Roz Ka Khana

Growing up in Dehradun, Punjabi Samosa used to be a treat during the monsoon and winter weekends. One person who remains in my memory is Sitap Singh, our house help, who also dished out scrumptious North Indian dishes. As my mom mostly cooked traditional South Indian, Sitap Singh’s Punjabi dishes were always a welcome change. From soft phulkas (thin wheat tortillas) with aloo gobhi (potato cauliflower dry curry) to his famous Punjabi Samosas, his dishes were delectable. Looking back, they were sadly taken for granted. As a 9 year old boy, I used to hang around Sitap Singh while he cooked and it amazes me that these are still etched in my memory.  I still remember his tips for making samosas, and the tip about rolling the dough to a thin,  transluscent disc (almost wonton like) which adds to the crispy flaky texture. We tried this for the first time ever last weekend and were quite proud of the results. Let’s just say this one was for Sitap Singh:)

Ingredients for Samosa Crust:

Olive oil – 3 tbsps
All purpose flour or maida – 1 cup
Carom seeds or ajwain – 1/2 tsp
Water – 1/4-1/2 cup as needed for dough consistency

Method for crust:

1. Mix the flour, carom seeds, salt and oil in a mixing bowl.
2. Add water little by little and knead to a stiff dough.
3. Cover with a damp paper towl and set aside for about 10 minutes

Ingredients for filling:

Potato, 1 inch cubes 4-5 medium
Green peas, boiled 1/2 cup
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Ginger, chopped 1 inch piece
Green chillies, chopped 3-4
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Dry mango powder (amchur) 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Take the coriander seeds, fennel, cumin seeds and crush in a mortar pestle into a coarse powder

2. Boil the potatoes and roughly chop or mash them into cubes; do not over mash the potatoes into a mushy paste.
3. Add the thawed frozen or boiled peas.
4. Add the ginger, green chilies , ground coarse powder of coriander, fennel and cumin, and the garam masala, chili powder and salt to taste.

5.Add some oil to a heavy bottomed vessel and when the oil is hot, add the potatoes peas mixture.
6. Saute for a few more minutes, then add the dry mango powder or amchur. Mix well.
7. Cool before making the samosas.
8. Divide the filling into sixteen equal portions.
9. Divide the dough into eight equal portions and roll them into balls.
10. Apply a little flour and roll them into round chapathi or small tortillas.
11. Cut into half, apply water on the edges. Shape each half into a cone and stuff it with the potato and peas filling. Seal the edges well.

12. Heat sufficient oil in a kadai (wok) and deep-fry the samosas in medium hot oil till crisp and golden brown. Drain and place on an absorbent paper.
13. Serve hot with sweet date and tamarind chutney.

Contributed by Girish Ratnam

Panneer Butter Masala conjures up this image of a rich butter based gravy with equally rich chunks of paneer or Indian cottage cheese and heavy whipping cream as garnish. Healthy paneer butter masala does sound like an oxymoron.

I use the word healthy to describe this recipe  from Girish as it doen’t call for an ounce of butter or ghee (clarified butter). It uses cashew paste as  the base for the gravy and, yes, more importantly, does not use any whipping cream. The best part is that you don’t compromise on the taste at all. You still get a creamy, yummy paneer “butter” masala, without the butter. Girish made this over the last long weekend and it was the perfect accompaniment to hot chapathis and stuffed bitter melon (bharwan karela). This recipe is inspired from the Sanjeev Kapoor version though it has been tweaked enough to call it an original Girish version:)

Ingredients:

Cottage cheese (paneer), cut into cup – 2 cups
Oil – 3 tbsp
Cloves – 3
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Dried red chillies – 5 (if you want it to be less spicy, use fewer)
Coriander seeds, crushed – 4 tablespoons
Green cardamom seeds – 1/2 tsp
Onion , sliced – 1 medium
Fresh Ginger sliced into 1″ strips – 3-5
Garlic – 4 pods
Tomatoes, chopped – 5-6 medium
Cashews – 1 cup
Salt to taste
Kasoori methi , crushed (dried fenugreek)- 2 teaspoon

