So many days since I last blogged. Well, it seems like Onam was over a long time ago, and Dussehra has come and gone, and it is almost time for Diwali, and I still haven't finished posting the recipes from the Onam menu :-) Things have been rather hectic, but that is no excuse. So here is the last but one recipe from the Onam menu.
The story of this recipe is rather interesting. I am one of the few people in the world who cannot make Sambar using ready made Sambar powder. (I also cannot make Gulab Jamun from mixes, but that is another story, another recipe, and I shall tell it another day.) When I make Sambar using the powder, what results is a thin watery concoction, with the vegetables floating miserably on the top and the dal sunk despondently to the bottom!
Amma, more or less, (more, rather than less) made sambar using her blend of sambar powder. She roasted the whole spices in ratios only she knew about, ground them, and stored them in an opaque jar on the kitchen shelf. The reasoning being that the more spices are exposed to heat and light, the faster they loose their freshness.
My sister cooks because she has to. Her indifference to the whole process, does not make her a bad cook. She is an excellent one! She is the only person I know, who opens her fridge at 8 pm, finds remnants of assorted vegetables, and sets either a fantastic mixed vegetable curry and dal with chappatis or a tasty, steaming pulao and cool raita on the table at 9 pm. And this, without turning a hair!
I, on the other hand, am a hard-working cook. It's more reasoning than intuition, in my case. :-) Anyway, fact remains, I can't make Sambar using Sambar powder. My ammachan, whom I asked once, told me how to make Varuthu Aracha sambar. (Translated: Roasted, ground Sambar) No matter what I did, it would never turn out as tasty as the Sambar my sister used to make, using store-bought Sambar powder. (She couldn't be bothered to make her own, and if amma gave her some, then that was alright!) That was probably because my ammachan didn't know conventional measurements either.
Anyway, matters rested there. In the meantime, I got married and came to Bombay. Since I had left my job after marriage, and my in-laws had gone down to Kerala, to give us some time alone, I had the whole day to myself. My husband would go to work, and how much cleaning and rearranging can you do anyway? (Well, my mother-in-law came back after a month to find her kitchen rearranged to suit me, which is the subject for another blog!) One day, I decided to go out and explore the neighbourhood. As I opened the door, my senses were filled with the fragrance of freshly cooked Sambar. I followed my nose down the stairs, and found that it emanated from flat no 3, two floors directly below our flat. I did not know our neighbours well enough at the time to go barging in demanding Sambar recipes. For months after that, I would stand outside our flat, in the landing on the second floor, drinking in the fragrance of the Sambar (and other dishes) wafting up the stairwell.
A couple of years later, my son was born. By now, I knew 'moonnam number maami' (Literally translated, 3rd number Maami, or more gramatically, the Maami from flat no: 3) which is how every one referred to her, very well. And she, upon learning that I could actually speak Tamil, unbend enough to talk to me when we passed each other in the building compound. I finally mustered up enough courage to compliment her on her Sambar and ask her for the recipe. She gave it to me, only Maami was the sort of instinctive cook who knew nothing of teaspoon and tablespoon measures. Her only measuring tools were her fingers - so everything was in cryptic short hand - 'mothalile thalichu kottiyitte, tarkari pottitu, puli podunga' and so on and so forth. Which was all very well, but I had no clue how much puli (tamarind) to use, the amount of dal, the measure of vegetables... and what was more, horror of horrors, she used Sambar powder! Things moved along, and as far as possible, I did not make Sambar.
One day, I ran into Sushi, Mami's (This was Sharma Maami. Our building was full of Maamis) daughter. I was telling her of my ongoing tussle to create a decent Sambar, and she offered to show me what she did - so the recipe below owes its source to two different people, whose brains I picked, and two recipes that I combined and adapted (see Notes, below) to make my own. After very many tries, this is one recipe that has exact measures for the spices. Well, my exact measures. Sambar powder, like many other mixed spices, is a subjective combination and there are as many Sambar recipes are there are people who make them. This, is mine.
