Fenugreek Leaves' Sambar

When I sit down to write a post, most often I do not have a clue as to what to write about. The recipe part is the easier of the two. So for the story part, I just begin with whatever is on the top of my mind at the moment and then ramble on about it. Today's recipe about Methi Sambar is a neat recipe and turns out to be one of my faves but there's nothing glamorous about it that I can write stories about.

To play catch up for the months I have been missing out posting -

Feb - left me frazzled since the rush of things so demanded to exercise some of my old-time indefatigable spirit. (No, I don't enjoy being that and did pleasantly surprise myself that I could pull it off (again).)
V-Day - Though the practical half of my brain agrees that the hype about Feb 14th is one pompous marketing gimmick that is prevalent worldwide, I have to confess that I got bitten by the V-day bug a long time ago. Gimmick or no gimmick, I associate this day with a colorful kaleidoscope of events ever since my undergrad days. The anticipation and nerves felt was very infectious even to a person completely untouched by the fever (like me). The atmosphere remained charged all through the week and culminated in very different ways for every walking soul. It also led to a lot of "illegal" betting as to who would give THE card to who and the act of speculation turned out to be the top-rated sport of the month. It was considered perfectly normal (for even those very serious-in-life-first-benchers) to bandy around gossip. You could hear a lot of shushing in the corridors when some much sought-after maidens or hunks passed by. Times have changed and a decade has rolled by...V-Day has metamorphosized to being more predictable and pleasant. But I sure do miss the feeling of restlessness that so accompanies folks in their very early 20s. ;)

March - February segued into March and things mellowed down quite a bit. It was suffused with numerous fun events, a refreshing change to enjoy blithely, after what seemed like forever. (The two girls I consider "best" friends were on a long vacation in India and I couldn't help missing the insanely interesting phone chats.)

April - saw me very excited when my dad finally booked his tickets to here. Albeit he was never against visiting here, it took convincing from at least 15 different people to make him take a break from his teaching job at the college. The tough part was trying to drive down the fact that "now" was indeed a good time! He arrives in the first week of June and needless to say I’m thrilled. Apart from that, we also had one of our customary potlucks, complete with dress code and all. Though donning a sari is one of the most complicated tasks for an artistically-challenged imbecile like me, I never relent and make use of any opportunity that comes my way. The guests arrived resplendent in colorful and trendy kurtas and saris. We had a ball of a time hogging and playing games until late into the night.

May – was good especially because of all the summer shopping I unabashedly indulged in. On Sundays, Vee and I did some serious trail biking on our mountain bikes on the ever-so scenic trails in and around the Bay Area, wending our ways to the summit. Riding alongside a bubbling brook or going downhill on a bumpy dirt road unfailingly proves to be a catharsis of all the built-up stress.

June - After work, I love watching the sunset from our 7th floor west-facing apartment. The garnet ball that sinks into the horizon has one musing over whether this epitome of serenity could indeed be the rambunctious sun that scorches mercilessly during the day. The shimmering light adorns the worn-out city like a jewel. (hmm...dreamland eh?)

Getting back to this recipe, I am quite a fan of the unique taste of Fenugreek leaves and always have stuck religiously to Aloo-Methi to relish it. The downside to Aloo-Methi is I can't make it as often as I'd like due to the high carb nature of potatoes. My quest for an equally interesting dish minus the high carb levels led me to this intensely flavored sambar. This is one of those recipes which I credit to Amma.

Methi Sambar served over hot rice and pan-fried plantain

Ingredients -
1) Fenugreek leaves - 2 large or 3 small bunches (leaves separated with short stalks on - washed)
2) Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
3) Fenugreek seeds - 3/4th tspn
4) Red chilies - 1
5) Toor dal - 1.5 tbspns
6) Asafetida - a generous pinch
7) Green chilies - 2
8) Toor dal - 1/2 a cup (separate from #5)
9) Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tspn
10) Olive Oil (or any cooking oil) - 2 tspns
11) Tamarind - Gooseberry-sized ball (soaked in 1/4 cup of warm water for 20 minutes)
12) Sambar Powder - 2 heaped tspns (Scale this down if your sambar powder has a lot of heat in it.)

