There are many types of delicious sambhars, but to me this one takes the cake, maybe the rice, hee hee! The daikon radish has such a distinct pungent smell and taste that making the sambhar with it is extremely easy as there is no need to grind exotic spices. It tastes fabulous with a dot of ghee and rice. We’ve been adultrating our white rice with brown and red rices. Despite the change in rice, this sambhar impresses us to no end. We do not even realize that we are not eating pure white rice anymore. A simple curry or koora on the side and papads make some excellent sides. This is one hearty meal for me and always reminds me of my childhood. This was lovingly made by my ammamma and I’ll never forget those precious moments in life.
Ingredients:
Daikon Radish, 1 medium sized cut into circles
Cooked Toor Dal, 1 cup
Tomato, finely chopped, 2
Sambhar Masala, 1 Tbsp
Turmeric, 1 tsp
Salt, as required
Tamarind pulp, 3 Tbsp
Chopped cilantro for garnish, 3 Tbsp
Sugar, 1/2 tsp
Tempering:
Oil or Ghee, 2 Tbsp
Black Mustard Seeds, 2 tsp
Urad Dal, 2 tsp
Hing, 6 squirts
Curry leaves, 15
Method:
In a small bowl, add Daikon radish, a dash of salt, 1/2 tsp Turmeric and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
Alternately, add this to toor dal in the pressure cooker.
Set large dutch oven with a fitting lid on the stove and set the heat on high.
Add oil and the tempering ingredients.
Once the spluttering of the mustard seeds stops, add curry leaves and swirl for 10 seconds.
Add the cooked daikon circles and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the sambhar powder, turmeric, salt, sugar, tamarind pulp and mix well.
Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil.
Add cooked toor dal and boil.
Turn off flame, put the lid on and let sit for 15 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice and ghee.
A few minutes in the kitchen, and this dish is done. The taste is amazing. I make this dal along with rasam for all those unexpected guests or anytime after a hectic shopping schedule. There are days where we have been out the whole day and eaten lunch outside. When it comes to dinner my family usually starts protesting as they want to eat home made food. My husband is very sensitive to processed foods or even freshly made food from restaurants. I’m not sure if it’s the oil or spices. He’s very sensitive to MSG.
Moong Dal
Cut pumpkin
I make the plain dal without any pumpkin, but if it’s there, then this dal is my husband’s most favorite. I love the sweetness of the pumpkin, and Ji (my husband) loves to bite into green chilies. The sweetness and the hotness contrast is very amazing. This dal goes great with any rice, preferably white rice and papads or chips. The dal is phenomenal with roti or store bought tortillas. When I make it a bit thinner, it’s a very filling soup all by itself. When I’m making it into a soup, I make sure I add a little quick cooking barley to make a truly wholesome and complete meal. The Soup by itself is a wonderful hot lunch to pack for oneself. Toss in some bread, a tall glass of fresh Fruit juice, and a salad and you have yourself a small feast!
Ingredients:
Red Pumpkin, 2 packed cups
Moong Dal, 1 cup
Green Chile, as required
Salt, as required
Sugar, 1 tsp (optional)
Curry Leaves, optional, 15
Cilantro, optional, 3 Tbsp finely chopped
Jeera Powder (Optinal), 1 tsp
Tempering:
Grapeseed Oil or Ghee: 1 Tbsp
1 Tbsp Black Mustard Seeds
1 Tsp, Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
Red Chili, 2
Method:
Pressure cook Pumpkin and Moong Dal on High for 3 Whistles.
Do not force open pressure cooker, the pressure should release naturally.
Heat a thick bottomed pan.
Add Oil and complete tempering process.
Once spluttering stops, add Curry leaves and Green Chilies.
Add Boiled dal-pumpkin mixture.
Add salt, sugar, and cilantro.
Mix well and add Jeera powder or cumin powder. Stir again.
Turn off the flame and put the lid on.
Let sit for 10 minutes.
Serve immediately.
Can be kept in fridge, but tastes best when consumed immediately.
Adding a few cloves of fresh garlic to the tempering adds a subtle fragrance to it.