METHOD:
1. Grind the cardamom seeds, red chilies and coriander seeds to a fine dry powder.
2. Take 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottom vessel (kadai), add cloves, cinnamon stick. When this gets heated and gives out an aroma, add garlic and ginger strips.
3. When this cooks, add sliced onions, and saute till the raw smell goes away, and it becomes light pink in color.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook well till the oil separates.
5. In the meanwhile, take the cashews in a blender and blend it to fine paste with some water. If you have a powerful blender (like a Vitamix), you may not need to add water.
6. Cool the onion tomato mixture a little and transfer this mixture to the blender containing the cashew paste. Make a fine puree of the tomatoes, onions and cashews.
7. Take the remaining oil in a kadai again, add some of the kasuri methi and add the paneer pieces. Fry till the paneer is slightly golden brown, not too fried.

8. Take out the paneer and keep it separately.
9. Add the tomato taste and cook while stirring, till the paste begins to boil, and the raw taste of cashews goes away. Add the red chili, coriander, cardamom powder here, and mix well.
10. Heat for a few minutes more, add the paneer and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes.

As I typed the translation in english for Achaari Karela, I realized that this dish packed in almost all the flavors you can find in food – spicy, tangy and bitter. Flavors of life? Probably our thoughts too?

Before I begin to sound philosophical, the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions. A high as India lifted that world cup after 28 long years – the euphoria, the amazement and the exhaustion from staying up 9 long but nail biting hours to watch match after match. I think I had what I may call “cricket jet lag” for lack of a better word. But it was all so worth it. I am a little late in celebrating that victory here at RKK, but the excitement still lingers. Jai Ho!

Then it’s been some low, a lull from travels and long hours that added to that jet lag, which sort of explains my silence and possibly that philosophical streak:)

But it has been good to see Girish back in the kitchen after months. It probably stemmed from that euphoria of watching India live in Wankhede (that kept his spirits at a high and in getting back to cooking after ages. Either ways, it was a welcome break for all of us. Girish made this dish after trying it at Kiran’s in Houston. I’ve got to say that for a recipe that was derived half from hearsay (from Kiran herself:) and half observation, this was pretty darn good.

Ingredients:

Fennel seeds – 3 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Ginger – 2 inch cut into thin strips

Aamchur (Dried mango powder) – 2 tsp

Red chili powder – 1-2 tsp; as needed depending on spice level

Salt to taste

Bitter melon – cut into 1/2 inch pieces; seeds removed if needed

Milk – 1 cup diluted in 1/2 cup water

Aam ka achaar or Mango pickle, Punjabi style (aachar panchrangi, found in Induan stores) – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Cut the bittermelon into 1/2 inch pieces. You  may remove the seeds if you don’t like the bitter taste of the melon. I retained some of it as it adds to the overall flavor, in my opinion.

2. Soak the pieces in a bowl of milk for upto 2 hours at least. This helps add some softness to the melons and also removes the overwhelming bitter taste.

3. Drain the milk after 2 hours, and keep the pieces aside.

4. Take some oil (about 1 tbsp) in a heavy bottomed vessel or kadhai, and after the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds. Saute for about a minute and then add the cumin seeds.

5. When you begin to get an aroma, in about another minute, add the ginger strips and saute again for a minute.

6. Now add the bittermelon pieces and mix well. Cook, covered on a medium low flame for about 10 minutes until the bittermelon is half cooked. This step takes time, as the melons may take some time to cook so you may need to keep watch amd cook a little longer if needed.

7. Now add some of the oil from the achaar, the aamchur powder and red chili powder and salt. Mix again and cook, covered for another 3-5 minutes.

8. Add the tbsp of achaar (mango pieces), mix and cook again for another 3 minutes. The bittermelon should be completely cooked by now and mixed well with the achaar.

