Chinna vengaya sambhar / Shallots sambhar

 

This is one of my favourite sambhar. I actually forgot about this recipe until I saw Viki's post on this. I just can't wait to prepare it. It is one of the most tastiest and aromatic sambhar. This dish goes well with hot rice, idly or dosa.

The scietific name of shallots is Allium ascalonicum. It is a relative of onion but tastes a bit sweeter than the onions. Shallots are easily digestible and contains 6 times more phenolics than the lowest ranked onions. They also have the most antioxidant activity than any other members of onion family. If you wonder what are these phenolics and anti-oxidants, they are the substances which provide shallots and onions their anti-cancer property. So presence of more of these substances tells us that they are potent anti-carcinogenic agents. Shallots are low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium. They are high in Vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, folate and pottasium. (Source : Wikipedia and natural environment website)

 

Ingredients :

Small onions or shallots- 20 nos if small and 10 nos if they are big

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Tomato- 1 no

Green chillies- 4 nos

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Curry leaves- a handful

MTR sambhar powder- 2 tbspns

OR

Coriander powder- 2 tbspns and chilli powder- 1 tspn

Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tspn

Jeera and mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn each

Coconut scrappings- 1 tbspn

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn

Asafoetida- a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Peel the onions and cut them into 2 if they are very large (here the shallots are very big, no need to cut the small variety shallots you get in India). Cut the tomatoes. Longitudinally slit the green chillies. Cook toor dhal until soft and mash them using a wooden spatula or masher. Soak the tamarind and extract the juice. Now heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot add the fenugreek seeds. When they brown and emit a nice aroma add mustard and jeera. When they splutter add the onions, green chilli, curry leaves, turmeric and a pinch of asafoetida. Suate for about 1 minute. Now add the tomato pieces and saute for 30 seconds. Add sambhar powder or coriander and chilli powder to the mixture and saute for 30 seconds. At this stage add the tamarind juice and enough water. Allow the mixture to boil. Now add the cooked dhal and allow it to boil once again. Simmer the mixture for another 10 minutes or until the oil seperates out. A very aromatic sambhar will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Read it here. The onions should not become too soft. It must stay in sambhar firm like a vegetable. So reduce the sauting time. Happy cooking !!!

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This recipe goes to Priya's Easy N TastyRecipes,  Healing Foods-Onion event. This event was started by Siri of Siri's corner. This is the link for her event announcement page. Great theme Siri and thanks Priya for hosting this event.

Mullangi sambhar / Radish sambhar

Sambhar is very versatile. You can use almost any vegetable to make this wonderful dish . It brings out the real taste and flavour of the vegetable without overpowering it. Eventhough any sambhar is a sambhar (:D) you can't find many similarity in taste between drumstick sambhar and radish sambhar. Sambhar acquires its taste depending on the vegetable used.

Radish sambhar is loved by many. My dad is a great fan of this humble vegetable. Sometimes I think radish is born to pair with sambhar. They make a wonderful combo !!! I hardly could love radish this much in any other form.

I brought a bunch of fresh radish from farmers market. They looked so lovely. I rarely find such small, tender ones here. Most radishes available in grocery stores are almost a feet tall. They are so big and so tall, I normally do not feel like buying them at all. Even if I buy them what will I do with such a big one? They do not taste good too. These small radishes were sooooo tasty I finished half of them when cutting itself.

Scientific name of radish is Raphanus sativus. Radish is a root vegetable and it is a rich source of fiber, vitamin C, folic acid,  pottasium and magnesium. They are considered to be very good for constipation, gall stones, kidney stones and even for cancer. Here comes the sambhar recipe :

Ingredients :

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Radish- 4 nos

Onion-1 no

Green chillies- 2 nos

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

MTR sambhar powder- 1 tbspn

                  or

Coriander powder - 1 tbspn

and Chilli powder- 1 tspn

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Asafoetida powder- a pinch

Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tspn

Jeera and mustard seeds- 1 tspn (for tempering)

Coconut scrapping (fresh or dry)- 1 tbspn

Curry leaves- a handful

Coriander leaves- few strands (minced finely)

