Hotel Sambar Recipe | Tiffin Sambar

       Sambar a traditional south Indian dish served with idli,dosa,pongal,vadai for breakfast. Sambar is nothing but a soup prepared with pressure cooked and mashed dal, with or without vegetables along with onions,tomato and masala powder.This soup can vary in spice from freshly ground masala paste,specially ground masala powder, sambar powder or only with green chilies.This recipe is with fresh ground masala powder ,its thick and is tasty when you eat it along with idli,dosa and a drizzle of gingelly oil on top of them ..hmm

Pachmel Dal | Panchratna Dal

Pachmel Dal/Panchratna Dal-a unique north Indian style dal made with  five lentils.'Panch' in Hindi means five 'ratna' mean diamond/jewel.This dal is versatile in its name,lentils and method of preparation.

Paruppu Podi Recipe | Lentils Powder

         Paruppu podi- a traditional south Indian lentils powder/mix ,served along with ghee or gingelly oil.I personally love it with ghee more than gingelly oil.My mom makes idli podi quite often but not paruppu podi.So i got this recipe from my mother in law.She got to know many Brahmin's style recipe from her neighbours.

Paruppu Usili | Beans Usili

         Paruppu usili the tastiest south Indian curry with the protein and goodness of veggie at one go.Even though making it takes a little more time compared to other sides, you can be happy that its the best and very different one.

Carrot Curry | Chettinad Food

     Carrot Curry-a mild comforting curry with fresh carrots and toor dal along with some tempering.Commonly called "tuvatal" served along with rasam or sambar rice in chettinad.
       In chettinad varieties of veggies are served .Pachadi-tangy curry(with toor dal and with veggies like lady's finger,raw mango),Kootu-mild curry ( made with veggies like choyote,snake gaurd,cabbageand spiced with green chilies),Tuvatal-stir fry (with or without coconut also with or without toor dal made from veggies like carrot,snake guard,green leafy veggies),Masiyal-mild curry (from veggies like spinach but when made with yam it has tamarind pulp).Kola(dry blend of fresh veggies, dal and spices).Piratal-Mixed spiced veggies(steamed veggies cooked in ground coconut ,spice paste or simply with spice paste).Varuval-dry curry(shallow roast of spiced veggies) there is still more ,but with this intro i would like to go for the recipe of carrot curry straight away.
   

Arachuvitta Sambar|Sambar Recipe

    Arachuvitta sambar is a sambar made with freshly ground masala.This makes the sambar more aromatic and very different than regular sambar.This sambar is a boon for those who don't have sambar powder in hand.Restaurants will do this type of sambar to save lentils.This sambar is exactly brahmin style with no onions or garlic and is useful for fasting days.
   In South India people have a daily routine of making sambar. In my family eating sambar daily is a big no no. So i try to do rasam,dal,poondu kulambu,mor kulambu as variation. Sometimes I make variety rice like curd rice,bisibelabath,chickpeas rice to break the monotony. But the want for different tastes will not subside.
   I love iyengar style sambar very much. Its slightly tangy and slightly sweet, but rich and thick with extra dal. You can eat it with rice,idli,dosa or any breakfast item.
     When I saw this recipe in snehas site something clicked and I added some extra dal to my regular arachuvitta sambar and voila the result was super yummy ..
     I haven't added onion or tomato to this sambar feel free to add it .You can use ash gourd or bottle gourd instead of bell pepper.You can use little ghee to make it more rich. I added sambar powder for extra taste .You can omit it and add one more red chili instead.

Snake Gourd Curry/Easy SideDish Recipe/புடலங்காய் துவட்டல்

Snacke gourd is a gourd which got its name from its look and they are climbers like other gourds.Some common names of the pudalangai include "serpent guard" ,"padwal" in telugu its called "potlakaaya" ,in kannada its called "paduvalakaayi " ,in bengali its called "chichinga",in nepali its called "Chichindo",in oriya its called "chhachindra".
 Snake gourd has many benifits :its good for diabetics ,it relieves constipation ,it get the mucus out of respiratory system as a natural anti- biotic .While consuming the snacke guard remove the white center part with seeds .Consuming of seeds can cause indigestion problems .
Compared to other similar vegetables like chinese okra this is easy to cut and consume (according to me ) .You can eat it as a salad with little pepper and lemon juice as well ,by then you have to cut them in to very thin slices  .You can prepare it as a semi liquid gravy by pressure cooking it with dals and green chili.Will gradully post other recipes soon ..
Searching for some other side dish recipes? check  pumpkin curry,Banana fry,Mix veg curry with coconut

Prepration time:5 min
Cooking time:20 min +10 min 
Serves:2

Tangy Bhindi & Toor dal Curry (வெண்டைக்காய் பச்சடி )

Vendaikkai Pachaddi (வெண்டைக்காய் பச்சடி) is something you will find in every chettinad kitchen. This gravy is made along the lines of sambar, but with less water and toor dal remains whole instead of being mashed up. A similar curry can be made with sundaikai (சுண்டைக்காய் ) which is one of my absolute favourites. Chances of getting sundaikkai are almost impossible here, so I usually use baby okra.

