Arachuvita Sambar - Madurai Style

Sambar was not the go to food when I grew up. Please don't judge me for that. I had too many other varieties to be spoilt with. And just the habit of seeing and eating Sambar in every restaurant, wedding, feast, family visits, house warming ceremonies, made it not too special until I moved to Germany after getting married.

Guess what....The first item that i ever cooked in Germany or I ever cooked for my husband is 'The Legendary Sambar'. It tasted heavenly. May be it was not the best of the sambar's I had been exposed to in Madurai. But a spicy and flavorful sambar with all veggies in that cold, grey new place just made it taste heavenly. That is when i started loving sambar. My sambar should always have at least 5 veggies, the flavor of all veggies should blend in with the dal and the consistency has to be rich.

Here is a wonderful version of Madurai Hotel Style Sambar which takes a little extra bit of grinding than the regular quick version. Once you try this style, I can guarantee you that you will make some extra time to get the oomph factor from grinding some special ingredients.

Ingredients:

For Sambar:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Masoor Dal - 1/2 cup
Moon Dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 
Tomato - 1/2
Drumstick - 5 pieces
Green capsicum - 1/2 cut into cubes
Carrots - 1 medium size
Brinjal - 1 small
Bottle Gourd - 4 cubes (ignore if you dont have this)
Raw mango - 2 small pieces (highly recommend, i always have frozen ones if not in season)
Tamarind - berry size (soaked in warm water)
Green chilly - 2 pieces
Salt (for taste)
Coriander leaves (for garnish)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp

Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Sambar powder - 2 tbsp

For Grinding:

Onion - 1/2 (cut into cubes)
Tomato - 1/2 (cut into cubes)
Grated coconut - 1 handful

For tempering:

Hing - a small bit (Sambar cannot be done without this small yet powerful ingredient ;))
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urud Dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

How to Make Base Dal:

1. Cut all the veggies to cube sizes
2. Add all 3 Dals from Ingredients with 1:2 ratio of water for each Dal in a pressure cooker (I have used three 1/2 cups of Dal. So i will use 3 cups of water and a 1/2 cup more for veggies).
3. Add 1/2 cubed onions, 1/2 cubed tomatoes, all veggies except for carrot, capsicum and raw mango to the Dal
4. Add turmeric powder and hing.
5. Close the pressure cooker and cook the Dal with veggies for 3 whistles. Keep the cooker away from heat for it to cool down.

How to make the special paste:

• In a kadai, add 1/2 of cubes onions and sauté.
• Once translucent, add 1/2 tomato and sauté until tomato gets mushy.
• To the above, add a handful of grated coconut. Give it a nice stir until coconut aroma comes out. 

• Let the mixture cool and grind it with very little water into a thick paste.

How to make Sambar:

1. In a kadai, add 1 tbsp refined oil or ghee
2. once the oil heats up, add Capsicum and saute until half cooked
3. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and sambar powder
4. Saute until the raw smell of powder goes away
5. Add tamarind water and let it boil for 2 mins
6. Add the Dal-Veggie mixture from the pressure cooker.
7. Add a cup of water if the mixture is too thick
8. Give it all a good mix
9. Add raw mango pieces now
10. Add the special ground paste to the above mix (Add more water if you think the consistency is too thick)
11. Bring everything to a boil
12. Check for salt, tang and spice level. Adjust if you need to.
13. Finally garnish with Coriander leaves
14. In a small pan, add oil and all ingredients under tempering. Once the mustard splutters and the urud dal turns to golden brown, add the tempering to Sambar

Aromatic, flavorful, nutritious, protein packed amazing Sambar is ready to be served with Idli, Dosai, White rice, Ven pongal, Vadai - anything that you please to have it with. I had them with plain white rice, a big generous amount of ghee to enhance the aromas, Beans Poriyal and Appalam,. Heavenly!!!

Guten Apetit! And wish you all a happy sambar day that fills your tummy and mind with joy. May you party with Sambar just like the many ingredients come together to party as Sambar :)

What is it about Morocco?

Finally made it to my dream destination - Morocco!!! 😁

 

My H being a backpacker has visited so many continents through road when there were no smart phones or GPS or even digital cameras. I do believe that we get to remember memories from those times more as we knew there was no other way to capture and save all those incredible memories in a drive. There is never a dull day in our lives. If we get stuck in a small town in a corner of the world with no internet or a camping site with no phone coverage, no need to worry at all on how to get entertained. He never runs out of stories and experiences to share. 

