majjiga(buttermilk) pulusu' in Telugu and 'Mor Kozhambu' in Tamil. It is similar to the North Indian 'Kadi'. You can add veggies like okra, brinjal, white pumpkin or bottle gourd or some spinach or collard greens to it, or when your fridge is empty you can add lil fried besan bajji's or steamed chana dal-toor dal dumplings. I generally end up making this when we have loads of buttermilk nearing its expiry date !! hehe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups - Buttermilk

• 1/2 cup - Coconut (freshly grated/dessicated)

• 2 tsp - Chana dal

• 1 tsp - Toor dal

• 2 tsp - Rice

• 2-3 nos - Green chillies/dry red ones if thats all you have !

• 1 tsp - Cumin seeds

• Pinch of turmeric (optional)
• Salt to taste.
• 1 tsp -Coconut oil
• 1 tsp - Mustard seeds
  
• A sprig of curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnish.

Procedure:

1. Soak the chana dal, toor dal and rice in some warm water for 15-20 mins. I generally toss in the dessicated coconut, cumin seeds and the chillies in the water too, just to make it easier to grind in my very delicate blender.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the veggies and reserve or blanch some spinach or collard greens.
3. Grind the soaked ingredients to a coarse paste by adding sufficient water.
4. Add this to the buttermilk along with some salt and the veggies or greens or the steamed dal dumplings/besan bajjis and heat the whole thing on medium heat.
5. Don't let it boil, but just until it raises up and then turn off the heat.
6. Season it by spluttering some mustard seeds, and curry leaves in coconut oil.
   

Sit back and enjoy every morsel of rice had along with this extremely delightful and soothing dish !! Pair it with this for a absolutely wonderful combo and you can use the same steamed dal as dumplings for the pulusu :-)

Steamed, coarsely pulsed chana dal, toor dal and red chilli dumplings. recipe??

Lime-Ginger Rasam

Dear Foodies,


I'm back after vanishing for quite sometime and I guess this is going to go on until I get out of school ! :-( I havent been taking any pictures of the food I am cooking either and so I have been nagging my mother more than ever to send me photos and recipes :-)

Here is a wonderful rasam recipe from her.This rasam is refreshingly different from the rest, it does not call for any tamarind or rasam powder. Yes...NO rasam powder needed :-). So when you get bored of the sambar/pulusu/usual rasam recipes that use tamarind as the base, then do give this one a try. It is also one of my favourite rasams and soo all the more hype ;-)

Ingredients:

for rasam:

• 2 nos - Ripe Tomatoes, halved

• 4 nos - Green Chillies

• 2 nos - 1 inch piece of crushed Ginger

• 1 no - Lime or 2 Tbsp lime juice

• 1 sprig - Curry Leaves

• 1/2 cup - Coriander leaves
  

• 1 cup - Toor dal, boiled and mashed

• Salt to taste

for seasoning:

• 1 tsp - ghee

• 1 tsp - Mustard seeds

• 1 tsp - Jeera/Cumin seeds

Procedure:

1. Boil one cup of toor dal and mash it well once cooked.
2. In a vessel, add 3 cups of water and toss all the rasam ingredients except the dal and lime juice and curry leaves( i.e tomatoes, crushed ginger,coriander, chillies and salt)
3. Bring the rasam to a boil, the tomatoes would have lost shape by this time.
4. Add in the cooked dal now and mix well to get rid of lumps and bring the rasam to a boil again. You could add a lil rasam powder now if you want.
5. In a separate pan, heat the ghee and add in the mustard seeds and jeera and a few curry leaves. Once the seeds start popping add it to the rasam.Also add in the juice of one lime or its equivalent.
6. Serve hot with rice or enjoy it as a soup :-)

And now this hot rasam is off to Anthony's Curry Mela

Wheat Rava Khichdi/Dahlia Upma

Dear Foodies,

My mother's entry to Pavani's WBB # 4 event this fortnight
and also to Anthony's Curry Mela :-)
( This pic is a bit blurred, will try putting up a better one soon)

Here comes another wonderful tiffin recipe from my mother. Its a really healthy and very tasty breakfast recipe. Though the recipe is very similar to the usual upma recipe, the taste is distinctly unique. I for one have always hated the normal upma made from rava/sooji. Whenever my mother made it, she had to make something else for me or I would'nt eat. But this was restricted to rava upma alone,I just love this wheat rava khichdi.