9. Serve hot with hot rotis and/or rice and dal.

Do you ever have one of those days when you’re out grocery shopping at a health food store like a Whole Foods or Sprouts Farmer’s Market and you load your cart with all sorts of greens and colorful fruits and veggies beacuse, well…you really want to stick to the 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day, like um..you are supposed to. You plan all these menus in your head for the week and you leave the store almost an inch taller and a pound lighter, imagining all the inches lost with the healthy menu you have planned for the family:) Until you realize that it was all in your head…the week has gone by, the fruits are getting mealy and the veggies are shriveled, and your menu well, is still in your head.

Unless, of course, you have foodie friends, like mine who go the extra mile of sharing their favorite recipes which inspire you to actually bring those menus to life. Thanks, Aparna L, for sharing this very colorful and scrumptious recipe of yours, which truly inspired me not to just visit Whole Foods but draft an entire week’s menu of leafy greens and colorful fruits. This was a part of Monday’s (today’s) dinner but I hope to stick to this planning for the rest of the week too.

Ingredients
1/4 purple cabbage shredded

1/4 green cabbage shredded

1 carrot, shredded

1/2 small de- seeded red capsicum, chopped into fine long shreds

1/2 small de-seeded green capsicum, fine long shreds

1 green apple, chopped into long 1 inch long pieces, with skin intact

2 medium sized Persimmons (optional)

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts (crushed after roasting), add extra if you like the crunch

Dressing

1/4 cup Orange juice

salt, to taste

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 – 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Method

Mix all the shredded vegetables in a salad bowl. Mix the ingredients for the dressing with the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add this to the vegetables just before serving. Enjoy the crunchy, tangy, slightly spicy, slightly sweet salad!

Mumbai Spice!  Houston has its share of Indian restaurants – Kiran’s (reviewed here), Udipi, Bombay Brasserie, Mughal, Nirvana, and Mumbai Spice. The two that stand out are Kiran’s and Mumbai Spice. Mumbai Spice, my home away from home as Malini calls it, has some great treats. The food tastes great and the service is fantastic. Mr Bakshi, the owner is almost always there, taking care of every little detail and making sure that the patrons walk out feeling special. He has his repertoire of jokes and shayari (Hindi or Urdu couplets) that can keep you entertained.

Now about the food. The food at Mumbai is quite the traditional Indian food that you find at most Indian restaurants. His chef Buta Singh is from Punjab and he specializes in North Indian cuisine. His specialties are Tandoori Chicken, Dal Makhani, and Paneer Do Pyaza. Last night, my colleague/friend Anil and I walked in to Mumbai Spice and asked the chef to surprise us with his favorite dishes. He brought out Paneer Do Pyaza, Bhindi Masala and Tarka Daal with some White Rice and Naan.

One of my pet peeves about Bhindi Masala at restaurants is the amount of oil they use and how much they fry it. The Bhindi Masala at Mumbai Spice was done just right – not too green and not too fried – the way mom used to make it.

Paneer Do Pyaaza was good and had the right amount of spices in it. The paneer was soft and moist with enough of the spicing to add flavoring to it.

The one let down was the dal, I prefer my dal light and not thick! This dal was extremely thick and looked like it was picked up from last evening’s buffet;)

Bottomline- Mumbai Spice is a good place to eat good Indian food, though not as sophisticated as Kiran’s. But the quality of the food and the host make it a must try place in the Houston suburbs.

PS: If you do make the trip ask for the Mirchi Pakoras if you like really spicy Indian style Pepper tempuras.

Pachadis or Chutneys, especially the ones that are made in Andhra, the fiery hot ones with various vegetables, tomato, ginger, cilantro, mango, peanut, cauliflower (I posted this one before) are a favorite in my home. Our friend, Anitha, hails from Andhra and, in my opinion, makes the best pachadis. I’ve taken the recipes from her many times but never got around to actually trying them on my own. So when she offered one evening to come home and give me a live demo of four of her best pachadis, it was more than anything I could ask for! All she requested was that I get the ingredients ready and do a little “prep” work before she arrived. The pachadis are simple, only we were going to make four of them at once, so did need some planning.