One such place he visited a long time ago is Morocco that made a big impact on me by merely listening to all the stories that H had shared and definitely not by looking at any photos or blogs from the internet (there was very little information about these strange but beautiful places on the internet unlike in 2020). He took all his photos with the 35mm Camera which was a luxury for him to carry around in those days.

Sharing the posts for the Morocco series based on the route we took on world map, covering around 2000 kilo meters in two weeks time. 

From my personal Travel Journal

Here is the Route that the travel enthusiast at home, my H, came up with. I din’t understand the detail on mapping a route 3 months before a travel until i was there and saw how quickly we could coordinate the next step as everything was very organized especially in countries where travel can get hectic. It is a brilliant planning and i very much appreciate him for the planning. 

I have had many people ask me for the route and I hope this helps many who want to travel to Morocco. We had to trade off between Chef Chauoen and Casa Blanca because of the route and time constraint. I picked the Blue City which is Chef Chauoen. So our entry point had to be Tangier. If you are not planning to go to Chef Chauoen, try getting directly to Fes instead.

Fly in to Madrid, Spain

Fly in to Tangier

Taxi Ride to Chef Chauoen

Bus Ride to Fes

Rental Car Ride to Midelt

Car ride to Merzouga

Camel Ride to Sahara Desert

Car ride to Skoura

Car ride to Ait Ben Haddou

Car Ride to Marrakech

Train to Tangier

Fly to Madrid, Spain

Fly from Madrid back Home

This Series will contain the following four articles that will cover nine cities in Morocco:

• Why should you visit Chef Chauoen?

• What is so special about Fes?

• How to reach the Sahara?

• Places to stop between Merzouga and Marrakech

Buttermilk/ Chaas/ Neer Mor

Summer Vacation is something spent at grandmother or aunt's place. Every year we re-group as family during summer. The minute i think about Summer and Madurai, the first thing comes to my mind is Chithirai Thriuvizha - It lasts for one month of which the first 15 days mark the celebrations of the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi and the Marriage of Lord Sundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi, and the next 15 days mark the celebrations of the Journey of Lord Alagar from Kallazhagar temple in Alagar Koyil to Madurai.

When Alagar continues his journey through the streets of Madurai, he pit stops now and then at many mandapams to take rest (which also gave the priests travelling with him to rest, eat and freshen up while giving the devotees a good darshan of the god). Since throusands of people come to watch this from all around Madurai, having Mor(Buttermilk) Pandal was very common. These Pandals are buttermilk/water/panagam spots where anyone can go to grab a glass to quench the thirst. My most favorite drink is the Neer Mor which is called as Chaas in North. Yet another wonder food available on this day is Kovil Puliyodharai - so heavenly with the smell of edible camphor.

I don't have a curd culture at home due to the lockdown. If you have home made curd, i highly recommend you to use that. So i used the store bought Curd for preparing this drink that acts as the best coolant on a very hot day.

Hope you give a try to this very simple refreshing drink. It might sound too simple, but tastes amazing.

Ingredients: (Serves for 2)

Curd - 1 cup

Curry leaves - 4 leaves

Green chilli - 1 small

Ginger - 1 tsp thinly sliced

Coriander leaves - few chopped

Mint leaves - few chopped

Salt as needed

Raw Mango - few small pieces (if available)

Water - 2 cups

How to prepare:

1.Add curd to a narrow container with slight long neck.

2.Add water to the curd.

3.Using an egg/butter beater, beat the curd in water for 5 mins until you see froth appearing on top.

4.Add salt, Curry leaves, Green chilli, Ginger, Corinader leaves, Mint leaves to this mix.

5.I try to use the tea kadai kaarar technique where the tea vendor pours the tea from one glass to another with a long pour. Make sure you aim right at the cup and not anywhere else. If it is in cup is becomes Neer Mor otherwise it will be a more wasted Mor ;).

I love adding raw mango pieces to buttermilk. It gives the drink a nice sourness and aroma contrasting the spice from the ginger.

Buttermilk is a great combo while consuming any deep fried dish. I served it with Poori, Split Green Lentil Dhaba Style along with Cucumber-Carrot Salad.

Guten Apetit!

Cheers to Mor(e)!!!

