SOUTH INDIAN MENU

 SOUTH INDIAN MENU
SAMBAR VARIETIES
I wanted to try a different angle of diet plan, something familiar to all of us, south Indian menu  which includes
Sambar, Rasam, Koottu, Vegetable curry etc etc. I think I can go in with some varieties of Sambar, Kuzhambu, Rasam ,Koottu etc.In this I am going to make your work easy by giving the recipes in the form of powders and then proceed to procedures of how to make dishes with the ready made powders. Of course all powders are available in all shops but if we make them we can adjust the spices according to our taste. Let us start with Sambar.
In Sambar I will give you two podis one to use first and another to mix with dhal and add to sambar. The vegetable choice and all I leave it to your discretion as I assume you are not beginners.
Plain Sambar Podi 
Ingredients:
Red Chillis                4 cups
Dhania seeds            4 cups
Toor Dhal                 1 cup
Black Pepper           1/2 cup
Bengal Gram             2 tbs
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) 1 tbs
Turmeric powder      50 Gms
Note:  tbs  means tablespoon and tsp means teaspoon
1.Add all the ingredients except turmeric powder and keep them in sun for an hour.
2.If sunlight is a rarity, microwave them just for a minute to make them warm. No need to fry them.
3.Grind them together to a nice powder, you have to grind twice to make them nice if you don't have a flour machine in your city.
4.After grinding, add the turmeric powder and keep it safe in an air tight container.

Sambar Add -On podi
This is the second podi I mentioned above.
Ingredients
Bengal gram                    1 cup
Dhania                            1 cup
Red Chillis                      1/2 cup
Mustard                         1 tbs
Methi Seeds                  1 tbs
Poppy Seed (optional)   1 tbs
1.Saute mustard and red chillis in a tsp of oil
2.Add the remaining things and fry till they are brown
3.Allow them to cool.
4.Powder the fried dhal and spices to a little coarse powder and keep it in an air tight container.

SAMBAR:
1.Making sambar is everybody's familiar thing. You can choose vegetables like onion, drumstick, radish and anything to your choice.
2.Cook the vegetables as per your discretion in the cooker or in the tamarind solution
3.Cook 1/2 cup of toor dhal in the cooker and mash it well.
4.Now add the vegetable in the tamarind solution ( the amount of tamarind depends upon the amount of sambar you make).
5.To this add one tsp of plain sambar podi and let the sambar boil for 3 minutes till the raw smell of tamarind goes off.
6.Then add 2 or 3 tsp of add on podi  mixed well with mashed dhal and pour it to the boiling sambar.
7.Now you have added two podis to the sambar and that will give a wonderful aroma.
8.To enhance the taste add one tsp of jaggary powder and a handful of minced coriander leaves.
9. Finally after switching off the stove, saute in a tbs of ghee, one tsp of mustard, one tsp of asafoetida and a handful of curry leaves and pour on top of sambar.
Now your Sambar is ready. Enjoy.