Method -
1) In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with ingredients 2-7 adding one at a time and evenly frying them.
2) Add in washed toor dal on top of the sauteed condiments.
3) Stack cleaned and washed fenugreek leaves as the third tier and pour just enough water so the lentils get cooked.
4) Sprinkle half the salt you intend to use for the dish along with turmeric powder and pressure cook for 3 whistles or 8 minutes if you are using an electric pressure cooker.
5) Squeeze the juices out of the soaked tamarind, add some water if needed so that the extract is no more than 1/2 a cup.
6) Boil the tamarind water with the remaining salt and the sambar powder.
7) After all the steam has cooled off, pour the tamarind-sambar powder mixture into the cooker and mash slightly.
8) Simmer for 5-7 minutes until it all comes together. (You can add more water if you like your sambar thin.)
9) Serve along with hot rice and watch the hungry folks dig in!

Plantain Tamarind Dal (a.k.a Vaazhakka Puli Kootu)

Last night, I made this kinda' sour kootu for today's lunch. As the name implies the two main ingredients dominate the taste over the other things that go into it. I am sure kootu is nothing new in the blogosphere. Before the times of food blogs, I would have had to explain that kootu is an amalgamation of a veggie and a lentil together with a mild seasoning. It is more often the comfort food in most South Indian households. To me it is a cool dish because you can make it really low-fat by just reducing the amount of coconut or by omitting it altogether. Tamarind kootu is a sour variation of the original by adding some tamarind extract to it. The ground spice mixture added is a little different to make sure the flavors blend well together. There are a few different styles for making the spice mixture and in this post I write Amma's recipe. Since she and Appa (my f-i-l) are here now on a vacation, I don't have to bother wracking my brains each night to decide what to make and leave alone trying to figure which recipe to use. Now all I do is ask our walking culinary encyclopedia for the recipe and pat comes the reply. The thing I appreciate most is her recipes are really simple and the flavors very mouthwatering.
Now on to the recipe ...

Plantain Tamarind Dal on rice

Ingredients -
The main items -
1) Plantain - 1 medium sized
2) Yellow lentils (Toor Dal) - 1/2 cup
3) Bengalgram Dal (Channa Dal) - one handful, washed and soaked in water for 20 minutes
4) Tamarind - half a lemon sized (if you like it sour, you can increase it and vice versa.)
5) Salt to taste
6) Turmeric Powder - one pinch

For the ground mixture -
1) Red Chillies - 3
2) Blackgram Dal (Urad Dal) - 2 tspns
4) Coriander Seeds - 2 tspns
5) Asafetida - one pinch
6) Black peppercorns - 5-6
7) Coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1.5 to 2 tbspns
8) Oil - half a tspn
9) Water - just enough for grinding

For the seasoning -
1) Oil - 1 teaspoon
2) Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
3) Curry Leaves - a few
4) Asafetida - a large pinch

Method -
1) Skin and chop the plantain into half-inch cubes. You can leave a little bit of the plantain skin on if you prefer it that way.
2) Soak the tamarind in sufficient water and microwave for about 30 seconds to shake up the stubborn flesh a bit. After it is cooled, squeeze and extract the tamarind flavored water and strain it to get rid of the rind and stones part.
2) In a microwave-safe bowl, add the soaked bengalgram dal and the chopped plantain pieces along with a pinch of salt. Add just enough water for them to be cooked and microwave on high until done. The dal need not be cooked to a mashy consistency as it will get cooked a wee bit more in the final dish while simmering.
3) Meanwhile, heat up the half tspn of oil in a non-stick pan and add the red chillies, blackgram dal, coriander seeds and asafetida in that order. (Make sure each gets fried before you add in the next.) Allow it to cool and grind it along with the peppercorns, coconut and water to a smooth paste.
4) Heat one tspn of oil in a pan and after is hot, dunk in the mustard seeds and cover the pan while they crackle and dance around unless you desire a messy kitchen counter.
5) Toss in the curry leaves with the asafetida.
6) Wait for 5 seconds until a asafetida-ish aroma starts emanating and then add the tamarind extract with enough salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.
7) After the tamarind water starts boiling a little, toss in the cooked plaintain and bengalgram dal mixture.
8) Wait for a couple minutes before adding the slightly mashed toor dal and ground mixture. Add a little bit of water if the concoction is too thick and reduce the flame to medium hot.
9) It will take about 5 minutes for the mixture to start gurgling and reduce heat and simmer for a couple more minutes if required.
10) Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice. (If you are a South Indian and not watching calories, you can drizzle a little bit of ghee on top for that added oomph.)