Oil- 3 tbspns

Salt to taste

Method :

Cut radish as shown in picture. Wash and cook toor dhal with a pinch of turmeric, asafoetida and with a few drops of oil until it turns soft. Soak the tamarind and extract its juice. Mince onions and slit green chillies into two. Heat oil in a pan. When it gets heated add fenugreek seeds. Saute until it turns brown and emits a nice aroma. Now add mustard and jeera seeds. When they splutter add onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute until the onions turn translucent. Add cut radish pieces and saute for a minute. Now add sambhar powder or coriander and chilli powder. Fry for a minute, add tamarind juice and enough water. Bring it to a boil and simmer the mixture until radish pieces are cooked. Now add the cooked dhal and simmer for another five minutes. Add salt to taste and garnish with minced coriander leaves and coconut scrappings at the end of preparation. A very tasty sambhar will be ready. Serve with hot rice and a suitable side-dish.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Consistency of the dhal is important for a good sambar. Do not overcook the dhal and make it into a paste. Smabhar  should not be too thick. It must be on the watery side and do not overcrowd sambhar with vegetables. When you make radish sambhar it is wise to avoid any other vegetable. I never add coriander to any other sambhar but adding coriander to radish sambhar gives it a nice flavour without overpowering the radish smell. Happy cooking !!!

Manga(i) sambhar/ maamidikaya sambhar/sambhar with raw mango

The most flavourful sambhar you can prepare is this. During mango season every home in my native village will have raw mangoes in their sambhar. I know it is a famous dish in Madurai, not sure about other places. My dad loved it. If you haven't tried sambhar with raw mango, this is the time to try it. The mango need not have to be too sour. Select mango with a very slight sweet tinge, but not very sweet. The most wonderful thing about this dish is the flavour that the raw mango imparts to this dish and the taste of the mango pieces in sambhar...simply yummilicious!!!

Ingredients :

Toor dhal- 1 cup
Raw mango- 1 no (big)
Drumstick- 2 nos (optional)
Onion- 1 no
Small tomato- 1 no
Green chillies- 3 nos
Garlic- 1 pod (crushed)
Curry leaves- few leaflets
Coriander powder-  2 tbson
Chilli powder- 2 tspn
OR instead of the above coriander and chilli powder add 2 tbspn of MTR sambhar powder (no other brand please)
Coconut scrappins- 2 tbspns (dried coconut scrapping is also fine, but not coconut powder)
Fenugreek, mustard and jeera seeds- 1 tspn each
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Asafoetida- a pinch
Tamarind-  a small piece (adjust according to the sourness of raw mango)
Oil- 2 tbspns
Salt to taste

Method :

Cook dhal with enough water in a pressure cooker. Do not overcook the dhal and end up with a dhal paste. It spoils the taste of sambhar. Dhal should retain its shape but should be cooked and soft enough. Cut onion, tomato, drumstick and raw mango. Onions and tomato should be cut into bite sized pieces. Drumstick into an inch piece and cut raw mango into big pieces. Do not throw away the mango seed. Just retain some flesh on the seed and add this to sambhar too. Extract juice from the soaked tamarind. Now add oil in a pan. When it gets heated add fenugreek seeds. When they turn brown enough and emit a nice aroma, add mustard and jeera seeds. After they splutter add the cut onions , curry leaves, crushed garlic, green chllies and a pinch of turmeric powder. Saute well for a few seconds. Then add the cut tomatoes. Saute well until the tomato becomes soft. Now add drumstick, coriander and chilli powder or MTR sambhar powder. Saute for a minute and  add tamarind juice and enough water. Now let the drumstick cook in this mixture. Once the drumstick becomes soft add the raw mango pieces. Continue cooking until they become soft. Now add a pinch of asafoetida and the cooked toor dhal. Add water and adjust the sambhar consistency to your desired level. Sambhar should be little on the watery side. Allow the mixture to boil. Add salt to taste. Simmer for 3 more minutes. Before removing from fire add coconut scrapings. Tasty and most flavourful sambhar will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : The main point to note is the sourness. Since your are adding sour mango in the dish, take care to adjust the sourness from tamarind. If the mango is very sour decrease the amount of tamarind used. As I mentioned already, selecting  mango with a sweet tinge is preferable. Refer this link for tips to make a perfect sambhar. Happy cooking !!!

