Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

fatimasfabulouskitchen.com

Sambar

by

Sambar is one of my favorite daals to eat. I think what makes it so great is that it has a wonderful sweet and sour taste due to the outstanding combination of jaggery (Indian cane sugar) and tamarind.

Another thing that makes sambar distinct from other lentil dishes is that it contains several different vegetables. There is no hard and fast rule of what vegetables you can or can’t use, though some are pretty traditional (i.e – drumstick vegetable). I definitely like to have peas and carrots in my sambar along with shallots, okra, eggplant, and bell pepper.

There are different variations of sambar. I’m showing a masoor daal version today, but you will also find sambar made with toor daal.

There are basically three steps to making sambar – 1. Cook the lentils 2. Cook the veggies 3. Put it all together and finish with the baghar (tempering) step.

Print

Masoor Daal Sambar

Ingredients

Daal

  • 1/2 cup toor daal (you can also substitute with masoor daal, which is my favorite)
  • 1 tomato
  • 5 curry leaves
  • 1 pinch asoefitida
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1.5 cups of water

Sambar Veggies (Total = 3 cups chopped, use whatever veggies you like)

  • 3 Tbsp oil
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 pinch asoefitida (hing)
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 2 shallots
  • 1/2 cup eggplant
  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 4-5 okra fingers
  • 1/4 cup drumstick vegetable optional
  • 1/4 cup water
  • salt to taste
  • 2 Tbsp sambar spice mix (storebought or homemade)
  • 2 Tbsp jaggery or brown sugar (or to taste)
  • 1/4-1/3 cup tamarind pulp or concentrate (or to taste)

Bhaghar

  • 1.5 Tbsp oil
  • 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
  • 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • 6-7 curry leaves
  • 3-4 dried chilies

Instructions

Daal (lentils)

  1. Wash your daal really well and add to a pot with about 2 cups of water. Add your curry leaves, turmeric, chili powder, aseofitida, ginger-garlic paste, and curry leaves.

  2. Bring the pot to a simmer and allow the daal to cook. Once the lentil is completely cooked through, turn off the heat.

  3. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend until relatively smooth. (You can keep it a little chunky if you like).

Sambar Veggies

  1. Prep the vegetables that you would like in your sambar. Cut them into thick pieces or to your liking. I listed above the vegetables that I like to use.

  2. In a pot or pan, heat some oil on medium-high heat. Add your cumin and mustard seeds.

  3. Once the cumin and mustard seeds start popping, add your shallots. Sautee them and add your ginger-garlic paste.

  4. Cook the rest of the vegetables in the order of how long it takes for them to cook. Add the sambar spice mix along with the salt.

  5. Add a little bit of water and allow the veggies to cook down. Make sure they don't get mushy.

Putting it together

  1. Add the daal that you cooked earlier to the pot of vegetables.

  2. Stir in the tamarind and jaggery. *Note – the amount of tamarind you use will depend on how diluted your tamarind is with water. Always start with a small amount and taste and adjust as you go.

  3. Feel free to add more water if sambar is too thick.

  4. In another small pan, do the baghar step. Add a little bit of oil to a pan along with the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and curry leaves. Once the mustard and cumin seeds start to pop – remove from heat and add to sambar. Stir and serve.

Dosa

by

I decided to update my dosa recipe from 2018.  Well I say it’s my recipe but it’s really my mom’s recipe. She is known for making good dosas so here it is!

A couple things you should know! –

  • There are so many different ways to make dosa – the kind of lentils used and the rice:lentil ratio may vary depending on the kind of dosa texture you are trying to achieve (i.e – crispy vs. soft)
  • Dosa takes time to make! The actual time spent in the kitchen isn’t a lot, but you have to soak the ingredients first overnight and then allow the batter to ferment for another 24 hours (at least).
  • Soak the idli rice in a separate bowl and the lentils (the urad daal and channa daal combined) in a separate bowl. (I’m not actually entire sure why this is or if it in fact is necessary, but my mom swears by it!)
  • When grinding everything up, do it in batches! Use the water that you soaked the lentils in to help grind the lentils and rice.
  • To ensure that the dosa batter ferments, make sure to cover the batter and place it in a warm area.
  • Add salt to the dosa batter right before you start cooking them on the stove. The reason being is salt could potentially interfere with the fermentation process.
  • You can store the batter after it ferments for up to a week in the fridge!
  • Feel free to serve the dosa with your favorite fillings – potato curry, cheese, onions, etc.
Print

Ingredients

  • 2 cups idli rice
  • 1 cup urad daal
  • 1/4 cup channa daal
  • 1/4 cup poha
  • 1 tsp methi seeds (fenugreek)
  • 2 cups water (reserved from soaking lentils)
  • 21/2 cups additional water (to add to fermented batter)
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Begin by washing your rice and lentils really well until the water runs clear.

