Drumstick Sambar

South India is famous for its sambar. This is one dish which can be consumed with anything like rice, idli, dosa, upma etc. Each of the southern states has its own version of sambar. What i have given here is a simple & easy to make version of the sambar. I will be talking about the other types of sambar like sambar with freshly ground spices (arachuvitta sambar) later in my blog.

Preparation Time: 10 mts Cooking Time: 30 mts Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Red gram dal (tur dal or pigeon pea) - 1 cup

Tamarind - 1 small lime size

Refined oil - 2-3 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds (optional ) - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp

Sambar powder - 1-2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Vegetables:

Drumstick - 2 nos / 150 gms

Small onions (pearl onions) - 4-5 nos

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Tomato ( small ) - 1 no

Coriander leaves - 2 tsp

Green chilies - 2 nos

Method:

Wash the tur dal & pressure cook it with enough water & 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder. Mash it well & keep it aside. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water & squeeze out the extract. Pour 1/2 more cup of water & repeat the process. Cut the drumstick in to 2 inch pieces. Slit the green chilies. Cut the tomato in to small pieces. Skin the small onions. Keep all the vegetables ready along with the curry leaves. In a pan, heat the oil, & crackle the mustard seeds. When it is over, add the fenugreek seeds, asefotida powder & the vegetables. Saute them well. Then add the tamarind extract. Add the salt, balance turmeric powder & sambar powder. Bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame & allow the drumsticks to get cooked. When its all cooked, add the boiled tur dal & mix well. Let it all boil for some time. Garnish with coriander leaves. Sambar is ready.

Variations:

We can make sambar with a lot of other vegetables like brinjal (egg plant), ladies finger (okra), radish, capsicum (bell pepper), carrot & even small onions. Sambar can also be made with freshly ground spices. Tur dal can be substituted with green gram dal (moong dal/pasi paruppu). Will give the recipe for this sambar later in my blog.

Tips:

1. While soaking tamarind, soak it in boiled water. This will help in easy extraction.
2. Soak the tur dal for an hour in water & then pressure cook it. This will help the dal to cook well & easy to mash.
3. Don't use small onions while making radish sambar, because it has its own smell & taste.
4. Add the sambar powder to the mashed tur dal instead of adding it to the tamarind extract & add it after the vegetables are cooked. This will give a nice aroma.
5. The green chilies will give additional spice to the sambar. We can substitute it with red chilies too.

Try it & enjoy.

AVIAL

Avial is a gastronomic delight which has its roots in Kerala. It is also nutritious because it has most of the vegetables in it. Kerala is a state in the south western coast of India. Its skyline is dotted with coconut palms. Hence most of the kerala cusine will have coconut as an ingredient & coconut oil is used predominantly.

Preparation Time: 20 mts. Cooking Time: 20 mts. Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

carrots, beans, pumpkin(poozanikkai), snake gouard(pudalangai) - 50 gms of each
raw banana(vazhakkai) - 1 no.
drum stick (murungaikkai)- 1 no.
elephant foot yam(chenai) - 50 gms
potato - 1 no.
long beans ( payaru) - 50 gms
raw mango - 1 no.
curry leaves(kariveppilai) - 2 sprigs
salt - to taste
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 2 tsps.

TO GRIND:

coconut - 3/4 cup
green chillies - 3-4 nos. according to spice level needed
cumin seeds (jeerakam) - 1 tsp.

METHOD:

Cut all the vegetables in to pencil thin slices 1 1/2 inches long. Grind all the grinding ingredients to a nice paste. In a flat bottom vessel, put all the vegetables with enough water, salt & turmeric powder. Boil the vegetables till they are cooked & tender. Add the ground paste & bring it to boil. Add curry leaves & coconut oil & switch off the stove. Avial is ready.

VARIATIONS:
Avial can be had as both main dish (to mix with rice ) & side dish. My recipe is for the main dish. For avial as side dish, drain off all the water after cooking the vegetables & then add the ground masala. Rest of the recipe is the same.

TIPS:

1. Mango can be replaced with tamarind. Replace 1 mango with 1 tsp of tamarind paste. If using regular tamarind, take 1 small lemon sized tamarind & roll it into a thick ball. Make a well in between the vegetables & keep this ball there. Once the vegetables are cooked, remove this ball.
2. Curd can also be used instead of mango & tamarind. Take 1/2 cup of curd & mix the ground ingredients to it & add it to the vegetables & boil.
3. Avial can be made with just one vegetable also. Vegetables like pumpkin, drumsticks are ideal for this.
4. Any vegetable can be used to make avial. Most of the vegetables i have used are native indian vegetables but we can use them according to availability with the exception of beetroot.
5. Coconut oil has a very special smell. For those who are not used to this, any other oil can be used according to their taste.

This avial can be had with rice, adai, puris & rotis.

Try it & enjoy.