Continuing with Vidya’s Iyengar cooking series, this particular podi and gojju is something that is always made once in two days and has multiple uses due to its versatality. It can be eaten with plain rice, poha, breakfast and tiffin items, and also be used as a spread on white bread. It keeps for a couple of days at room temperature. Similar version of gojju (Pachi Pulusu) recipe is made in my home too. My MIL makes some and keeps it in the fridge as Chennai is a very hot city and this dish does not keep so well in such a climate. Fenugreek and tamarind have many health benefits and antioxidants. I love Vidya’s Gojju, having the powder is so handy.
Ingredients:
Fenugreek Seeds, 1 tbsp
Cumin, 3/4 tbsp
Channa Dal 1 tbsp
Godhi (Whole Wheat), 1/2 tbsp Substitute with rice flour, 1/2
Urad dal, 1 tbsp
Toor dal, 1 tbsp
Fry individually without any oil and powder.
Making Gojju:
Tempering
Black mustard Seeds, tsp
Hing, 2 pinches
Red chile, 2 broken
Other Ingredients:
Tamarind pulp, 2 tsp
Jaggery, small marble size
Method:
In a mixing bowl, add Gojju powder (1 tbsp) and 5 cups of Water.
To this add required amount of salt, tamarind pulp (2 tsp), jaggery and mix well.
Pour the contents into a heavy dutch oven and bring to a boil.
Once it thickens, put lid on and turn off flame. Let the pot sit on the hot stove for 15 minutes.
Add the tempering and serve immediately.
Always add a dot of ghee for amazing flavor when you serve.
This recipe is from Vidya’s Mother In Law. Ugane is a small village in Hassan district, Karnataka, India. Laksmi aunty is the Owner of a betel nut farm there. She is busy directing workers during the day, and takes a break to come home and prepare some wonderful authentic Iyengar dishes. Vidya learnt this rasam dish from her MIL and any time she makes it, people in her house drink it in cups as it is so delicious. I’m going to try it today.
Fry in Ghee:
Cumin Seeds 1 tsp
Whole Black Pepper 3/4 tsp
Urad Dal, 1/2 tsp
Red Chili, 2 long
Blend:
Grated Fresh Coconut, 3 tbsp + The above fried ingredients
Pressure Cook or boil till soft:
Moong Dal 1/4 Cup with a pinch of turmeric, and 1 tsp Ghee
Method:
In a large duch oven with a tight lid, heat it on medium flame.
Add cooked Moong Dal and blended paste.
Mix well and add enough water for a runny mixture, Rasam is a thin and runny dish.
Add Curry leaves and boil for 15 minutes.
No need to add tempering.
Serve hot with White rice and a big slice of lime/lemon.
This is also called Elephant Foot Yam or regular Yam. It is called Karunai Kizangu in Tamil. My Thatha’s family had a heavy Tamil influence as they had settled in Tamil Nadu for generations. This dish is from there and my Ammamma learnt it quickly. This dish is very simple to make and highly nutritious. It tastes sweet and sour and goes well with rice or rotis. I personally prefer to make this particular dish on sultry winter nights for dinner and eat it with ‘hot’ yogurt rasam rice. I feel it is very therapeutic.
I can’t help but remember my ammamma’s kind eyes and loving voice. Though she was 5′ 9” and well built, she was a gentle giant. Her rich brown skin, salt and pepper hair, white blouse, cotton sari, her lovely big red Kumkum bindi, her gold chain and few gold bangles, and especially her nose pin, these are my memories of her. Always smiling, always looking forward to people, always in the service of others, this was who she was. A perfect grandmother. I wonder how my grand children will ever remember me.
Ammamma always insisted on keeping only powder kumkum. She detested those sticker bindis. However; she would buy me a few bangles and glittering sticker bindis from the market and enjoy watching me as I dressed up and played princess in front of her. She had only one grand daughter. I was the exact opposite of her, tiny, very thin, a fairer skin tone, but a macho attitude! I was the little monster. But she always remembered me as that silent child whom she had to search for because I was so quiet and extremely well behaved. She never said it out loud, but I think she was very glad that I was the opposite of her (lloks wise).