What follows here is a step by step method of making four pachadis – kothmir pachadi (cilantro chutney), allam pachadi (ginger chutney), beerakkaya pachadi (ridged gourd chutney) and mavidikkaya kobbari pachadi (mango coconut chutney). I’ve included the traditional Telugu names on purpose as the method described is the traditional Andhra pachadi recipe.

Before starting on the chutneys, Anitha started to make a batch of fresh red chili powder and fenugreek powder.

For this, she roasted 2 (you may also use upto 4) cups of dry red chilies in about 2 tbsp of oil till they become bright red and crisp. Cool and grind to a fine powder. You need to use a powerful blender for this step, to get a smooth powder.

For the fenugreek powder, dry roast (without any oil) about 1/2cup of fenugreek seeds till light brown. Cool and grind to a fine powder.

The above powders are a staple in her kitchen apparently, and find their way into the various pachadis, vegetable curries etc, so this is an essential step before you start making the pachadis.

Cilantro Chutney (Kothmir Pachadi)

Ingredients: (for making 1 12 oz jar of chutney)

6 bunches cilantro leaves (keep the stems aside)

1/3 cup mustard seeds

1/4 tsp asafetida

1 cup tamarind paste

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

salt to taste (4 tbsp)

6 heaped tsp chili powder

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add mustard seeds, asafetida. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the cilantro leaves.Fry the leaves well until they turn a darkish brown.

2. Mix the tamarind paste, salt, turmeric and chili powder (use the fresh powder for better taste). You may add some warm water if needed.

3. Add this paste slowly to the cilantro mixture in the pan. Continue to fry/stir the ingredients until well mixed. Stir on a low flame till the mixture starts to come together.

Ginger Chutney (Allam Pachadi)

Ingredients: (for one 18 oz jar of chutney)

Ginger root – 3 large, sliced and chopped into long pieces

Dry roasted unsalted peanuts – 1/3 cup

Urad dal (Split black gram lentils) – 1/3 cup

Chana dal (Split bengal gram lentils) – 1/2 cup

1/4 tsp asafetida

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds (jeera) – 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds (dhania) – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Tamarind – 3 big lemon sized balls, soaked in warm water (Note that this chutney has a longer shelf life than the other chutneys and the secret is to use warm and not cold water when blending or soaking tamarind etc.)

Brown sugar – 6 tsp

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Fry the chana dal and urad dal till light brown.

2. Add the cumin seeds, sesame, coriander and peanuts and fry well.

3. Add the asafetida and about 1/2 tsp of the fenugreek (methi) powder.

4. Then add the curry leaves and the ginger pieces.

5. add about 5 tsp salt or to taste and fry till they are well mixed, about 5 minutes.

6. Now add the soaked tamarind and fry for another 5 minutes.

7. Add the brown sugar (6 tsp), 10-12 tsp of the freshly made chili powder and 1 tsp turmeric.

8. Fry for another 3 -5 minutes. Cool.

9. Grind to a smooth paste using a powerful blender. Make sure to grind in batches with some warm water to soften the ginger pieces. Alternatively, you may add some warm water to the cooled mixture in the pan and let it soak a little before grinding, to ensure a smooth paste.

Store in a dry container/jar. This chutney, when stored in the refrigerator has a shelf life of about 3-5 months.

