Keerai Sambar

With Palak we can try a few things. Its flexible and adds a lot of taste. So today my hubby was the chef and we prepared Keerai Sambar. Just like other sambars with the addition of Palak.

Ingredients
Palak - 1 cup
Toor Dal - a handful
Tamarind - lemon sized
Sambar Powder - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

Method
Pressure cook toor dal with some turmeric powder till mushy. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and once it splutters add urad dal, and tamarind extract.
Add sambar powder and salt and allow to boil till the raw smell is gone.
Add blanched spinach and dal and allow to boil for 5 minutes and switch off heat.
Serve hot with rice and papad or any fried vegetable.

Bon Appetit!!
Rudra

Capsicum Sambar

Capsicum sambar is slightly different from the usual sambar. We add tomatoes in it. And the flavor that capsicum adds to any dish in incomparable for me.

Ingredients
Capsicum - 1
Tomato - 1
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - size of a lemon
Sambar Powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

Method
Heat oil in a pan, add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and once it splutters; add capsicum and saute.
Once capsicum is half cooked, add tamarind extract, sambar powder and salt.
Add pressure cooked toor dal, when the raw smell is gone. Add tomatoes and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with curry leaves and serve with rice.

Bon Appetit!!
Rudra

Arachu Vita Sambar

Arachu Vita Sambar literally translates to ground Sambar. So instead of the usual Sambar which is done with regular sambar powder, this is done by freshly grinding a paste for the sambar. Though the ingredients dont vary much the taste does. Its yummy  in its own way....

Ingredients

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Tamarind - size of lemon

Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tbsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tbsp

Curry Leaves - a little

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

For the paste

Red Chili - 6

Coriander Seeds - 3 tbsp

Chana Dal - 1 1/2 tbsp

Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tbsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tbsp

Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp

Method

Heat little oil in a pan and dry roast all the ingredients for the paste except the coconut till the dal is golden brown. Switch off heat and once it cools down add coconut and grind it to a paste.

Heat oil  in a pan (we use a uruli) and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add asafoetida, curry leaves and any vegetable of your choice and saute. Today we used Broad Beans. Ideally it can be anything like Ladies Finger, Brinjal, Drumstick, Raddish, Ash gourd (You should pressure cook while using raddish and ash gourd).

Add some water and de glaze the pan. Add Tamarind extract and allow to boil.(Soak tamarind in warn water and extract juice. Keep repeating till the pulp has lost the original color. Remove any excess dirt)

Add the paste and salt and once the raw smell is gone add cooked toor dal(pressure cook till mushy).

Once a consistency is there we can add a bit of jaggery. Its optional though. Switch off heat and serve hot with rice and any fried vegetable.

Bon Appetit!!
Rudra