Methi Leaves Sambar-Vendhaya Keerai Sambar Recipe

Learn how to make Methi Sambar with this easy recipe using methi leaves and a great and fresh Sambar recipe. 

Today is a leap day, a once-in-4-years type thing that I didn't want to miss so although I am in KL living out of a suitcase for the next couple days, I wanted to share something here using the very wonky Internet from my hotel room.

Any recipe that amma sends me, especially if it's along with 'styled' pictures that my uncle Radha mama takes, is special. Methi, or fenugreek leaves, are not very common in Kerala and you don't often see it in every vegetable stall. So amma grew her own (but of course). Then she made sambar with it and I think her argument was "if you can make dal with it, I can make sambar with it". Well of course you can amma. The cherry tomatoes you see in the pic are also from her small garden.

Here's the recipe, from her kitchen to yours.

Amma's Methi Sambar (Vendhaya Sambar) Recipe

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh methi (fenugreek leaves), cleaned and chopped
1/2 cup toor dal, (pressure) cooked until soft and mushy
1 carrot, chopped (optional)
1 tomato, chopped (or a few cherry tomatoes, halved)
A handful of shallots, peeled
1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
2 tbsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of sugar
Salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp ghee or oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp powdered jeera / cumin
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few shallots, sliced long

How to Make Vendhaya Keerai Sambar:

1. Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 15 mins. Extract juice and discard the pulp. Transfer this to a pan along with the sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder, tomato, shallots, carrot and chopped methi leaves. In Kerala, a typical sambar consists of a few vegetables all added in together and this is how amma makes her sambar. You can omit the carrot if you want to keep it simple but the tomato is definitely recommended.

2. Bring the above mixture to boil with 2-3 cups of added water for about 15 mins. Add sugar and the cooked dal. Bring to boil and mix well. Adjust salt. Remove from fire.

3. Heat a small pan and add the ghee along with the rest of the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn a light brown, remove from fire and dunk straight into the cooked sambar. Mix well.

Note: Don't add curry leaves or coriander leaves to this sambar. This is to ensure that the flavour of the methi is dominating. I know the picture has some coriander leaves but that's just amma trying to make the sambar look pretty for the picture :)

Huge thanks, as always, to Amma and Radhmams for the Vendhaya Keerai Sambar pictures and recipe :)

Malai Kofta - Easy Malai Kofta Recipe, Step by Step

TH loves Malai Koftas and they are a regular whenever we eat out (that or Palak Paneer!). I have eaten the whole range of Malai Koftas you can come across - the good, the bad, and the downright rubbery balls in goop.

I've been wanting to try some of my own and finally got around to it couple of months back. It's not a short and easy recipe, let me be honest, but it's all worth it at the end, trust me.

The first step is to make the aloo paneer koftas so go on ahead and do that, I'll wait.

Ready?

Ok now to the gravy to complete the Malai Kofta Recipe.

Malai Kofta Recipe

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 batch of aloo paneer koftas
1 large onion, pureed
1 tomato, pureed
12 cashew nuts, soaked in warm water for 30 mins and ground to a paste
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
1 tbsp of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
1 tbsp of tomato sauce (optional)
2 tbsp of cream
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp of jeera / cumin, powdered
1/2 cup of milk

How to Make Malai Kofta Recipe:

1. Heat oil and add the cumin powder. Fry for 5 seconds. Add the tomato and onion puree. Saute for 2-3 mins until the raw smell disappears.

2. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, and hing.

3. Fry for another 2 mins. Now add the kasuri methi and the tomato sauce (if using). Top it off with the ground cashew pate. Mix well and let it cook for 5 mins on low flame.

4. Add the milk. Bring to boil and simmer for a minute.

5. Finally add the cream and mix well. Test for salt.

6. Gently drop in the koftas and cover with the sauce. Turn off fire and let it sit for some time for the gravy to soak through.

Serve with warm jeera rice or rotis, with a garnish of grated paneer or fresh coriander leaves. I

Notes:

- If you prefer a white base for your malai kofta, skip the tomato and tomato sauce and add more cream and cashew paste.