I have'nt tried making this upma here, and when my mother sent me the recipe with the pictures, I knew it had to be sent to the WBB event. So here goes the recipe for wheat rava 'Khichdi',

Wheat rava khichdi(Dahlia)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups - Wheat rava (dahlia)

• 1 nos - Onion, sliced

• 1 nos - carrot, julienned/grated
  

• 5 nos - Green chilles, slit across the length

• 2 nos - Red chillies

• 1 sprig - Curry leaves

• 4 Tbsp - Oil

• 1 tsp - Mustard seeds and Channa Dal
  

• Salt to taste

• Coriander leaves for garnish
  

Procedure:

1. In a pan/cooker, heat the oil, and let the mustard seeds splutter, then add the channa dal, chillies, curry leaves and onions. Saute till the onions turn transparent.
   
2. Add the carrots, saute for a while and add 6 cups of water (rava-water ratio is 1:2).
   
3. As the water begins to boil, add the salt and then slowly stir in the Rava, avoiding any lumps.
4. Steam cook the upma for 5-8 mins if using the cooker or cover the pan with a lid and cook for the same amount of time.
   
5. Garnish with coriander and serve hot :-) I just love it with some ginger or tomato pickle and thick curd ;-)
   

Notes:

• You can add vegetables of your liking to the upma. Eg: peas, tomato, potato.

Here is another variation (with better photos).

Kozhakattai - Sweet Rice dumplings

Dear Foodies,

My mother's entry to JFI-Flour hosted by Santhi

Kozhakattai/Modak are a must during Vinayaka Chathurthi naivedyam spread in Andhra. At my home, it also finds a place in the menu on Varalakshmi Vratam and Garuda Panchami. For the Varalakshmi Vratam puja my mother makes them in a oval shape similar to that of Kajjikayalu and for Vinayaka Chavithi it is modak, a small pouch like shape.

Last Sunday was Naga Panchami (also known as Garuda Panchami in our house) and my mother made the kozhakattai as part of the naivedyam. She has sent me the recipe and the photos on time for the JFI-FLOUR event hosted by Santhi. Garuda Panchami is similar to the Rakhi festival in North India with a slight twist, the sister prays for the well being of her brothers and ties a thread dipped in turmeric on her wrist unlike the Rakhi which is tied on the wrist of her brother. There is also a short story narrating the signifincance of this vratam, I will ask my mother to blog about it soon.

Now to the recipe,

Ingredients:

Filling/Poornam # 1 : coconut poornam

• 1 cup - Coconut, grated

• 1 ½ cup -Jaggery (2 if you want it even sweeter)

• 4-5 nos - Elaichi/Cardamom

Filling/Poornam # 2 : nuvvula poornam

• ½ cup - -Til/Sesame seeds/nuvvulu

• ½ cup - Jaggery

For the dough:

• 1 cup -Rice flour

• 2 cups - Water

• pinch of salt

• ½ tsp - Oil ( preferably sesame seed/gingili oil)

Procedure:

1. Coconut Poornam:

Freshly grated coconut is the best for making the coconut filling. Take a wide pan and toss in the coconut and jaggery and stir till the mixture thickens and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add the elaichi powder and stir for another half a minute. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow it to cool. Freshly grated coconut gives this filling its best taste.

2. Nuvvula Poornam:

Dry roast the sesame seeds till they turn a slight brown. the seeds let out a winderful aroma as you roast them. Cool the sesame and coarsely powder it in a blender. Add fine pieces of jaggery to this and powder.

3. Dough:

In a kadai/vessel bring two cups of water to a boil, add a pinch of salt and 3-4 drops of oil to the water. Once the water comes to a boil, gradually add the rice flour. Hold the ladle in the center of the vessel while adding the flour and then stir continuously for 3 mins on a low flame and then turn off the heat. When the dough is still hot, transfer it to a plate and cover with a wet cloth and knead well to remove any lumps. The wet cloth is to shield your palms from the heat.

4. Kozhakattai:

Have some oil in cup and grease your hands as you make the kozhakattai. Take a lime sized ball of the dough and shape it into a cup with your fingers. First slightly flatten the ball on your palm like a disk, place your thumbs at the center of the disk, and the fingers on the outside and shape like a cup by moving the dough between your fingers.

5. Put a spoon of the filling into the cups and seal it with the dough. You can either make them round or oval in shape.
6. Steam cook the dumplings and serve.

~ Sevai ~

The kozhakattai dough can also be used to make rice noodles or Sevai. Divide the dough into balls and steam cook it for 5-6 mins. When they are still hot, place them in a murukku maker with a fine holed mould and shape them like murukkus. Top them with the til poornam and some ghee.