I still remember my dad and ammamma chatting away whenever a song starring Amala or Rati Agnihotri came up. They would compare me to those heroines and talk like as if there cannot be a greater beauty like myself in the whole family. At that point I did not know, but now as a woman I can understand that she had probably been taunted for her personailty and skin color. Maybe she never felt beautiful, and she was probably relieved that I turned out as I did. If I could only go back in the past and tell her how much I admire her, and how beautiful she always appeared to me! She was instrumental in helping me build my self confidence and self esteem in my teenage years. She was very generous with her praises for me. I know very well all the hardships she had faced in her life. She had given up a budding career as a Badminton Champion (She had made it to State level) as she had to get married. She had four more sisters, all in line to be married off by a middle class teacher who had lost his wife during child birth.
Her strength, her great attitude of never complaining, of enduring great pain, of extreme patience, of encouraging people, I guess she was my strong role model and I know that I emulate her in every way. I am not a giant, but more gentler now when compared to my teenage self. She was thrilled when I got married. She was very excited when I had my first child. Then, as fate would have it, she passed away peacefully in the night. My grandmother and dad have taught me about impermanence. In detachment lies peace of mind. I have gained great strength and wisdom from these two individuals. I feel their presence around me all the time. My only regret is that they could not see me right now, how I turned out, how my children are growing up, and how I have successfully managed to master the art of house keeping, the world’s toughest and most rewarding job of all. But somehow I know that they are aware of it and keep blessing me constantly.
I will be making this dish tonight to nurture my family. Eating this soul filling food, slipping into the warm bed, and drifting off into a peaceful and deep slumber with pleasant dreams, and waking up energized in the morning is something I look forward to. Try this lovely dish from my grandmother. Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
1 ¼ Cup Yam (white), finely chopped
Lime sized Tamarind, soaked and pulp extracted
1 Tbsp Jaggery
Tempering:
2 Red Chilies
1 tsp Urad dal and Channa Dal
1 tsp Black Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Hing
1 Tbsp Oil
Curry leaves, 1 Sprig
Method:
Wash the yam well, peel skin and discard.
Cut yam into fine pieces.
Boil Yam with green chilies in little salted water.
Mash it.
In a thick bottomed pan, heat Oil.
Add Tempering ingredients and after the spluttering stops, add mashed yam to it.
Add tamarind pulp and red chili powder and fry well.
Add a little water if needed to help fry, or alternately, you can a little extra oil.
Add Jaggery, mix well, and garnish with curry leaves and cilantro.
Delicious Masiyal is now ready.
Eat it with a tsp ghee and hot white rice or with rasam rice.
Puliodharai is a ‘holy food’ meaning it’s most served in temples after being offered to God as Neivedyam. My childhood memories of puliyodharai in donnai (a cup made of leaves) is unforgettable. I feel that I can never replicate that taste ever. I make this for lunch with yogurt rice and serve the two with hot papads and vadiums (fried wafers). Biting into the peanuts is a sensual delight. Preparing the gojju or the thick gravy seems very simple, but must be done cautiously on very low flame to get the most thick paste possible. The gojju is very concentrated and a little at a time goes a long way. This can be stored for a long time by adding extra oil. This is usually reserved for lazy days and of course, the neivedyam and pooja procedures.
Ingredients:
1 small orange sized tamarind, soaked in hot water.
50 gm sesame seeds, white
20 red chilies
150 gm gingely oil
3 Tblp Channa dal and urad dal
1 Tbsp Black Mustard Seeds
50 gm peanuts, phalli
Hing, raisin size
salt
curry leaves, few sprgs
2 raisin sized jaggery
2 Broke red chilies (for tempering)
Method:
Soak tamarind and extract a thick pulp.
Dry roast sesame seeds and remove to a separate bowl.
Add oil and add hing till it swells, remove in a separate bowl
Add red chilies till it turns bright red and add it to the hing.
Powder sesame seeds.
Powder red chilies and hing together.
Heat a thick pan, add oil, add the dals, peanuts, black mustard seeds, 4 broken red chilies and complete tempering process.
Add tamarind pulp to the tempering in the pan.
Add the powders.
Add Salt and curry leaves.