Varutharacha Sambar
1 1/2 cups Toor Dal / Tuvara parippu *
1 tsp Turmeric
A lemon sized ball - Tamarind**
1/2 a butternut squash or 300 gms yellow pumpkin
3 Drumstick ***
2 Tomatoes
Salt
1/2 a bunch - Coriander leaves
For the Ground Masala:
4 1/2 tablespoons Coriander / dhania / kothamalli seeds
1 tbsp Urad Dal
1 tbsp Channa Dal
1 1/2 tsps Fenugreek / Methi / Uluva seeds
20 - 25 red chillies (More or less, depending on the heat of the chillies and your taste for spice: See Notes for clarification)
(Slightly less than) 1/4 cup grated coconut
2 sprigs Curry Leaves / Kari Patta / Kariveppin Ila
Tempering / Tadka
3 - 4 tbsps Oil
1 tbsps Mustard / Rai / Kaduku
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Channa Dal
2-3 Red Chillies, broken into pieces
2 sprigs Curry leaves
1. Rinse and pressure cook the tuvar dal with 1/2 tsp turmeric and enough water to cover the dal. In a separate cooker vessel, place the tamarind with 1/2 a cup of water, so it can cook with the dal. Once the cooker can be opened, remove and mash the cooked dal gently with the back of a ladle. Place the dal and the tamarind aside.
2. Wash and cut the squash/ pumpkin into medium sized (about 1") cubes. Wash and cut the drumstick into 2 - 2 1/2 " long pieces. Wash and cut tomatoes into eighths. Wash, dry and cut the coriander leaves finely.
3. Dry roast the ingredients for the ground masala, on a low flame. When done, the coconut should be a reddish brown, the dals should be crisp and have lost their raw taste, and the methi seeds should have darkened. Use a mixer to dry grind the roasted spices, then add water a little by little until you have ground the masala to a fine paste.
4. By now, the cooked tamarind will be cool enough to handle. Mix it well with the water in which it cooked, then using a strainer, strain as much of the pulp as you can. You should be left with a thick tamarind sauce, and the residue will have the texture of damp blotting paper.
5. Place a heavy bottomed vessel on the stove on medium heat. Heat oil, and add mustard. When it begins to sputter, add the urad dal, channa dal, broken red chillies, and curry leaves in that order.
6. Once the dals start to darken, add the cut vegetables. Stir for a minute, then add the cut vegetables. Stir for a minute, then add the tamarind paste, and the remaining 1/2 tsp of turmeric. Bring it to a boil, and then add the ground paste from the mixer.
7. Pour 1 cup of water into the empty mixer bowl and rinse out the remaining paste into the vegetables. Bring to a boil.
8. Add the mashed dal, tomatoes and salt. Add 3 cups of water, bring to a boil again, cover and cook on low flame until the vegetables are cooked through, and the dal and masala have blended properly. Check the seasoning. If the Sambar is too thick, add some water now, and mix well. Add the coriander leaves, and bring to a final boil, before putting off the stove.
Notes: Susheela's combination of spices for the ground masala did not work for me, because I like my Sambar spicy and hers was mild. Just increasing the number of chillies did not help - it overshadowed the other spices. I had to do a judicious mixing and matching to ensure that the spices were perfectly balanced, according to my taste. Where Susheela's help was invaluable however, was in providing me a base from which to experiment. From Moonnam Number Maami, I took the procedure. What resulted is what you see above.
There are other vegetable combinations that can be used to make Sambar:
Drumsticks with Potatoes
LadiesFinger /Okra with Yellow Pumpkin
Brinjals / Egg Plant with Yellow Pumpkin
Ladies Finger / Okra with White Gourd /Winter Melon
Onions with Potatoes
Small Madras Onions (alone)
Drumsticks with Ladies Finger /Okra
A North Indian friend of mine even used to put carrots into her Sambar, which, to me was sacrilege. But I had an Andhrite friend who informed me that her mother often out carrots in Sambar, so I suppose, you can put what you like :-))
* I use a 6 oz yoghurt cup to measure my dals.
