If people are expecting me to cook south Indian food from scratch, then this is probably the wrong place! But if students like me are reading this, then it should be obvious that I am planning to cook South Indian food from the ready made Dosa dough available at Patels. But yes, I have cooked Sambhar and the coconut chutney from scratch!
But, the 'Sambhar' was a challege! But I am sure that I did a pretty good job in making sambhar for the first time. So, here goes the recipe. Please people, suggest me some improvements!
Ingredients:
2-3 Tsp Sambhar Masala
2 cups Vegetable I used: Carrots, Peas, Potatos, french beans. You might also want to use other veggies like brinjals, pumpkin, drumstics etc. depending on personal choice (and availability!)
1/2 cup tuvar daal
1/2 Tsp Fenugreek seeds
3 dry red chillies
1 Tsp Urad Daal
8-10 Curry Leaves
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Pinch hing powder
2 Tbs Tamarind paste
1 or 2 Tbs Oil
Method
1) Boil Tuvar daal, vegetables and salt according to taste together in a pressure cooker and then mash partially.
2) In a pan, heat oil, add the fenugreek leaves and fry till they look reddish, then add the urad daal and saute until color change.
3) Now, add Mustard seeds, hing powder, red chili and curry leaves and let them splutter.
4) Just add this mixture of spices along with the sambhar masala and the tamarind paste to the boiled tuvar daal and keep on ow fire for about 20 minutes till a nice consistency is achieved. Add water if the sambhar seems too thick.
I think this sambhar did not turn out to be all that spicy but still was pretty decent. I am gonna try again and keep trying till I get that perfect Sambhar!
Now, we have sambhar, dosa ready, we can NOT miss the coconut chutney!!
Ingredients:
1 cup Grated coconut
2 dry red chilies
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
2 tsp urad daal
5 curry leaves
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander ( optional, but i really like to add this )
A pinch of hing powder
Oil
Method:
1) Blend coconut, coriandder leaves, salt in a blender and add a little water if too thick.
2) Heat oil, add mustard seeds, red chili, urad daal, hing, and fry for a minute and add curry leaves.
3) Add this mixture of spices to the blended coconut mixture.
Enjoy!
Well, now when I made all this, I felt Hey! This meal can not be complete without the Aloo (potato) masala for the dosas!!
Ingredients:
1) Boiled potatoes
2) All ingredients of coconut chutney above except the grated coc0nut.
3) 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder
Method:
1) Extremely simple!
2) Mash partially the boiled potatoes with a fork.
3) Just make the mixture of spices in oil as above.
4) Add the mashed potatoes to the mixture of spices, add the turmeric powder and salt and saute for 2-3 minutes
And you all have to believe me that the person for whom I cooked all this food was definitely in a bliss ( I hope!!!!). No, but seriously, you all got to try out all this!
6 comments:
i love south Indian food.....and that chutney looks yummy !!!!
I have tried Dosas but they always break...its really hard to cook them.
Hi,it really looks very yummy. The Chutney you have mentioned is a typical Chutney you get (any shetty restaurants) in Mumbai. The chutney will be more authentic if you add a little chutney Dal with fresh coconut and green chillies instead of the red ones. Try it to see the difference. For the sambhar you can make paste out of fried dhania seeds,fried red chillies and coconut.(Keep it a bit coarse) Use this instead of the ready made sambhar powder. This will be more authentic.
Happy Cooking and enjoy the meal.
Those dosas look yummy! Hopefully I get a chance to eat them :)
sambhar very diff from how i make - but on superficially looking into the cooking style - i think it is better not to cook toor dal with salt - it makes it cook v sloe (or soemtimes not cook at all). Add lil' turmeric when cooking toor dal - and then add salt when mixing all the stuff.
-Bargav
"Sambhar from scratch! Ingredients: 2-3 tsp Sambhar masala." ;-). Sounds like a paradox to me.
Well, for a student This is sambhar from scratch, I have other options like having in an Indian restaurant,or getting that ready make sambhar and heat it in the microwave and have it :)
ANd making the Sambhar powder is also no biggie I guess, just google for it and there are lots and lots of recipes for it available and my fiance did try it and it was awesome! But I prefer spending a dollar or 2 for the sambhar masala :)
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