South Indian food has so many varieties with their chutneys. Coconut chutney, Peanut chutney, Roasted chana chutney, not forgetting the common chutneys with North India like the coriander chutney, green chili chutney and Mint chutney.
Coconut Chutney tastes awesome with Rice idlis and Sambhar. The spice of the sambhar is mellowed down by the coconut chutney and brings out wonderful flavors.
Drumstick Sambhar is one of the basic and easiest sambhar recipes you can come across. I have always recieved most compliments on this sambhar from family and friends. I think one of the best foods are foods that require less time and hassle to cook and can be served immediately. Since you consume them few mins after cooking, the flavors are beautiful, rich and divine.
If you study Indian culture closely, you will notice a word in food terms, referred as “Saatvik”. Saatvik is clean eating habits and is generally referred to the food consumed by Sadhus or Spiritual healers and teachers. It was believed that simple food helped them think higher and deeper thoughts and eventually they became leaders of religion or society by keeping their lifestyle basic and food extremely simple. During the time of ancient India, even widows were asked to consume spice less food, since it was believed that consumption of spice led to desires that were regarded a sin for women.
As much as I have studied, Saatvik food requires almost no spice and it lets the flavors of the vegetables and daals enhance the dish, rather than produce mixed with spices. With time and years passing by, the meaning of saatvik changed as well. Now saatvik stands for simple and clean food and is consumed by everyone on daily basis to take a break from the over processed food around us.
This sambhar recipe is very clean and easy to make. Serve with boiled rice and enjoy the heavenly flavors.
Sambhar Masala is generously used all around India to make Sambhar. We all know this and me trying to write this here just sounds very silly. But, the fact is that Sambhar Masala can be used for a lot of dishes besides Sambhar as well and the flavors that it produces in a dish are delicious beyond words.
I love experimenting with flavors and Sambhar Masala is one of the best “go to” masalas. Try adding it to your chicken, Idlis or Rajmas and you will be super amazed with the results.
There are loads of different companies selling Sambhar masala in the market. I still prefer making my own at home and you could try and see how simple it is. This masala can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Rava Idlis is one of my favorite breakfast. You’d be amazed to know but I had never tried Rava Idlis until I got married. And, once I did, Rava Idlis found themselves a new fan. Once married, after coming to USA, Rice Idlis were one of the first demonstration of cooking skills presented by Mr. Parveez and not just were the idlis soft and fluffy, the sambhar was finger licking delicious with the perfect peanut chutney.
For years, weekends used to start with a special breakfast cooked by Mr. Parveez, which reduced to few special occasions a year, thanks to children and busy lifestyle that comes along with the joy of parenthood. Now, I can make 4 different varieties of sambhar, but my first sambhar recipe was from Mr. Parveez.
So, getting back to the Rava idlis. For the first few years, I only enjoyed them in India during my visits, since idli making was my “man’s job” and my man didn’t make rava idlis. Finally, the craving was hard to wait for my trip to India and I managed my own recipe for Rava idlis. This recipe is another version of Rava Idlis where I added a little sambhar masala to enhance the taste. I believe this to be one of my best experiments. Please do try. This is a perfect dish if you are going low on carbs or calories, great for diet. Its clean and healthy as well.
The value of eating vegetables is something most of us realize after getting older, specially after having kids. This is the time you understand why your mom took all those strict routes of making you eat Bhindi, turai and patta gobhi. In my case, I always threw a fit when my mom made cabbage or patta gobhi but, since I wasn’t a big fan of Okra/ lady finger/Bhindi either, I had to pick my battle and would normally give in with cabbage.
It was my teen age when I actually started enjoying cabbage and I remember that my mom started adding grated carrot and peas to the cabbage which changed the taste from the tradtional cabbage curry and added a lot more flavor to the dish.
This cabbage curry is my mom’s recipe. There is no onion or garlic added to it. My boys love it and its one of the few ways to serve the greens in a delicious way.
Bisibelebath is a traditional south Indian breakfast. Growing up in Northern India, I realize that I never knew this dish existed. To me Masala Dosa, Rava Dosa, Idli and Sambhar were South Indian food and my knowledge never went beyond that. After I got married, I discovered the food heaven that South India offered. I was not just amazed but, also surprised that the food had the never ending variety.
Bisibelebath is one of Mr. Parveez’s favorite dishes. I would always see him order and relish the dish at our favorite restaurant in Bengaluru. Unfortunately, we do not find the dish as commonly in restaurants in United States, and some restaurants that do serve, do not make it correctly. Therefore, I started cooking my own. The best compliment is when I don’t see Mr. Parveez enjoying the restaurant cooked Bisibelebath as much as he enjoys mine…LOLzzz. As much as he hates it when I tell him that [you know wives have the “wife sense”..LOLzzz] .
Mr. Parveez believes that no matter what I make at home, when he eats the same dish outside, he expects me to completely ignore the fact that its something I can cook and stay away from asking any questions related to the dish. So, now all I do is take a bite and be thankful, that I can make better.
This dish is basically Rice and Toovar daal cooked together and then mixed with boiled veggies and the Bissibhelebhaath powder, along with a little jaggery and Tamarind. Fimally tempered with South Indian tempering of cumin seeds, Mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves and a few cashews. Serve hot/ warm with something crunchy.
We love curries and specially curries that aren’t made commonly. One such curry is Beetroot. While growing up, Beetroot only made it to our salads, with time I found that people even make pickles out of Beetroot. And, then after I got married, I found that its a pretty popular curry in my new home.
Like all vegetable curries, Beetroot also has loads of unique ways of being cooked. My MIL makes her Beetroot by cooking it with spices and coconut puree, which is amazingly delicious as well. I still remember when Mr. Parveez told me one of his childhood stories about Beetroot. As a kid, he would sometimes take this curry to school and since Beetroot left a little red color on his tongue and he would run around telling his school mates that he had blood for lunch…LOLzzz. Childhood is the best life we live and the memories are so fond and extremely special. The most fascinating part is us remembering everything by looking at things around us….I always love sharing these little stories, after all, every food has a story.
This recipe is one of my experiments with both my favorite veggies, Beetroot and Bell pepper.