You might be intrested in similar tangy curries like RawMango curry,TangyOkra curry

Preparation time:10 min

Cooking time:20 min

Serves:2-3

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound baby okra
• 1/4 cup toor dal.
• 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste.
• 1 green chili.
• 1 tbsp sambar powder.
• 1 small Onion.
• oil for tempering.
• salt as needed.

Method:

• Cut the okra in to 1/4 inch pieces.
• Cook the toor dal for 2 whistles (should not be mushy).

• Cut the onion in to small pieces.
• In a hotpan temper oil with  items "to  temper".
• Add onions and green chilies saute them until translucent.
• Add okra and saute them until the slime of the okra cooks out. The okra should not stick together.

• Add sambar powder and saute it for a min in low flame until the raw smell dissipates.
• Add required water and add tamarind paste and salt.

• Add the cooked toor dal.
• Boil the gravy until it becomes thick .
• Your bhendi -toor dal gravy is ready to eat .
• Serve it with rasam or curd rice . 

Note;

• Okra should not be sticky fry them until the stickiness leaves.
• Adjust the water content accordingly.If its too dry you can't eat this one.If its too watery this wont' taste good.

Linking it to Gayathris event and sahasra page

 Sapanas event

Maangai pachadi - Raw Mango & Toor dal curry

I am very very Happy that i won my first blog prize in gayathris WTML event and its a sanjeev kapoors cook book.This event has been running for 2 years and last month event was conducted by asiya.Many thanks gayathri and asiya .

Coming to the curry .I love mangoes. It is a tasty and nutritious fruit. When we were kids we used to eagerly await the mango season. We would have mangoes in some form or the other almost everyday during season. My mom used to make sweet mango and sour mango (maangai ) pachadi. I simply love both curries.

 My Hubby is not a fan of sweet pachadi. I tried hot mango curry after a long time  and it it was really delicious. My little one loved it very much.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:20 min
Serves:2-3

Toor Dal-Paruppu Chutney Chettinad Style

Toor Dal Chutney is a quick and easy side dish. I always remember my mom when I make this dish. This is one of my dad's favorite side dishes and my mom makes this often. This gravy has an unique flavor and you can have this with any South Indian breakfast items like Idly, Dosa or Upma. Here is the recipe.

Preparation time:5 min

Cooking time:10-15 min

Serves:3-4

Lentils- Adai dosa

Adai dosa is a very nutritious dish. This used be a weekend special when I grew up. I never liked Adai when I was a kid, but my mom forced me to eat it because it had lots of lentils. Once I grew up and went to college I started liking this dish more and more and now its one of my favorites.

Adai Aviyal is a very famous dish in Tamil restaurants. When you want  a little change from the same old Dosa recipes you can prepare Adai. Actually the making Adai batter is much easier than making Idly or Dosa Batter. Here is the recipe.

Preparation time:15 min

Cooking time:5 min (each dosa)

Serves:3-4 

FenugreekLeaves Sambar( வெந்தய கீரை சாம்பார்)

I like to include to greens in our diet a lot. Fenugreeak ( Methi ) leaves are one of my favorites. I usually make Methi dal. Today Instead of making the regular, I made Methi Sambar. I know, it's along the same lines. But the finished product tasted very unique and it was really yummy.

Beetroot Kola.

Beetroot is a highly nutritious vegetable. Unfortunately kids and even a lot of adults do not like beetroot. In chettinad cuisine we use beetroot to make vada and kola. Beetroot kola is one of my daughter's favorites. She eats it in no time.Process seems to be bit time consuming but at the end you will be happy when your dearies eat them right ?


You might be intrested in curries like
Veggie Curry
RawBanana Fry
Pumpkingreengram Kootu

Preparation time:15-20 min

Cooking time:20-30 min

Serves:2-3

Sambar-Chettinad style

Today morning we had pongal along with sambar an unbeatable combination. After our move to the US we usually have pongal almost every sunday or every other sunday. I have kinda became an expert in pongal sambar.

The best pongal I have had has to be ghee pongal at Saravana Bhavan, I can never forget the taste.
We are fortunate to have a Saravana Bhavan here in the east coast. I like their mini lunch which is combination of bisibelabath, sweet pongal and curd rice.

This sambar is  hybrid between chettinad style and madras style and  you can eat with anything Dosa, Idly, Pongal  and Vada. In chettinad style sambar we use only green chilis for spice and we do not use sambhar powder. There will be another post on Vada  Sambar soon.

Preparation time:5 min

Cooking time:15 min

Serves:2-3