- Some prefer to omit the onion, and that's fine too but I feel like it gives the gravy a nice base. I also wanted to avoid using too much cream.

Food Photos Prop Shopping - Robinson's Singapore

The magic words that lured me in!

Lovely riot of colours at the entrance. This is the Robinson's at Raffles City Mall. 

Adorable Katie Alice tins for coffee, sugar, and tea. I bought ramekins from this collection which were very cute too.

Drool-worthy stoneware in shapes and sizes

Korean style soup pots of stone and ceramic. Love the colourful lids

Who doesn't love Le Creuset. These were tiny, ramekin-sized ones. I bought a few to gift people because I suddenly felt guilty for being a selfish shopper

White tableware. A food photographer's favourite colour. Mine, anyway.

Oh yes, I bought that black bowl down there. Gorgeous textured ceramic table-ware from Japan.

The cheaper more colourful kind from China. I have a set of those striped ones on the right and one floral one not shown here which sadly cracked the other day. 

I wasn't sure if they would mind pictures being taken in the store so I was in stealth mode. I wish I could've taken more but if you are visiting Singapore and love kitchen things, definitely pay Robinson's a visit.

Check out this previous post from when I visited Fishs Eddy in New York

Rotte with Parippu Curry | Kerala Dal Curry | Dal Recipe

Rotte is a Reddiar specialty made with rice powder and deep fried (like pooris). It is served with a Kerala-style parippu curry (dal curry) made with moong dal. The combination is mind-blowing!

This is a very special recipe for me. I had wanted to share this for ages and finally got amma to make it last summer when I was in Kottayam. The pictures and the recipe she sent me just sat there in my folders until finally I decided to pull out some of amma's recipes and post them all.

I am not sure of the origin of Rotte and neither is amma. But I grew up eating this for breakfast at least once a month. I have a feeling it's a Kannada breakfast item, for some reason.

I haven't tried making these on my own. Since it requires working with raw rice powder and boiling water, etc, (like for kozhukkattai), it requires some practice. But there's deep frying involved in the end so I hope that compels you to try it.

Rotte is always served with a moong dal curry and aways for breakfast. On the days we have this in the morning, lunch is a late affair. It's very filling and just plonks in your belly as you go about your day.

Recipe for Rotte

Makes about 20
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20-30 mins

Ingredients:
2 cups roasted raw rice powder (we used the slightly red variety that's common in Kerala)
~2.5 cups water
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Oil to deep fry

How It's Made:

1. Mix the rice flour, coconut, salt, and sugar in a bowl.

2. Bring the water to boil in a pan.

3. Pour over the rice flour mixture and start mixing it immediately to form a soft and non-sticky mixture. The amount of water required here depends on a lot of conditions like the rice powder you are using, humidity, etc. Start with 2 cups and add more if required. Use a wide spoon to mix since the water is very hot.

4. The mixture should end up like below, leaving a dent when you press down with your fingers. Be very careful not to add too much water since we are going to fry this later. If you end up with a sticky mass, add more rice powder and coconut - no biggie.

5. It's all easy from here on, I promise. Heat oil in a pan for deep-frying.

6. Clean and wipe a piece of banana leaf. That's my sister's pretty hand, btw. She was not posing for this picture at all ;)

7. Make lemon-sized balls of the dough.

8. Place one ball of dough on the banana leaf and with wet fingers (my amma's this time :), press down lightly and uniformly into a 1/2" thick disc.

Make sure not to make it too thin, it needs to be about 1/2" thick, like you see below.

Amma wants me to stress here that you can also use the palm of your other hand to do this. You know, in case you are lazy like her younger daughter.

9. Once the oil is almost smoking hot, drop this into it.

The process of frying is very similar to how you make pooris but it takes longer to get cooked. Once once side is golden brown, turn and cook the other side. They will (or should) puff up just like pooris.

