The Best Of Samaithu Paar (2 page)

A variety of vegetables can be used in the preparation of this dish. It is most commonly made with drumstick, brinjal or lady’s finger. Alternatively, potatoes, Bangalore brinjal or ash gourd may also be used. Choose any one vegetable. Wash and cut the vegetable. Cook the vegetable with salt, till soft, in water. Drain out excess water. Keep aside. If using brinjal or lady’s finger, do not cook in water. Fry them a little with salt before adding.

Cook the dhal till soft. (See
Sambar recipe
) Heat the oil in a heavy, e.g., stoneware, vessel. Fry mustard and fenugreek seeds and pinched red chillies to a reddish brown colour. Add slit green chillies and fry for a few moments. Remove from fire and keep aside. Mix the salt and rice flour in the buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk into the same vessel. Add the fried seasoning. Add the vegetables when the sambar begins to boil. Add cooked dhal. Let it mix well. Boil and remove from fire. Tap ginger lightly with a rolling pin and add. Garnish with coriander and curry leaves.

Ingredients

Vegetable
¼ kg

Salt
1 tsp

Red gram dhal
⅝ cup

Oil 3
tsp

Mustard seeds ½
tsp

Fenugreek seeds
½ tsp

Dry red chillies
8

Green chillies
6

Rice flour
1 tsp

Buttermilk
(Sour) 1 cup

Ginger
1" piece

Coriander leaves
(Finely chopped) 3-4 tbsp

Curry leaves
5-6

To serve
4 persons

Vegetables like brinjal, lady’s finger, onion, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, radish, cluster beans and runner beans can be used. Wash and chop the vegetable. Keep aside. If onions are being used, they can be sautéed in a little oil before adding.

Soak the tamarind in the water for about 20 minutes and prepare tamarind juice.

Heat the oil in a heavy, e.g. stoneware, vessel. Fry mustard, fenugreek, broken and pinched red chillies, red gram dhal and asafoetida. Add the tamarind juice. Add curry leaves and the cut vegetable along with the sambar powder. Fry to a reddish colour. Add salt. Boil till the soup reduces to 2 cups. Mix the rice flour with water. Add to the ‘kuzhambu’. Boil and remove from fire.

Ingredients

Vegetable
¼ kg

Old tamarind
A big lump the size of a lime

Mustard seeds ½
tsp

Fenugreek seeds ½
tsp

Dry red chillies
23

Red gram dhal
½ tsp

Asafoetida powder
A pinch or to taste

Salt
1½ tsp

Curry leaves
8-10

Sambar powder
2½ tsp

Rice flour
1 tsp

Water
2½ cups

Oil
4-5 tsp

To serve
4 persons

Vegetables like Bangalore brinjal, brinjal, ash gourd, drumstick or lady’s finger can be used in preparing this recipe. Wash and cut the vegetable being used. If using ash gourd, drumstick or Bangalore brinjal, cook in water with salt before adding. If using lady’s finger or brinjal, fry lightly in oil with salt before adding. Potatoes and colocasia may also be used. Boil in their jackets, peel, cut into large bits and add. Keep aside.

Soak the dhals and rice together in ¼ cup water for a few minutes. Grind into a smooth paste with green chillies, cumin seeds, coconut and curry leaves

Add the ground paste and salt to the buttermilk and mix well. Put the mixture in a vessel and boil over a slow fire, stirring all the time with a ladle. When boiled, add the cooked vegetables. When the stew is still on the fire, add a few curry leaves. Remove from fire. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry red chillies and mustard, and the coriander seeds, if used. Add to the stew as seasoning. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Ingredients

Vegetable
¼ kg

Salt
1½ tsp

Red gram dhal
½ tsp

Bengal gram dhal
1 tsp

Rice
½
tsp

Green chillies
4-5

Cumin seeds
¼ tsp

Coconut
(Grated) ¼ cup

Curry leaves
(Broken) 3 tbsp

Buttermilk
(Slightly sour)
2 cups

Gingelly oil
2 tsp

Dry red chillies
2

Mustard seeds
1 tsp

Coriander seeds ½
tsp (Optional)

Coriander leaves
(Finely chopped) 3 tbsp

To serve
4 persons

A variety of vegetables can be used such as snake gourd, Bangalore brinjal, drumstick, ridge gourd and runner beans. Alternatively, brinjal, cluster beans and amaranth stems may also be used.