When boiling, add jaggery.
Do it all only in low flame.
Once oil floats on top, the Gojju is ready.
Extra oil may be added for long term storage.
Cool and store in an air tight container.
Serving:
Cool cooked rice (Say, 2 cups) and add turmeric powder, a little.
Add 1 tsp gingley oil.
Mix with required amount of gojju (about 1 Tbsp or more as required) and serve hot.
This is a thick and hearty spinach sambar. I use my MIL’s sambar powder. Utterly delicious dish. It is also extremely filling. When I make this dish, I usually do not make anything else other than fry papads. We get full very soon. We polish this dish off with a tall glass of cold buttermilk. Again, from my MIL’s kitchen.
Ingredients:
100 gm toor dal, ½ cup + 1 Tbsp
200 gm spinach, little less than ½ pound
100 gm tomato, ½ cup when chopped
2 small onions, finely chopped
3 green chilies
lime sized tamarind pulp extracted, or 2 big Tbsp
Salt
Sambar powder, 3 tsp
Curry leaves, 3 sprigs
Tempering:
Urad dal, 2 tsp
Black mustard seeds, 1.5 tsp
1 red chili, broken
1 Tbsp Oil
Method:
Wash spinach and tomatoes very well.
Chop spinach very finely.
Chop tomatoes into fine pieces.
Cut Chilies lengthwise.
Heat a large and thick Sauce pan.
Add 3 cups water, and washed toor dal.
Once toor dal is half boiled, add spinach, tomatoes, onions, and green chilies.
When cooked completely add tamarind pulp.
Add sambar powder and salt.
Add more water and boil.
In a separate pan, heat oil and add tempering ingredients.
Add curry leaves when spluttering stops.
Pour into the Sambar.
Put the lid on, let sit 30 minutes before serving with hot rice and papads.
A simple sambar powder with a tremendous punch! A little powder goes a long way. A very versatile powder that can also be used in various other dishes. My MIL has a long story of how she obtained this particular recipe. Will post her interesting story later on. All I can say is, this particular dish can be traced back to atleast 120 years back!! No wonder, it’s a timeless recipe with a priceless taste.
Ingredients:
150 gm red chilies, about 15 whole red chilies
150 gm Dania, corainder seeds, 3 cups
50 gm menthi, ¼ cup
75 gm Oil, 5 Tbsp
Method:
Dry roast methi seeds until almost black. Remove.
Add oil, remove stems from red chilies and add to oil.
The pan should always be on simmer.
Once red chilies are changing color to bright red, add dania and fry for a couple of minutes.
Remove contents to a plate and let cool.
Mix all ingredients and blend them coarsely.
Notes:
Methi is fenugreek seeds. It has a lot of medicinal value and a pungent taste.
The powder tastes best when it is a little coarse, not absolutely smooth.
Add turmeric according to your spice tolerance to enhance antioxidant value of given spices. About 5 Tbsp.
For a taste of Udipi Sambar, or Kannada style flavor, add a little Cinnamon stick, 2 inches before grinding.
I simply love this dish very much. I love anything with yogurt and coconut combination. The taste is simply divine. Many people add garlic and tomatoes to this dish. I skip those, I don’t like it in that style. I really love the tanginess of this dish. The sour taste is contradicted by green chillies and the combination is simply terrific. My most favorite vegetable that I prefer to use in this dish is White Pumpkin. I feel that white pumpkin does complete justice to this dish. I also do not like adding Cilantro leaves in it. I feel that it masks the taste of the original dish. I recently discovered ready made masala to make this dish. It is called Achi More Kuzhambu masala. Have to try it out yet. This here is my one of my MIL’s signature dishes. Tastes awesome. I will soon post my friend’s recipe too. It must be similar to this, but with little differences. She is an Iyengar mami, this friend of mine. Love all recipes from this pattu mami. I have to still get the Kannada version of this from Thayamma.
