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Traditional Lunch Series Day 1 Vengaya sambar Vendakkai curry Potato Roast


For the next few days - we are going to be having traditional Tambram food for lunch. When its just me, I usually make one-pot meals which have a fair balance of carbs, proteins and loads of vegetables. Now that I have company for the next couple of weeks, proper lunch it is!

Im just doing this for fun to chronicle how many such traditional (read non-fusion) recipes I can cook :) Anyway it is also a great way to share authentic (almost) recipes from my heritage with anyone who may be interested.

All items are accompanied by rice / broken wheat and with lots of yogurt to end the meal and serve 3-4 people

Day One - Sunday

Menu
  • Vengaya Sambar
  • Potato Roast
  • Vendakai Curry
  • Special add on: Fried vadam


Recipe for Vengaya Sambar (Onion sambar)



Ingredients
3/4 cup tur dal (pressure cooked with pinch of hing and mashed)
5 medium sized onions, peeled & quartered
2 tsp oil
fat pinch asafoetida
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 dried red chilli broken
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp ready tamarind paste or 1 large lemon sized ball soaked in water and extracted
3 tsp sambar powder
1 tsp salt or to taste

Directions

1. In a heavy pan, heat the oil. Temper with asafoetida, fenugreek, mustard, curry leaves, dried chilli and saute for a few seconds.
2. Add the quartered onions, turmeric, pinch of salt, saute on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add a glass of water, cover and cook till onions are soft.
4. In a bowl, make a slurry with sambar powder, tamarind paste and 1/2 cup water.
5. Add this slurry to the softened onions, bring to a simmer.
6. Next add the mashed dal, salt, bring to a simmer.
7. Check for salt and sourness, adjust and bring to a simmer again.

Remove from flame and keep covered until ready to serve with rice.

Notes
This tastes better after 1-2 hours of making it, as the flavours improve with time.
You can use chinna vengayam (Madras onions / Shallots) instead of regular onions.
I will share with you the recipe for homemade sambar powder in a later post, you can use MTR sambar powder instead.


Recipe for Potato Roast




Ingredients
5 medium potoes, boiled, skinned and cubed
2 tbsp oil

For the dry marinade:
1 tbsp fine rice flour
1/4-1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder

Tempering ingredients:
fat pinch asafoetida
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp Bengal gram dal (chana dal)
1 tsp udad dal
2 sprigs curry leaves

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander for garnish

Directions

1. Sprinkle the ingredients for the dry marinade on the boiled potato cubes, coat using light hands and keep aside for 15 min - half hour.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add all the tempering ingredients, stir around till the dals turn golden.
3. Add the spiced potato cubes, toss well to coat with whole spices. Let the potato brown on a low flame. For this it is necessary that you dont keep tossing them around, keep them on a low flame and turn around after 10 minutes, to brown the other sides.
4. Once ready, garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Notes
The udad dal, bengal gram, fennel seeds and curry leaves are not added in a typical Iyer style roast, I have incorporated some Chettinad flavours in this. So you can avoid them to make a simpler roast.


Recipe for Vendakkai Curry (Dry okra / ladys finger / bhindi saute)

A curry in Tamil Brahmin cuisine is a dry sauteed preparation, not involving any gravy. Most curries are prepared in the similar manner using a variety of vegetables.



Ingredients

2 cups thickly sliced okra
(Preparation: Wash okra well, wipe completely dry, top, tail and slice with a dry knife)
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 broken dried red chillies
1 tsp udad dal
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt

Directions
In a wok, heat oil. Splutter the mustard seeds, fry the red chillies and saute the udad dal till golden. Add in the sliced okra, tumeric and salt and saute on medium flame off and on for 7-8 minutes till okra is cooked yet lightly crunchy.
Do not cover while cooking.

Serve with rice and rasam / sambar / mor kozhambu.

Tags: traditional tamil recipes, vendakkai curry, vengaya sambar, onion sambar, okra curry, potato roast, chettinad recipe, tamil potato roast, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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