You can also make lime and coconut sevai, recipe here. Follow the same method you use to make lime rice or coconut rice, but use the rice noodles instead. Sevai are a wonderful and very healthy breakfast/tiffin item. The variations you can try with them are clearly left to your imagination. Do try them out, I promise you will fall in love with them !!

For the Sevai, if you want to try them out with out getting into the dough making process you can look for rice noodles in the Indian grocery stores or in the pasta section in the stores. You just need to boil them in some water just like pasta, but for a shorter period of time. You can then flavor the noodles to your liking.

If you have extra filling, shape them into mini ladoo's for an additional neivedyam item.

This recipe is also my entry to Anthony's Curry Mela this week :-)

Sorakaya Paala Kootu/Bottle Gourd cooked in Milk

From Mom,

Ingredients:

• 1 nos - Bottle Gourd

• 1 cup - Milk

• 1 Tbsp - Sugar

• Salt to taste

For masala :

• 1 tsp - Black peppercorns

• 3 nos - Red Chillies

• 1 tsp - Rice

• 1 Tbsp - Urad Dal

• 1 small cup - Coconut

For seasoning:

• 1 tsp - Mustard seeds

• 1 tsp - Urad dal

• 1 sprig - Curry leaves

• 2 tsp - Oil

Procedure:

1. Cube the bottle gourd and boil till they turn soft in a mocrowave or in a vessel with enough water.
2. Roast all the masala ingredients in a little oil and set aside so they reach room temperature.
3. Cool and grind to a paste by adding sufficient water.
4. Now transfer the bottle gourd into a saucepan, add the paste, sugar, salt and water and allow to boil for about 5 mins.
5. Reduce the heat and add one cup of milk and let the curry simmer for 3mins allowing all the spices to blend well.
   
6. Transfer into a serving dish and season with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.
   

My Notes:

• The same cooking method can be used for Chayote squash(bangalore kathirikai/chow chow) and pumpkin.
• I made a slightly modified version of this kootu by adding ginger to the masala paste and adding some channa dal while boiling the bottle gaurd and skipped the milk too.

Chayote Squash

Bottle Gourd

Sponge Dosa/ Rice Pancake and Tomato Chutney

Dear Foodies,

Mom's Special breakfast

My Mother's entry to Nandita's 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging'

Here's a recipe from my mom. Its one of my favourite breakfasts. I havent eaten this dosa anywhere else except at home. These dosas look like a idli-dosa hybrid variety, fluffy like the idlis and nice and crisp like dosa's, it just cant get any better !! My mom generally serves it with tomato chutney or plain pickle and idli-karam podi + oil ( I like a pinch of sugar in the idli karam podi ;-) ) . Its a perfect breakfast or also good for a light dinner.

So here goes the recipe from Mom:

~ SPONGE DOSA ~

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - Rice (preferably 1 cup - raw rice; 1 cup - parboiled rice/uppidi bhiyam)

• 1/2 cup - Poha (atukulu) or tapioca seeds (sabudana)

• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Soak the rice in water for 2 hours and soak the atukulu or sabudhana in a little sour curd.
2. Grind them together with salt and let the batter rest overnight to ferment just like dosa batter. You will see that the batter nearly doubles itself in volume by morning.
3. Heat a pan, once its ready put a ladle full of the batter in the center, pour a little oil around the edges and cover the dosa with a lid. After a min check on the dosa, it would have fluffed up and ready to eat :-). The dosa should be cooked in low flame.
4. Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Note:

• The dosa should not be shaped/spread while pouring it on the pan. Just pour a laddle full on the pan and leave it to cook.
• A pan that has a slight dip in the center is perfect for making this dosa.
• Poha should be prefered over the use of tapioca seeds/ sabudana.

~ GREEN (unripe) TOMATO CHUTNEY ~

Ingredients :

• 10 nos - Unripe tomatoes (greenish red colored ones)

• 1 Tbsp - Chana dal

• 1 Tbsp - Urad dal

• 1 Tbsp - Peanuts

• 5 nos - Dried red chillies

• 3 nos - Green chilies

• 1 Tbsp - Oil

• 1 pinch of asafoetida

• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Roast the dals and red chillies in a little oil till the dal turns a slight red in color and let them cool down.
2. Slice tomatoes into quarters and saute them too in little oil till they cook a bit and then reserve till they reach room temperature.
3. Grind all the ingredients with some salt. Fresh coriander leaves can also be added while grinding. Onions too can be fried & added along with tomatoes.