Ingredients:
½ L lightly sour yogurt (slightly over 2 cups or a little over 16 ounces)
1 Tsp Channa Dal
Dania seeds / Coriander seeds 2 Tsp
8/9 Red chillies
4/5 green chillies
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp rice
2 to 3 inches ginger, skinned and cut into small pieces
Salt
Coconut, 1/2 cup
Tempering:
Coconut oil for tadka, 2 tsp
1 tsp Rai/ Black Mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin
2 red chiles
Curry leaves, 2 sprigs
Vegetables to be used: Steam Vegetables and lightly salt them before proceeding with the dish
Chaama gadda (Taro Root), chow chow (Chayote Squash), Aloo (Potato), White Pumpkin : 1/ KG (little over a pound)
Method:
Beat yogurt and pour in a large mixing bowl.
Soak dania, channa dal, red chillies, and rice for one hour or more.
Grind Soaked mixture with a little water and blend with cumin, green chiles, coconut and ginger to a very fine and smooth paste.
You should not be able to get any dania seeds or coconut in your mouth. Add the blended mixture to the yogurt
Add boiled or steamed and slightly salted vegetable pieces to the bowl with yogurt
Add Asafotedia or hing to the yogurt mixture
Add Salt and check the taste, remember that your vegetables are already slightly salted
In a thick bottomed pan with a lid, Heat oil, add the tadka/ tempering ingredients
When spluttering stops, add the whole tadka/ tempering to the yogurt mixture
Mix well
Transfer whole mixture from the yogurt bowl into the thick pot.
On a low flame heat whole mixture until one boil, stirring often.
Turn off heat and remove from stove and set in a place to cool with lid on.
Serve hot with White rice.
I love to eat this like a soup from a big bowl. It is one irresistible dish which yogurt lovers from all over the globe will enjoy.
My dad gave me the recipe to this dish. I still remember the whole event. I was getting ready to leave to school. I was sixteen years old. I had several strict rules in the house, like I could not go anywhere after 6:00 PM, no make up whatsoever, and I had to be accompanied by a family member to all of my freinds house. I realized at that point of time that the world was very cruel outside the home, and my parents were trying to protect their precious princess, their only daughter! I was in 12th grade, dressed in my all white churidhar, white canvas shoes, white ribbons braided in my long, oiled hair, tied next to my ears and looking like eggplants! The other girls in my class refused to tie those ribbons and let their hair loose. Letting my hair down was a big no-no in my home. So I had to wear those horrendous ribbons. The boys in my class called me saamiyar(the holy one who had renounced all worldly pleasures) and the girls in my class laughed at my title. I never cared, I just was busy in my own world. I had a best friend, and we both would giggle and talk about the latest movie songs featured on TV. You guessed it, we were not allowed to go to the theater to watch movies! We went as a family to watch old ‘golden’ movies that were supposed to instill good character in us!
Coming back to that fine morning, I recalled that when I had attended my cousin’s wedding, my uncle (dad’s older brother) was request by all to make avial. He made it and it was an instant hit. I realized that the relatives regarded my dad and uncle as “Avial Masters” of the family. I was curious, and as dad enterd the room, I asked him about the recipe. He explained the recipe to me. I did not write it down, but his words simply stuck in my head. I never made avial when I was with dad. I made it for the first time after marriage, and my husband fell in love with my version of avial. Dad would have beamed with pride if he had eaten avial made by his precious daughter. unfortunately, he never tasted one dish made by me after my marriage, as God had decided that he needed an ‘Avial Master’ for himself. Everytime I make avial, his words and instructions ring in my ears and I feel that he is guiding me as I make it.
My dad acquired the original recipe from his best friend’s mother. This friend was a Palakkad Brahmin, and their hometown is in this little Palakkad district located in Kerala, nestled on the Western Ghats. It is the borderline between Kerala and Tamilnadu, and this friend can speak Malayalam and Tamil with equal ease. As in any regular malayalee household, this family’s cuisine is dominated by coconut dishes. This friend’s mom had a special plate for my dad, and it was called “Gopu Thattu, meaning Gopal’s plate.” My dad and his brothers are good cooks and Avial is one of their signature dishes.
