Sambar, without sambar powder / Lentil vegetable soup

Sambar is one of our family favorite day to day dish. In Kerala itself there are so many varieties of sambar as we move from South Kerala to North Kerala. Slightly sweet version from south to the roasted coconut version sambar from north tastes good with rice as well as idli or dosa.

Our usual sambar is made with sambar powder and roasted coconut paste. That is my mom's version. And that is one of the best tasting sambar I have ever had. 😊

But the below Sambar recipe is adapted from my mother in laws version of sambar which is made without sambar powder. This is the best sambar recipe without sambar powder :). 

Ingredients:

1. Sambar dal/ toor dal - 1/3 cup
2. Tomato, wedges - 1 cup
3. Onion, wedges - 1/2 cup
4. Drumstick, cut - 1/2 cup
5. Ladies finger, cut - 1/2 cup
6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
7. Tamarind paste - 1.5 tsp 
8. Salt to taste 
9. Coconut oil - 2 tbsp 
10. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
11. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
12. Curry leaves - 6
13. Dry red chilli - 2-3

Sambar masala:

1. Coconut oil - 1 tsp
2. Split urud dal - 1 tsp
3. Uluva/ fenugreek seeds - 3/4 tsp
4. Kayam / Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
5. Curry leaves - 4-5
6. Coconut, shredded - 2 heaped tbs
7. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 3 tsp

Method:

Sambar masala:

1. Heat a tsp of coconut oil in a pan
2. Add kayam, urud dal, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and sauté till urud dal is golden brown. 
3. Add coconut and stir till coconut is golden brown. Stir continuously under low flame so that coconut doesn't get burned. 
4. Add chilli powder and coriander powder to the above and stir for a minute and switch off the flame. 
5. Make smooth paste with the above. 

Sambar:

1. Cook sambar dal with enough water in pressure cooker till soft and mushy
2. Add all vegetables except ladies finger along with turmeric powder
3. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, add ladies finger. 
4. Add salt to taste. 
5. Add sambar paste to it and mix it
6. Once the sambar starts to boil, add tamarind paste and mix well 
7. Let it cook for 2 more minutes and switch off the flame. 
8. Add chopped coriander leaves. 
9. Heat coconut oil in a small pan for tempering. 
10. Splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds
11. Add curry leaves and dry red chilli to the above and switch off the flame. 
12. Pour the tempering over sambar and keep it closed for a few minutes before stirring. 

Serve sambar with rice or idli. 

Vellayappam \ Fermented rice crepe

Vellayappam is any Malayali's favorite breakfast. It is made with fermented rice batter. This mildly sweet crepe goes very well with stew or chicken curry or egg curry.

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice/ Pachari - 2 cups
2. Cooked rice - 3/4 cup ( i have used rice made with ponni rice/ basmathi rice and sona masoori.)
3. Coconut shredded - 1 cup
4. Sugar - 2 tbs
5. Instant dry yeast - a pinch (less than 1/8 tsp)
6. Salt to taste
7. Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Vellayappamchatti/Pan used for making appam

Method:

1. Soak raw rice for 1-2 hrs in water
2. Grind the soaked rice in a grinder or good blender till it is almost smooth. It is ok to have some sandy feeling when squeezed between your fingers
3. Add coconut, cooked rice, salt and sugar and grind well. The consistency of the batter should be thinner than pancake or dosa batter
4. Add yeast and mix well
5. Keep it in a big bowl for fermentation overnight. (6-8 hrs depending on the temperature).Batter will rise more than double the initial volume.
6. After fermentation, mix it again using a laddle and store it in fridge if you are not going to make appams that time.
7. 30 minutes before making appams, add baking soda to the batter and mix well.
8. Laddle batter to an appamchatti or any non stick pan of similar shape and swirl it to make thin layer on the sides of the pan
9. Close the pan and cook on medium flame till sides slightly browned and crisp
10. Move appam to a serving tray and repeat the same with rest of the appams.

I am linking this post to FiestaFriday#98 co-hosted by Sadhna @ Herbs, Spices, and Traditions and Natalie @ Kitchen, uncorked.

Cherupayar thoran/ Green gram stir fry

Cherupayar thoran is a traditional Kerala dish which goes well with rice or Kanji/ Rice porridge. I think each house hold have their own recipe for thoran, basically any thoran has the main ingredients plus shredded coconut, coconut oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chilli and shallots..

Ingredients:

1. Cherupayar/ green gram bean/ Mung bean - 1/2 cup
2. Coconut, shredded - 1/3 cup
3. Coconut oil - 1 tbs
4. Shallots, peeled - 3-4
5. Green chilli - 1
6. Dried red chilli - 2
7. cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. Curry leave  - 10-12
10. Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
11. Salt to taste
12. Garlic, crushed -2 cloves

Method:

1. Cook cherupayar in a pressure until it is cooked and drain it. It must be soft when pinched, but retain its shape. We don't want a mushy thoran :). It took 5 min in pressure cooker for me
2. Crush coconut, green chilli, shallots and cumin seeds using a mortar and pestle or use a blender and pulse few times. We are looking for coarsely crushed mix
3. Heat coconut oil in a pan
4. Splutter mustard seeds in it
5. Add dry red chilli, garlic and curry leaves to it  and give a toss. (Be careful while doing this as the oil is hot)
6. Add cherupayar, turmeric powder and salt and mix well by gentle stir
7. Let it fry for 2 minutes
8. Add coconut mixture now and give a final stir to mix everything
9. After 1 minute, switch off the flame and enjoy it warm with Kanji or rice.