Drain and serve hot with moong dal parippu curry. Note that there will be a thick-ish layer in the middle of the rotte apart from the puffed up sides. The centres are not hollow like for pooris.

Recipe for Parippu Curry - Dal Curry (for Rotte)

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong dal / cherupayar parippu
1/4 cup grated coconut
~2 cups water
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp powdered jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds
A pinch of turmeric powder
2 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2 dry green chillies
A few curry leaves
3-4 shallots, sliced long

How It's Made:

1. Roast the moong dal in a dry pan until golden brown.

2. Transfer this along with all other ingredients (except salt) into a pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles (may differ according to your cooker - the dal needs to be cooked soft). Wait until pressure leaves, open, and mix in salt.

3. Heat oil for tempering and add the other ingredients. When the mustard seeds start to pop and the red chillies start to glisten, dunk this into the cooked dal. Mix well.

Serve hot with rotte.

Just typing this recipe out makes me so homesick. I clearly remember the day amma made this and my sis and I pottered around the kitchen, chattering, laughing, and generally getting in her way.

I know it looks like a lot of steps for the rotte but that's because the steps are photographed in detail. I had nothing to do but click, you see :)

I hope you try this. I hope it comes out great for you. That's the next best thing to inviting you all home and feeding you hot rottes with parippu curry!

6 Easy Dessert Recipes for Valentines Day

I know some of you are planning your special day with your special someone and I am sure a lot of the plans must involve food. The best kind of food, actually. The kind you make yourself. Here are 6 easy recipes for Valentines Day.

Click on the pictures for the recipe.

Paruppu Thogayal Recipe, How to make Paruppu Thogayal

Recipe for Paruppu Thogayal, the dal or lentil chutney from TamilNadu using toor dal. Before I even go into the recipe, let me start off by saying that I know my paruppu thogayal looks like hummus. Imagine making something so drab and brown look pretty! I just ran out of ideas so make a dent with the back of the spoon, sprinkled some Kashmiri chilli powder over it and then poured some nallennai on top.

I can't think Paruppu Thogayal without thinking of Kavya, my niece. This is her absolute favourite! The sis makes it super well and this is one of those recipes that I learnt for TH. Super easy, very versatile, and you can find a few good uses for it apart from just mixing it with rice.

Also check out:
Moong dal thogayal recipe
Kothamalli thogayal recipe
Chow chow thogayal
Eggplant chutney
Thakkali Chutney
Peanut chutney

Paruppu Thogayal / Lentil Chutney Recipe

Makes about 1.5 cups 
Serves 4
Preparation time: 2 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup of toor dal / thuvar dal
1/4 to 1/3 cup of grated coconut
3 cloves of minced garlic (optional)
3-4 of dry red chillies
A pinch of hing / perungaayam / asafoetida
2 tbsp of oil
Salt

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a wide pan and add the toor dal. Fry until reddish golden brown - about 3-4 mins.

2. Switch off flame and add the coconut and minced garlic (you can also add chopped garlic pieces since you are going to grind it anyway). Mix well.

3. Next, add the red chillies and the hing. Mix well with salt. Set aside to cool completely.

PS: You can combine steps 2 and 3 and add everything in one go.

4. Grind to a coarse paste with enough water.

Done! Goes best with rice and vatral kuzhambu. Absolutely yum! TH also lives paruppu thogayal and curd rice.

Notes:

- You can add a hint of tamarind if you wish, and omit the garlic if you don't like the flavour. Also, use this as a dip for pita bread or chips, will taste great and will be a good change from the traditional party dips.

- If you prefer a more smooth paruppu thogayal, soak the roasted dal mixture for about an hour and grind to a smooth paste. You can omit the coconut if you wish too. Another idea that my sis does is to powder the dal mixture, add water to the mixie jar and let it soak in the jar for 30 mins. Grind a bit more, add a bit more water, let it soak, and then after another 30 mins, grind it fully. This will reduce the need for more bowls and you can get it all done in the mixie jar - soaking and grinding.