Flash forward to the present day, I must admit that my husband has an aversion towards vegetables!! He does not like the avial made in most South Indian homes as they try to make it tangy by either adding tamarind pulp, mango powder, or sour yogurt. He also hates it when all the vegetables are mushed up in the pressure cooker. My dad’s version is very simple, and the veggies retain their crispness. I do not try to overcrowd this dish with too many veggies, I try to only stick to four at the max. As the aroma of the avial wafts through the house, the kiddos and the adults come into the kitchen several times. They do not understand what they want or why they came to the kitchen. My Father In Law folds his newspaper, sets it down , and visits the kitchen, then reaches out for peanuts, and it dawns on him that this was not why he felt compelled to come to the kitchen. As lunch time draws closer, the kiddos and all realize that they are hungry. As I serve the steaming avial and hot rice, everybody gets that light bulb going on ‘AHA’ moment that this was what they had been searching for.
I do not usually get any comments for any of my cooking. As the wise people say, the proof is in the pudding, and the disappearing of all the avial is proof that this is the work of the “Avial Master.” My Mother In Law is in total disagreement as to how awful the dish is, and how I have broken the time tested rules of making this dish in the traditional way. She explains for the umpteenth time how to make it and I listen to her nodding my head in silence. She stops explaining when my husband asks me for second servings, and is almost disgusted to actually see him eat all the veggies! Sorry MIL, but I win this kitchen battle fair and square!
1.) First take the veggies and steam it for exactly five minutes. The veggies should be half done and it should be intact and crisp. 2.) Dry roast cumin seeds and powder it. Keep it ready.
3) In the blender, add green chillies, powdered cumin seeds, 1 cup of water and blend into a fine paste.
4) Take a heavy bottomed pan and set it on medium heat. 5) Add Coconut oil and let it melt and get slightly hot.
6) Add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and brown.
7) Add the steamed veggies and saute until slightly golden. Add curry leaves and saute for a minute.
8. Add the blended paste consisting of water, green chillies, and cumin powder.
9) Add turmeric, salt, and raise the heat to medium. add the remaining 3 cups of water. As soon as the first boil comes, immediately switch the heat to simmer.
10) Return to the blender, add yogurt and half and half. Blend until frothy.
11) Add the blended yogurt, half and half mixture into the simmering pan, mix well, and close the lid for ten minutes. If this mixture boils or is on high heat, the yogurt will break up and the whole dish will look messy. Low heat is the key to retaining the integrity of this dish.
12) Turn off heat, do not open the lid, let sit for atleast 30 minutes.
13) Once the dish has cooled down, open the lid and check for salt. Give it a good mix.
Tasty and creamy avial is ready.
Serve it hot with white rice, or with adai and jaggery.
Important notes before cooking this dish:
Vegetables you can use:
Potato, green beans, yam, raw green plantains, carrots, peas, drumstick, green bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, white pumpkin, yellow pumkin, butternut squash, and acorn squash. Do not use Mullangi (radish or parsnip), tomatoes, ginger, garlic, shallots, onions, and okra in this dish.
Traditionally, I see a lot of people using shallots, but I do not prefer that. Use only four veggies at a time and not to make the dish too confusing.
Coconut: Use fresh grated, frozen, dry and dessicated: make sure you use the unsweetened variety only. I usually use the fresh grated coconut from the freezer section. I defrost it in the microwave and it is ready.
Yogurt: Usually people use sour yogurt for tanginess. We absolutely do not want any tanginess and make this dish creamy and focus only on the taste of cumin and green chillies. We are centering the taste here to minimum basics. I use Stoneyfield Organic yogurt with all the cream on the top.
Coconut Oil: Use organic coconut oil to make sure that it is unbleached and rich in healthy fats. The smell and taste of this oil is overpowering. So, use a little bit, say 1 Tsp for preparing this dish the first time. If you are aware of the way this oil works, then you can use 3 Tsps as I do.
Turmeric: This spice is loaded with anti oxidants and is proven to prevent alzhimers disease. Turmeric is pungent and spicy. Use little until you get comfortable with this spice. Use only 1/4 tsp until you understand this spice. I use this spice for natural coloring only, the emphasis is not on the turmeric taste, so go lite on turmeric in avial.
Green chillies: Go lite when the focus is to make children eat up their veggies. Add more if you want to highlight the spicier side of this dish.