Sughiyan/ Green gram bean sweet snack

Sughiyan is a fried sweet snack made with green gram dal/cherupayar. It is a typical Malabar evening snack and my Dad's favourite. We never used to make this at home as me and my brother was not fond of it during our childhood. I think I have tasted it only once or twice before. Since Ramzan is coming up, I was looking for nombu thurakkal snacks and Sughiyan caught my attention. And, since we are relocating soon, I wanted to finish off all those grocery items in my kitchen store.

The below recipe yields sughiyan with a crispy outer shell and soft and delicious inside. It has that earthy taste from green gram dal, sweetness from jaggery and wonderful scent of cardamom.

Ingredients:

1. Green gram dal /Cherupayar- 1 cup
2. Jaggery - 150gm
3. Cardamom - 1 
4. Salt a pinch
5. Coconut, shredded - 1/2 cup
6. Flour - 1 cup
7. Turmeric powder or Yellow color - a pinch/ 1 drop ( optional)
8. Ghee/ clarified butter - 1 tbs
9. Oil for frying
10. Cashews and raisins - 10 each ( optional)

Note:

• This recipe give 10 medium sized Sughiyan
• Don't over cook green gram dal. Dal should be soft when pinched but it must retain its shape
• I have made sughiyan even without using optional items. It still tastes as good
• Turmeric or yellow color is added to get yellow color of the batter. It doesn't impact the taste
• Using unniyappam chatti for frying helps to retain the ball shape without breaking. And also helps to reduce the frying time and wastage of oil

Method:

1. Cook green gram dal in a pressure cooker till cooked. Don't over cook the dal. We don't want to mash it to paste. 
2. Take out the seeds from cardamom and powder it
3. Heat ghee in a pan.
4. Fry cashews and raisins in it
5. Add cardamom and coconut and give it a toss
6. Melt jaggery in half a cup of water and strain it through a fine mesh to remove dirt
7. Mix cooked green gram , salt and jaggery to the coconut mixture and cook it till the liquid is almost dried up
8. Switch off the flame and keep it for cooling
9. When it is still warm, make lime size or small balls out of it
10. Keep it in fridge
11. Take flour in a deep bowl 
12. Mix with a pinch of salt
13. Add water, around 1 cup to the flour and make a lump free batter
14. The batter shouldn't be too thick or thin. Consistency should be similar to dosa batter
15. If you are using turmeric or yellow color, add it to the batter now. I didn't use both 
16. Now heat oil in a kadai or unniyappam chatti
17. Dip each ball in the batter and fry it in medium flame
18. All sides of sughiyan should be fried well

Hot fried sughiyan with hot tea or coffee on a cool rainy evening with your family..mmm

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.

Unniyappam

Finally I made a very successful batch of appams today.  This is my third trial in making appams. In the first trial I made appam batter using puttipodi and baking soda + etc etc and it turned out to be a super flop. Second trial turned out better, but not the best. Third trial is the below recipe which I really liked. Patience is the key to success for appams, Give it time for soaking and fermentation to soft appams :)

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice / Pachari - 2 cups
2. Jaggery - 300gm
3. Cardamom - 1
4. Sesam seeds - 1 tbs
5. Coconut bits/ thenga kothu - 1/2 cup
6. Banana - 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Coconut oil/ghee - for deep fry
9. Clarified butter / Ghee - 2tbs

Appachatti

Note:

• I have soaked the rice in the morning at around 10am
• Made batter  at night around 8pm
• Made appams next day morning at 9 am
• I have use banas similar to robusta, palayankodan pazham is best suited for making appams
• Adjust Jaggery qty according to your taste

Method:

1. Soak rice in water for a minimum of 5 hrs
2. Melt jaggery in half a cup of water on heat
3. Strain it in a fine mesh top remove dirt
4. Strain the soaked rice and grind it with banana, cardamom, salt and melted jaggery.
5. The batter need not be vey smooth, similar to idli batter. (if you take little batter on your finger and rub with another finger, there will be few sand like particle you will feel., not many)
6. Batter should not be too runny, nor thick, similar to idli batter again
7. Keep the batter for fermentation for minimum 5-6 hrs.
8. Fry coconut bits and sesame seeds in ghee and keep aside, take care not to burn them
9. Heat appachatti(picture above) in medium to high flame
10. Fill half of each cup with coconut oil or ghee
11. Spoon the batter in to each cup upto 3/4 full and fry till brown on both side. You may use, spoon, fork or bamboo stick for flipping appams in appachatti (Take care not to burn appams. They will burn very fast if unattended. Adjust the heat accordingly)

This Recipe is an entry to The KitchenAid India Navratri Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen.