How to make Poori / Puri / Puffed Indian Bread

It is a nice and pleasant weather here in Florida today. While watering the Jasmine and Mango plants, hoping someday i will have a backyard filled with Jasmine aroma, while relishing the mangoes from the tree, which is a far fetched dream at this point. But hope is what makes life interesting, don't you think. I took a beautiful shot of the Flame of the Forest blooming in May. It was so fiery while the lake was so calm and untouched. What a contrast!

                  

I have to be honest with the readers when i talk about Pooris - a Deep Fried Puffed Indian Bread made of wheat flour. I'm not a big fan of pooris when i was a kid. I guess i don't like many deep fried items in general even as an adult, which is a blessing (because it is Healthier) and a curse (because i miss out to taste and appreciate a lot of deep fried Indian food or snacks).  I do rarely crave for poori and potato masala (south indian style) or poori and chole (north indian style).

The main reason i started making pooris and had to get a hang of how to make them is because of my kid. Whenever we go to my parents house, my mom will have her perfectly round pooris with Chicken Kuzhambu / Gravy ready for breakfast. That is the combo i grew up with. My son adores my mom's pooris and chicken. He will rate it the best in the world and mine goes to second in the line ;).

I know there are many tricks and tips to add in the dough like rava / sooji so that puffed up pooris will keep their shape without getting soggy and sad. But today I'm making it for lunch with just wheat flour on a Monday noon during Quarantine just see that big bright smile on my son's face and those sparkling eyes asking 'Mama, is it poori on a weekday?'. He couldn't believe his eyes...haha. It was worth the effort and time :).

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 2 cups

Water to knead

Salt as desired

Sunflower oil to drizzle

How to make the dough:

It took some trials to get a hang of kneading a roti dough versus kneading a poori dough. The poori dough needs to be stiff and tight. If you poke a finger in the dough, it should be like poking a clay. So use as little water as you go to knead the dough. 

1. Take the dry flour in a pan, add salt and drizzle i tsp of oil to it. Mix well to get rid of any crumble or lump.

2. Add very little water at a time and keep mixing it until the dough has just enough water to be kneaded to a tight ball. 

3.Be patient while kneading. If you spend a little more time than usual during this process, you will feel your heart puffing up with pride when you notice the pooris puffing up in oil :).

4. Keep the dough aside with a lid covered to make sure the dough doesn't get dry.

How to roll the dough for Pooris:

You can skip this step if you are using a Poori Presser like what my mom has. I dont have one where i live. So im going for the old school method of using Rolling pin.

While rolling the dough, add oil to a small pan to deep fry the pooris. Turn on the heat to more than medium so that oil gets heated.

1.Take a small size of dough, possibly shape of a table tennis ball. Roll them between your palm to get a smooth ball shape.

2. Dust it in dry flour. Press it on the kitchen counter top or rolling pan.

3. This step is as crucial as kneading the flour. Using a rolling pin, carefully smooth out the sides of the dough to make it to a flat round shape. Dont thin out the centre part too much otherwise there wont be enough dough left for the pooris to puff. The rolled out dough should be a little thicker than how we roll out for Phulkas.

     

4. Make a small batch so they can be fried one after another. Fry them immediately otherwise the dough can become dry.

How to fry the Pooris:

By now the oil should had heated up to fry the pooris.

1. Take a tiny bit of dough. Press is between your fingers and throw it in the hot oil. If it sizzles and floats on oil right away, the oil is hot enough for us to fry the pooris.

2. Take one poori a time,  slide them gently into the oil. Make sure you do this carefully as you don't want hot oil to splash.

3. Once the poori rises to the top of the oil, press it gently in with a laddle. This helps the pooris to puff. Cook for few seconds and Turn to the other side and let it fry for few seconds. You should see light golden glaze on top. Remove the poori and place it on a paper towel for the oil to be absorbed.

                     

                     

4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for the rest of the rolled out dough.

Please watch the video below on how to fry the pooris:

Eat the Suda-Suda (Super Hot) right away with Aloo/Potato Masala or Chole/Channa Masala or Chicken Kumzhambu/Gravy. Today we had it with Split Green Lentils Dhaba Style Gravy. I will try to post the recipes for the above list one at a time. I served the pooris and dal with some cucumber-carrot salad and some home made Spiced up Buttermilk/ Chaas.

Guten Apetit!

Happy Puffing!!! :)