This recipe goes to Suma's 'Delicios Dals' From India  event.

Peerkangai sambhar/ Beerakaya sambhar (Ridge gourd sambhar)

Peerkangai  is one of my favourite vegetable but only when the skin is removed (not scraped out!!! note the difference) totally. In my home my mom used to remove the skin completely before making dishes out of it's smooth flesh. I know very well that cooking this vegetable with skin intact satisfies part of your daily fibre requirements.  But sometimes you love the taste you grew up with . This vegetable too has a mild sweet tinge to it. One important thing about this vegetable is, please taste it before using it for cooking. Some peerkangai has a bitter taste to it. You can't use it for cooking. My mom used to say that, snake has crawled over the peerkangai, that is why it has a bitter taste to it . So coming back to the point,  I have seen people using it for making poriyal, kootu and chutney but using this vegetable for making sambhar is not that usual, atleast in our household. When I ate peerkangai sambhar for the first time I immediately liked it. Here goes the recipe for it :

Ingredients

Peerkangai- 2 nos

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Onion- 1 no

Garlic- 2 cloves (crushed)

Green chillies- 3 nos

Curry leaves

Coconut scrappins- 2 tbspns

Coriander powder- 2 tbspns

Chilli powder- 2 tspns

Tamarind size of a very small lemon ( soak it and extract juice from it)

Mustard, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds for tempering

A pinch of asafoetida

Salt and oil

Method

Cook toor dhal and keep it aside. For sambhar the dhal should not be cooked into a paste. In madurai they used to say 'paruppu malarthiruchanu paru', it means check whether the dhal has bloomed (very beautiful word ofcourse!!!). The dhal should be cooked but should not be made into a paste. Now remove the skin of peerkangai completely. Then cut them into bit-sized pieces. Keep aside. Cut onions and green chillies. Crush the garlic cloves. Heat oil in a kadai. When it gets heated add the fenugreek. When it is brown add mustard and cumin seeds. Let them splutter.  Then add onions, curry leaves, crushed garlic and a pinch of turmeric powder. Saute them till the onions become translucent. Then add the ridge gourd pieces and saute for a minute. Now add coriander powder, chilli powder and a pinch of asafoetida (perungayam). Saute for few seconds (take care not to burn them). After that add the tamarind juice and enough water. Bring the mixture to boil. Once peerkangai is cooked add salt to the mixture. Now add the cooked toor dhal to it. Boil for a few minutes and simmer it for 5 more minutes. Before simmering you can add coconut scrappings.  Tasty, tasty sambhar is ready to serve.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe :

Making sambhar is itself  an art. I will say what you should not do inorder to get a good sambhar .

1) Please do not cook the dhal and vegetables together in a cooker (might be you can save time but not your sambhar ). The vegetables should always be cooked in tamarind water. If you mix everything and make it into a paste, then it can no more be called as a sambhar.

 

2) For a good sambhar tempering is very important. I have seen people who cannot wait till the oil gets heated. They just throw in the mustard and other tempering ingredients before the oil gets heated. Never do it. First add fenugreek seeds in well-heated oil. When the seeds turn brown and emit nice aroma add the mustard and jeera seeds. Wait till the mustard splutters before you add onions. This kind of tempering brings out the real aroma of sambhar.

3) Never use a store bought sambhar powder. In my experience MTR is OK and the other sambhar powders are no good. Instead of sambhar powder use coriander powder and chilli powder seperately.  

4) Never add too much of tamarind or too little of tamarind. If you add too much of tamarind it becomes a pulikuzhambu and too little of tamarind makes it taste not so good. So be careful when adding tamarind juice. Add little by little and adjust according to the taste.

5) As I have already said do not make dhal into a paste. The dhal must be cooked and the individual lentils should be visible clearly.

6) If you get shallots (small onions) always use it instead of the big ones.

If you follow this I am sure your sambhar will taste good .

Happy cooking!!!