Pidi / Rice balls in coconut milk

Pidi is a dish made with rice flour and coconut milk and usually served with chicken or meat curry. I think it is a traditional dish of Jacobites in Kerala.  I heard about Pidi for the first time from my friend Susan. Susan is one of my best friend. We studied together in 11th and 12th std and then for Engineering at Kothamangalam. Her house was close to Kothamangalam college.  During all my study leaves, which is usually 1 month, I go home, Calicut, for the first few weeks, after that I used to stay at Susan's house for atleast 1-2 weeks. :) Those were some memorable days in my life which I always cherish, company of one of my best friend and her wonderful parents + delicious food cooked by her Mom...Good old days..
So coming back to Pidi recipe, here it goes.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour (fine)- 1.5 cups
2. Coconut, shredded - 1/2 cup
3. Coconut milk - if using thick paste - 4tbs or if using coconut milk as such - 2.5-3 cups
4. Salt to taste
5. Shallots, sliced - 1/4 cup
6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Boil 1.5 cups of water. ( use same amount as rice flour)
2. Add shallot , cumin seeds, coconut and salt to it.
3. After a minute, add rice flour mix it well with water using wooden spatula or stiff laddle
4. Switch off the flame
5. Once the flour is almost mixed with water keep it closed till the dough is cooled enough to be touched with hand (it should still be warm)
6. Knead the dough with hand well and make small balls out of it.
7. Heat 2.5 -3 cups of coconut milk in a sauce pan. (if using coconut paste, make thin coconut milk using 3 tbs of coconut milk paste = 2-3 cups of thin coconut milk)
8. Once the coconut milk is about to boil, add pidis/ rice balls in to it. (don't stir). All balls must be fully dipped in coconut milk. If needed, add more coconut milk
9. Cook pidis in low flame for 5 minutes.
10. Give careful stir in between so that pidis don't stick to the bottom and also the stir should not break the pidis
11. Once the coconut milk consistency is thick enough for your liking (some like it thick like me or you can leave it thin too )and pidis are fully cooked through ( took around 15-20 minutes for me), switch off the flame.

Note:

• Pidis can be served with chicken curry
• You may add 1-2 tsp of sugar to the coconut milk to add slight sweetness to the pidis,  this is optional
• I have used Nirapara pathiri podi for making pidi

Vendakka moru curry/ ladies finger in coconut yogurt sauce

Simple moru curry with vendakka!

Ingredients:

1. Vendakka/ ladies finger, cut into small - 10
2. Yogurt - 1.5 cups
3. Coconut shredded - 1 cup
4. Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
5. Coconut oil - 2 tbs
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Salt to taste

For tempering

1. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Curry leaves - few
4. Dried red chilli - 3
5. Garlic cloves - 2
6. Coconut oil - 1 tbs

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbs of oil in a pan
2. Sauté ladies finger with turmeric powder in the oil
3. Blend coconut, 1/2 cup yogurt and cumin seeds into paste
4. Once slightly browned, no more sticky, add coconut paste and 1/2 cup water in low flame
5. Let it come to boil in low flame
6. Add salt
7. Whisk the remaining yogurt
8. Once the curry starts to boil, add the whisked yogurt and and half cup water if curry is thick
9. Switch off the flame
10. Heat coconut oil for tempering
11. Splutter mustard seeds and  fenugreek seeds, add crushed garlic , curry leaves and red chilli and switch off the flame. Take care not to burn the tempering. 
12. Add the above to moru curry and close the lid and keep it like that for sometime before mix it using a ladle. 

Simple moru curry is ready to be served with rice and roasted potato or fish fry. 😊

Chemmeen Ularthiyadu / Prawns Roast

This recipe is adapted from Mrs K.M.Mathews' Flavours of Spice Coast. This is my family's favourite prawns dish!

 

 

Ingredients:

1. 300gm prawns
2. 1/2 cup shallots
3. 1 tsp chilli powder
4. 1 tsp coriander powder
5. 1/4 tsp pepper powder
6. 1 tbs chopper garlic
7. 1 tbs chopped ginger
8. 1 pinch turmeric powder
9. 2-3 tbs tamrind pulp(by soaking tamrind in water)
10. 1.5 cups onion sliced
11. 1 tbs ginger thinly sliced
12. few curry leaves
13. 2 tbs coconut oil
14. 1/4 tsp mustard
15. salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind 2-8 ingredients coarsly
2. Cook prawns with the mixture by adding 1 cup water,salt and tamrind to it.
3. Once the prawns is cooked, turn on high flame and switch it off once the prawns is dry.
4. Heat oil and splutter mustard, curry leaves and saute ginger and onion till onion becomes golden brown.
5. Add the cooked prawns to the above and fry for some more time, about 10 minutes till the onion mixtures coats the prawns very well.
6. Switch off the flame
7. You can garnish the prawns roast with curry leaves or ginger juliennes.

 This is a very tasty prawns ularthiyadu :)