Puli Aval Recipe - How to Make Puli Aval (Tamarind Poha Recipe)

Puli aval or tamarind poha recipe - I have always believed that if you could make a tasty one-pot meal in less than 30 mins, you shouldn't bother yourself with the ones that take 2 hours and taste the same. Especially on a weeknight. Especially if you are tired. Agreed?

My MIL is the queen of easy cooking. You will never find her slogging for long hours in the kitchen but the delightful part is, everything comes out tasting great.

Puli aval is one such recipe that got made on a weeknight. If you want to cook up a fast meal after work, here's what I suggest.

As soon as you get home, soak the aval (poha or flattened rice) in the tamarind extract and go take a shower, change, and relax/read for a bit. After 30 mins, proceed with the rest of the recipe which takes less than 15 mins.

If you like Indian recipes with aval or poha, then check out how to make vadai with aval, a quick snack with aval, and potato poha with onions.

Puli Aval (Poha or Flattened Aval Cooked in Tamarind)

Serves 2
Preparation time: 35 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
2 cups of aval / poha / flattened rice
1 tsp of tamarind paste or 1/2 cup tamarind extract
2 tbsp of sesame / gingelly oil
1 tbsp of channa dal / kadala paruppu
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few curry leaves
2-4 of dry red chillies, halved
1/2 tsp of pepper powder (optional)
Salt to taste


Instructions:

1. Rinse the aval once in cold water and mix well with the tamarind paste (diluted in 1/2 cup water) or the tamarind extract for 30 mins.

2. Heat oil and add the dal, hing, curry leaves, and chillies. Fry for 10 seconds and add the soaked aval. Add salt and pepper, mix until heated through, and remove from fire.

Serve hot with chips or appalam and curd.

Notes:

1. This tastes very similar to tamarind rice so I would love to try it with chuttaracha chammanthi which is Amma's standard combination with puliogare.

2. Next time I make it, I will add some roasted peanuts, one minced onion, and probably some grated vegetables (like carrots) to make it a bit more nutritious and enhance the flavour a bit.

Raw Papaya Thoran, Kaplanga Thoran, Kerala Thoran Recipes

Raw papaya is one of my absolute favourites. Often called omakka (or kappalanga) in Kerala, it's very easily available in most backyards and makes for a very light side dish. Although the simpler kaplanga ezhukkupuratti is what I would go for first, the thoran comes a close second.

Raw papaya is very easily available in Singapore too, thanks to the Thais and their affinity towards raw papaya salads.

The method used to make kappalanga thoran is very non-fussy and this is how amma makes most of her thorans. You can leave it to cook and focus on other dishes.

Also check out moringa thoran, spinach thoran, and papadom thoran recipes, all from Kerala.

Raw Papaya (Kaplanga) Thoran Recipe

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 small raw papaya (kaplanga / omakka)
1/2 cup of grated coconut
2-3 shallots
1 tsp of jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds
3-4 green chillies
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tbsp of (coconut) oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
A few curry leaves

How to make Thoran:

1. Peel the raw papaya, cut into half, deseed and chop into very small pieces. In malayalam, we'd say "kothi ariyuka".

2. Coarsely grind the coconut with the shallots, green chillies, turmeric and half the jeera. Mix this thoroughly with the chopped papaya along with salt. Add the rest of the cumin seeds whole to this mixture. (Alternately, you can also grind all of the jeera along with the coconut).

3. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the curry leaves and after 5 seconds, add the raw papaya mixture. Stir well to combine the oil and make a small mound of it towards the centre of the pan and pat it down firmly.

4. Keep the flame at the lowest possible and cook the papaya covered. There's no need to add any water. (you can use a wider lid for the whole pan as well, it doesn't necessarily have to be tightly closed like below.

5. Let this cook for about 10-15 mins until the papaya is soft. You can mix it in between if you feel like the bottom is burning but if you keep the flame low, it should be fine. I do mix it once or twice in between, pat it down again firmly, close, and cook further.

That's it. Serve hot with rice and sambar or theeyal.