2. Wash and cut the squash/ pumpkin into medium sized (about 1") cubes. Wash and cut the drumstick into 2 - 2 1/2 " long pieces. Wash and cut tomatoes into eighths. Wash, dry and cut the coriander leaves finely.
3. Dry roast the ingredients for the ground masala, on a low flame. When done, the coconut should be a reddish brown, the dals should be crisp and have lost their raw taste, and the methi seeds should have darkened. Use a mixer to dry grind the roasted spices, then add water a little by little until you have ground the masala to a fine paste.
4. By now, the cooked tamarind will be cool enough to handle. Mix it well with the water in which it cooked, then using a strainer, strain as much of the pulp as you can. You should be left with a thick tamarind sauce, and the residue will have the texture of damp blotting paper.
5. Place a heavy bottomed vessel on the stove on medium heat. Heat oil, and add mustard. When it begins to sputter, add the urad dal, channa dal, broken red chillies, and curry leaves in that order.
6. Once the dals start to darken, add the cut vegetables. Stir for a minute, then add the cut vegetables. Stir for a minute, then add the tamarind paste, and the remaining 1/2 tsp of turmeric. Bring it to a boil, and then add the ground paste from the mixer.
7. Pour 1 cup of water into the empty mixer bowl and rinse out the remaining paste into the vegetables. Bring to a boil.
8. Add the mashed dal, tomatoes and salt. Add 3 cups of water, bring to a boil again, cover and cook on low flame until the vegetables are cooked through, and the dal and masala have blended properly. Check the seasoning. If the Sambar is too thick, add some water now, and mix well. Add the coriander leaves, and bring to a final boil, before putting off the stove.
Notes: Susheela's combination of spices for the ground masala did not work for me, because I like my Sambar spicy and hers was mild. Just increasing the number of chillies did not help - it overshadowed the other spices. I had to do a judicious mixing and matching to ensure that the spices were perfectly balanced, according to my taste. Where Susheela's help was invaluable however, was in providing me a base from which to experiment. From Moonnam Number Maami, I took the procedure. What resulted is what you see above.
There are other vegetable combinations that can be used to make Sambar:
Drumsticks with Potatoes
LadiesFinger /Okra with Yellow Pumpkin
Brinjals / Egg Plant with Yellow Pumpkin
Ladies Finger / Okra with White Gourd /Winter Melon
Onions with Potatoes
Small Madras Onions (alone)
Drumsticks with Ladies Finger /Okra
A North Indian friend of mine even used to put carrots into her Sambar, which, to me was sacrilege. But I had an Andhrite friend who informed me that her mother often out carrots in Sambar, so I suppose, you can put what you like :-))
* I use a 6 oz yoghurt cup to measure my dals.
**Tamarind paste is a good substitute. Use 3/4 tbsp paste mixed in half cup water. Use directly in step 6. There is no need to pressure cook it beforehand.
***I have used frozen drumsticks with equally good results. Use about 6 -8 pieces; there is no need to thaw them beforehand. Just add them with the pumpkin and they will cook just fine.
Clarification: Someone commented that 20 - 25 chillies would be too much by Indian standards. So, I must clarify that I live in the US and the chillies I get from my local Indian store seem to be very mild. Unless I use atleast 20, the Sambar is going to taste like Dal with vegetables. Please check the heat quotient of the chillies you use. I do not want to kill anyone. :-)
***I have used frozen drumsticks with equally good results. Use about 6 -8 pieces; there is no need to thaw them beforehand. Just add them with the pumpkin and they will cook just fine.
Clarification: Someone commented that 20 - 25 chillies would be too much by Indian standards. So, I must clarify that I live in the US and the chillies I get from my local Indian store seem to be very mild. Unless I use atleast 20, the Sambar is going to taste like Dal with vegetables. Please check the heat quotient of the chillies you use. I do not want to kill anyone. :-)
©2008 Anuradha Warrier
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