Cook the dhal. (See
Sambar recipe
) Keep aside. Cut the vegetable. Wash and cook in water, with salt. Add sambar powder. When the vegetables are well cooked, add the cooked dhal. Let the mixture boil well. Add ground coconut. Mix the rice flour in water and add. Boil for a few minutes. Add the asafoetida. Boil for one second. Garnish with curry leaves. Remove from fire. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry mustard and black gram dhal. Use to season the ‘kuzhambu’.

Ingredients

Red gram dhal or green

gram dhal ½
cup

Vegetable
150 gms

Water
1½ cups

Salt
¾ tsp

Sambar powder
½ tsp

Coconut
(Ground) 4 tbsp

Rice flour
½ tsp

Asafoetida powder
A pinch or to taste

Curry leaves
(Broken) 2 tbsp

Oil
2 tsp

Mustard seeds
½ tsp

Black gram dhal
½ tsp

To serve
4 persons

For the vegetables, you can choose from fresh bean seeds (raw), ash gourd, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, plantains, brinjal, snake gourd, sabre beans, cluster beans, French beans, Bangalore brinjal, yam, colocasia, potatoes and green chillies. Sometimes drumstick and ribbed gourd are also included. A few lady’s fingers may also be used.

Cook the red gram dhal dhal till very soft.

(See
Sambar recipe
)

Prepare tamarind juice. Soak the tamarind in 2 cups water for 20 to 30 minutes. Squeeze it out, adding water little by little to prepare 2-3 cups of juice.

Heat 5-6 tsp of oil in a frying pan. Fry the Bengal gram dhal, 15-18 red chillies, coconut and coriander seeds to a reddish colour and grind into a smooth paste. Keep aside.

In the same frying pan, heat another 5-6 tsp of oil. Fry mustard, fenugreek seeds, remaining red chillies, asafoetida powder and curry leaves. Keep aside.

Scrape skin from yam and cut into small bits. Boil with potatoes and colacasia in their jackets. Peel skin from potatoes and colacasia. Cut into two or three bits. Cut all other vegetables except cluster beans more or less to the same size. Pinch each cluster bean into two and fry a little. Add a little water and cook with bean seeds. When half-cooked, add the other vegetables with salt
and turmeric power. When the vegetables begin to cook properly, turn with a spoon. When half-boiled, pour in tamarind juice. Boil well till the vegetables are soft. Add cooked red gram dhal and the ground paste. Mix thoroughly. Add fried seasonings. Mix the rice flour in water. Add and mix well with the boiling ‘kuzhambu’. Let it boil till all the ingredients mix well. Add coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Ingredients

Vegetables
(Combined) 4 cups

Red gram dhal ¾
cup

Tamarind
A big lump the size of an orange

Oil
12 tsp

Bengal gram dhal
⅛ cup

Dry red chillies
18-22

Coconut
½ (Large)

Coriander seeds
¼ cup

Mustard seeds
2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds
1½ tsp

Asafoetida powder
A pinch or to taste

Curry leaves
15-20

Salt
2 tbsp

Turmeric powder ½
tsp

Rice flour
2 tsp

Coriander leaves
(Chopped) ¼ cup

To serve
4 persons

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup water for 20 minutes.

Squeeze it out, adding water a little at a time to prepare 2 cups of juice.

Cook the red gram dhal till very soft. (See
Sambar recipe
) Prepare ½ a cup of ‘dhal water’. (Add enough water when cooking the dhal. Decant the water to get ‘dhal water’.) Mash the softly cooked dhal and mix well with the remaining water. Keep aside.

Pour the tamarind juice into a vessel. Add salt, sambar powder, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add the ‘dhal water’. Cover the vessel and place on the fire. Boil well till the smell of sambar powder goes. If using tomato, cut into four pieces and add to the boiling tamarind water before adding dhal. Add mashed dhal. Boil for a minute or two. Add enough plain water or ‘dhal water’ to make 4 cups of rasam. Wait till the rasam bubbles and froths up. Remove from fire. Heat oil/ghee in a frying pan. Fry mustard and red chillies. Season the rasam. Garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Ingredients

Tamarind
A lump the size of a small lime

Tomato
1 (Medium) (Optional)

Red gram dhal
¼ cup (May be increased to ⅓ cup)

Salt
1½ tsp

Sambar powder
1 tsp

Asafoetida
A pinch or to taste

Curry leaves
8-10

Oil or ghee
2 tsp

Mustard seeds
1 tsp

Dry red chillies
2

Coriander leaves
(Chopped) ¼ cup

To serve
4 persons

Photograph