Tag Archives: Recipes

Recipes: Sambar without using Sambar Powder

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I usually get my stash of Sambar Powder from my mum who makes it at home, either when we go down to India or she comes to Singapore. But because of travel restrictions in the past 18 months and no travel happening, as expected, my stock of Sambar powder finally finished. I then asked my mother for the recipe to make the powder, but because she told me it was a tedious process, I kept putting it off. And then last month, I needed to make Sambar and with no powder available, I decided to use the recipe that mother gave me and tweaked it slightly to make a paste which I used to make the Sambar. It was super tasty and I thought it’s a good alternative to those who don’t have access to a good quality powder.

For this recipe, I used raw bananas, but you can use any other vegetable you like including potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, bell peppers etc.

Sambar without using Sambar Powder

Ingredients:

  • 1 lemon sized ball of tamarind, soaked in hot water for 20-30 minutes
  • 1 cup tuvar dal, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
  • 1 cup peeled and chopped raw bananas, cut in bite sized pieces which are then soaked in a bowl of water to prevent oxidation
  • ¾ tsp chana dal
  • 1 tsp tuvar dal
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 4-5 dried red chillies (reduce this amount if you want it less spicy)
  • 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
  • ½ tsp peppercorns
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 tbsp jaggery powder (You can use brown sugar instead, but the taste would not be the same)
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/8 tsp asafoetida
  • 2 tsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and in the following order fry the spices for the sambar paste, making sure you fry each ingredient for about 30 seconds before adding the next ingredient. Fry the tuvar dal, chana dal, coriander seeds, dried red chillies, coconut, peppercorns and fenugreek seeds and let the dal become brown and the coconut become brown and crisp and loses all water. Do not let them burn. Take off from the flame and let it cool.
  • Once cool, blend with some water to a fine paste. You can also powder this and use it as a powder.
  • Cook the tuvar dal in a pressure cooker or on the stovetop and whisk it to a fine paste and keep aside.
  • Mash the tamarind and strain it to get just the water and thin it to get the preferred sourness.
  • In the same pan, heat the balance 1 tsp oil and when the oil warms up, add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add the asafoetida and the turmeric powder and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Now add the peeled, chopped and soaked raw banana pieces and stir for a few minutes.
  • Add half a cup of water, just enough to cover the bananas (or any of the vegetables used) and let it cook covered for about 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are about half cooked.
  • Now add the sambar powder or paste, depending on how you have blended it and the tamarind water as well as the jaggery powder and salt and cook until the vegetables are almost cooked, like about 90%.
  • At this point, add the cooked dal and check for seasoning and add what seems to be missing.
  • Let it boil together in a medium boil for another 5 minutes, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and as an accompaniment to a South Indian meal.

Recipes: Mixed Vegetable Stew/Curry

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Most weekends, we don’t want to eat rice or chapati which is our staple diet, so I am always on the lookout for new dishes to make which can be eaten without rice or rotis. One of my recent experiments was this dish which is inspired by dishes originating from the western part of India, my home state of Maharashtra and our neighbouring state of Goa. We ate it as a stew with a crusty French loaf, but S also mentioned that it would be lovely to eat with rice or even rotis.

Mixed Vegetable Stew or Curry

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 medium sized cauliflower, chopped into small florets
  • 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 2 medium sized onions, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 green capsicum, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • ½ cup mixed dals (I used moong dal and toovar dal)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ cup grated coconut
  • 1 lime sized piece of tamarind
  • 5-6 fresh red chillies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Blend together the coconut, tamarind, red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns and fennel seeds to a smooth paste and keep aside.
  • Soak the dal in hot water for about 20 minutes and then cook it till it becomes a smooth paste. You can cook the dals in a pressure cooker and then whisk it with a beater or even in a blender when it is cool. Keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large pan and when the oil warms up, put in the onions and let the onions cook and become translucent.
  • Add the other chopped vegetables, the turmeric powder, salt and cook covered till the vegetables are about 80% cooked.
  • When the vegetables are almost done, pour in the blended coconut paste and the whisked dal and stir well. At this point, add water to thin the stew or curry to the level you want. Remember, the dal and coconut will thicken the stew, so add a bit more than you think you need.
  • Let it all come to a nice rolling boil and then cook on a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.
  • Check for seasoning and add what you feel is missing, switch off the gas and enjoy it with some crusty bread, rice or flatbread.

Notes:

  • If you don’t have access to fresh red chillies, you can also use dried red chillies, and depending on the spice intensity, reduce or increase the number of chillies
  • When blending the tamarind, make sure you remove any seeds in it as well as any extra fibers. You can also use about one to two tsps of tamarind paste or pulp.
  • The dal should be very smooth so that when you add it in the stew, it will disappear. So make you cook it completely and then whisk or blend it.

Recipes: Raw Mango Pachadi

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On the occasion of the Tamil New Year, we usually make the raw mango pachadi. This traditional dish is made on the occasion is packed with 6 flavour of tastes like sweet, salt, spicy, bitter, sour and astringent. It is believed that eating this on the new year will ensure that the year ahead will be perfectly balanced with all flavours infused in your life. The dish signifies that life is a combination of different emotions like good, bad, happy, sorrow, victory and defeat and we have to face them equally. Jaggery is used for sweet, salt for salty, dried red chilli for spicy, neem flower or fenureek seeds for bitter, raw mango for sour and turmeric for astringent.

I made this recipe for the first time earlier this year during the Tamil New Year. Actually what triggered this recipe was my mother moaning that she had not been able to get hold of raw mangoes because of the situation in Mumbai and so since I had some mangoes, I decided to make them. It was a huge hit in my house and since then, I have made it a few more times, and each time, it has been gobbled up soon. It’s a very easy recipe and from start to end, should not take more than 30 minutes.