  2. Soak the idli rice, poha, and methi seeds in one bowl of water and the lentils (urad daal and channa daal) in another bowl of water for about 8-12 hours.

  3. The next day, the lentils and rice should have swelled up. Drain the water from the rice. Then drain the water from the lentils, but reserve it! We will use the water that we soaked the lentils in to help grind everything in the blender.

  4. Using a high speed blender, grind the lentils and rice in batches. Add a little bit of the reserved water at a time. I used in total about 2 cups of water.

  5. Empty the batter from the blender into a large pot or bowl. Stir for a few minutes. The texture of the batter at this step should be slightly grainy.

  6. Now cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap. Keep it in a warm area in your kitchen. Let the batter ferment for about 24 hours.

  7. The next day, check your batter. It should look cracked at the top and when you go to stir it, it should have air bubbles. (Think of bread dough when it rises).

  8. Stir in the salt and some water (I added 2 1/2 cups of regular tap water). The batter should be similar to crepe batter in consistency.

  9. Heat up a flat pan or tawa on medium-low heat.

  10. Using a ladle or the back of a steel cup, pour in the batter. Now starting in the center, move the ladle or cup around in circular motion. (This step takes practice, so if it's your first time and you don't get a thin dosa, don't sweat it!)

  11. As the dosa crisps up, pour a little bit of oil on the edges of the dosa with a teaspoon.

  12. Feel free to add in masala or a potato curry to the dosa at this step. Gently run your spatula underneath the dosa to remove it from the pan.

  13. Serve hot with your favorite chutneys and sambar.

Medu Vada

by

I’ve been meaning to show you guys some more traditional South Indian recipes, so here’s one to save in your bookmarks. This here is called Medu Vada and the best way I can describe it is that it’s kinda like a fluffy savory doughnut that’s served with different chutneys and a lentil soup called sambhar.

And it’s absolutely delicious.

The vada only requires a handful of ingredients – it’s basically made out of lentils grinded up to form a batter and flavored with some aromatics – I used ginger, curry leaves, onion, serrano pepper, cumin seeds.

My mom showed me the trick to getting a fluffy vada is to aerate it – basically you stir the vada batter vigorously to introduce air for several minutes. I wonder if you could do this in the kitchenaid mixer (I haven’t tried it but if it works I’ll let you know).

A test you can do to see if the vada is aerated enough is to take a tiny amount of the batter and see if it floats in water. If it does, you’re good to go.

What makes medu vada different from other vadas is its classic doughnut shape with the hole in the center.  Unlike regular sweet doughnuts where you roll the dough out and cut the shape out, with medu vada you shape it with your hands. Meaning you take your thumb and press into the center of the vada to form a hole. Pretty neat!

Print

Medu Vada

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cup split urad daal (white)
  • 1/4-1/3 cup water (reserved from soaking daal)
  • 1 Tbsp rice flour
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1 serrano pepper
  • 1 handful cilantro
  • 1.5 tsp ginger (freshly grated)
  • 7 curry leaves (chopped)
  • 3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing)
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Wash your lentils (urad daal) really well under cold water. Soak in a bowl with water overnight (about 8 hours).

  2. The next day, drain out the water (reserving some of it for grinding). In a high-power blender, grind the daal in batches with a little bit of water at a time until you form a batter. The batter should resemble banana bread batter in thickness.

  3. Empty the batter out into a bowl. Now using your hand or a spoon, stir the vada batter in a clockwise fashion for several minutes. This technique will introduce air into the batter allowing for a fluffy vada.

  4. To test if your vada has been well aerated, take a tiny amount of the batter and drop it into a small bowl of water. If the batter is able to float, then it's good to go.

  5. Now add in the remaining ingredients – rice flour, salt, black pepper, asafoetida, onion, serrano pepper, curry leaves, ginger, cilantro. Combine gently.

  6. Now to form the vada. Have your oil in your pan ready to go. You will shape them as you fry them. Using wet hands, take a small scoop of the batter and flatten it onto your palms. Now using your thumb, form a hole in the center so it looks like a doughnut. Gently drop it directly into the oil. (This step can take a bit of practice.)

  7. Make sure your oil is not too hot or else the vada will be raw in the center. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with your favorite chutneys and sambhar.

Serve these hot with a coconut chutney and some sambhar. Yum!