Raw Mango Pachadi

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium sized raw mangoes
  • ½ cup grated jaggery, (more or less depending on the sourness of the mangoes)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds or 1 tbsp fresh or dried neem flowers
  • 2 dried red chillies, broken into half each

Method:

  • Peel and chop the mangoes into largish pieces and then in a pan, add a bit of water, just enough to cover the mangoes, and the turmeric and cook till the mangoes are cooked, but still retain some of their shape.
  • While the mangoes are cooking, in a separate pan, add the jaggery and 1-2 tbsps of water and let the jaggery dissolve into a syrup. Let the syrup cool down.
  • When the mangoes are cooked, strain the jaggery syrup into the mangoes using a strainer. This is so that none of the impurities found in the jaggery make their way to the dish.
  • Let the mangoes and jaggery come to a nice rolling boil. Add the salt, stir well and switch off the gas.
  • Using a smaller skillet, heat the oil and when the oil becomes warm, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds or neem flowers, dried red chillies and stir for a few seconds each before you add the next ingredient. Stir for about 10 seconds in total and pour this over the mango pachadi.
  • Serve hot with any south Indian meal and enjoy a beautiful blend of flavours.
  • Served cold, this can also be served as a cold salad or starter or even a dip with your starter.
  • You can also cook the mangoes in a pressure cooker. If using a pressure cooker, cook the mango with a bit of water and turmeric and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Recipes: Hearty Vegetable Stew

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In another episode of no rice Sunday, I was wondering what to make. I had made soups and some roasted vegetables the last few weeks and wanted something different. I was thinking of making a vegetable stew,but didn’t want to make a Kerala-styled coconut milk one. So I decided to improvise and hope and pray it turned out to be edible!

The recipe turned out to be a cross between a soup and a gravy curry and was so flavourful. It is also very healthy with just a tbsp of oil used in the entire recipe. Another good thing about the recipe is that it is a one-pot recipe and would work beautifully for a slow cooker. It just cooks by itself and you need not sit around, stirring and adding ingredients.

My family loved it and I am blogging about it so I can add it to my reportoire and make it another day.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium sized onions, minced
  • 2 carrots, chopped bigger than bite sized
  • 2 potatoes, chopped
  • 1 head of cauliflower, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 small cup frozen green peas
  • 3-4 medium sized tomatoes, minced
  • 2 green apples, minced (optional)
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1-2 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 15 cashew nuts, soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes
  • 15-20 peanuts, soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Water as required

Method:

  • Chop the vegetables into pieces larger than bite-sized. I chopped them roughly into 3/4 to 1 inch pieces. Just make sure all the vegetables, with the exception of the green peas are of roughly the same size. Wash and keep aside.
  • Mince the onions into small, fine pieces. I did this using my food processor which took me seconds as compared to chopping by hand.
  • Heat the oil in a large pan or dutch oven and when the oil warms up, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add the fennel seeds and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Now add the onions and stir well and let the onions soften and become translucent.
  • Once the onions are translucent, add the chopped green bell pepper and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.
  • Then add the dry spices – turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder and stir well.
  • Now add the other chopped vegetables and stir well so the vegetables are covered with the spices. Cover and cook on a medium flame for about 5 minutes.
  • While this is cooking mince or grate the tomatoes and green apples and keep aside. I again used the food processor and minced both ingredients together.
  • Then add the minced tomatoes and green apple to the vegetables, lower the flame to a medium-low and let it cook till the vegetables are about 80% cooked. You can also add water to the vegetables at this point, because it will become quite thick with all the vegetables.
  • While the vegetables are cooking, blend the cashewnuts and peanuts into a smooth paste. Keep aside.
  • Once the vegetables are about 80% cooked, add the garam masala and the blended cashew-peanut paste and add any seasoning if needed.
  • Let it continue to cook on a low flame till the vegetables are completely cooked and serve hot with some crusty bread.
  • If you plan to make this ahead of time, then you may need to add some water when you heat it up before serving because it will thicken up because of the cashewnuts and peanuts. If you are going to add more water, then you will need to check seasoning also which may become diluted.

Recipes: Apple Chutney

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I love chutneys and regular readers will know by the number of chutney recipes in the recipes tab. Also, chutneys are extremely versatile and so easy to experiment with that I do make them because I like experimenting in the kitchen. Also chutneys go well with so many dishes – slather it on bread and make it a sandwich or eat it as an accompaniment to the myriad breads available in the Indian cuisine as well as rice.

I saw a version of this recipe on a local channel and was intrigued by the usage of apples. Though I have made a Green Apple Chutney, this chutney cooked the apples, which was different. I tried and twised it a bit as I am wont to do.

Apple Chutney

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sized onion, chopped
  • 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
  • 1 red apple, chopped
  • 1 green apple, chopped
  • 1-inch piece of ginger
  • 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3-4 dried red chillies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Heat oil in a pan and when it warms, fry the cumin seeds till they pop. Then add the ginger and garlic and fry them till they start to become slightly crispy. Then add the dried red chillies and let them cook for a minute or so.
  • Now add the onions and fry them till they become translucent. Next add the tomatoes and cook them till they start to become mushy.
  • Add add the chopped apples, and let them cook till they start to lose their shape.
  • Switch off the gas and let it cool completely.
  • Blend to a smooth paste, adding water as needed. Check for seasoning and salt as needed.

Eat this as a spread for sandwiches or as an accompaniment to Indian breads. This chutney was a huge hit at home and had a slight sweet undertones because of the red apples. By adding the green apple, it gave a slight tartness, which can be done away with if you want it as a sweet chutney. Just replace the green apple with a second red apple.