I should really call this Ram Uncle’s Cottage Cheese salad, as this is his signature recipe. Rather one of his signature recipes. Ram Uncle is a dear family friend and mentor, and did I mention, an amazing cook? He is also very careful about sharing his recipes, and other than this one, I haven’t really been able to get too many recipes out of him. I think he may have shared this one with me somewhat as a parting gift (in an emotional moment:)…the family just moved from Dallas back to India. Though I’ve tried this dish a couple of times, I’m not sure I have the “Ram Uncle touch” yet:). It is one of Nikhil’s favorite dishes so I have made it several times and I’d like to share this creative, easy and quite a yummy side dish, which is also very healthy, of course, which pretty much sums up his cooking! Thank you, Uncle for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

1 tub Cottage cheese (12oz tub)

1/2 medium red onion, chopped finely

1/4 red bell pepper, chopped finely

1/4 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup red cabbage grated

1 tbsp urad dal (split black gram lentils)

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tbsp yellow split pigeon peas (chana dal)

1 tsp olive oil (I think this is one of the “secret ingredients” of his. Canola or peanut oil doesn’t give the same taste as olive oil does.)

2-3 chopped green chilies (I use the Thai pepper kind)

Method:

1. Add the chopped onions, green chilies, grated carrot, chopped bell pepper to the cottage cheese and mix well in a serving container/bowl.

2. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the mustard seeds. After they crackle, add the urad dal and chana dal and saute till they turn golden brown.

3. Add the fried lentils to the cottage cheese/vegetable mixture and mix well.

The salad tastes great by itself, but if you want to try it with South Indian food, I think it goes really well with Sambar, rice and Potato Fry. Can also be substituted as a “raita” or a yoghurt based dressing in North Indian cuisine.

You’re correct in the assumption that of the 12 days I spent in India, more than 8 were at restaurants. I visited 4 cities in 12 days, and each one had its own specialty, Hyderabadi Biryani, Bombay pav bhaji and gujarati food. I probably spent the most time eating at home in Chennai. I had to ask my sister in law Meena, to make this dish for me and of course share it on Roz Ka Khana. Its called Ambat (Sour) Bhaaji (vegetable dish). Its made from sour greens like amaranth or puli keerai as we say in Tamil. Can also be made from spinach leaves. The sourness to the dish comes from adding the tamarind.

Ambat Bhaji is a Tanjore Marathi inspired dish and is sort of a hybrid between a sambar (lentil and vegetables soup) and a koottu (vegetables in gravy).

Ingredients:

Spinach – 1 bunch. You may also use amaranth.

Tamarind – lemon sized ball

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Toor dal (yellow pigeon peas) – 1 cup boiled and mashed

Methi seeds (fenugreek) – 1  tsp

Dry red chilies – 4-6

Chopped Cilantro – for garnish

Method:

1. Wash and chop the spinach. You can chop the spinach and steam in a heavy bottomed vessel with a little bit of water. This helps retain the green color better. You can also microwave the fresh spinach. Alternatively, you may use frozen spinach.

2. While the spinach cooks, soak the tamarind in a little warm water, and squeeze it to extract tamarind paste. Alteratively, you may use about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste. Add water to this paste (about 1 cup) and take this tamarind water in the heavy bottom vessel (kadai)

3. Add the spinach, salt and asafetida to the tamarind water. Let this mixture boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes away.

4. Now add the boiled and mashed toor dal. Boil for another 5 to 10 minutes till everything is well blended.

5. Now dry roast the methi seeds and the red chilies, grind to a fine powder. Add this powder to the dal mixture and boil one more time for another 2-3 minutes. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve hot with white or brown rice.

In the above picture, we mixed the mashed dal with the ground powder and then added the mixture to the tamarind water. You may do this as well, but I think adding the powder at the end and then boiling provides an added taste.

This is probably quite a common recipe that you’ll find in many sites, but that’s exactly the specialty of this dish too. There are so many versatile ways that Indians make this dish and each one has it’s unique distinct taste. And it goes by so many names..Chana Masala, Chole Masala, Punjabi Chole. Punjabi Chhole is the name given to this dish as made in Punjab, a Northern state in India. The uniqueness of this type of Chhole is that it is usually drier than other gravy dishes, and it also has a darker color. It has an added tang to it from the amchur or dried raw mango powder that is the main ingredient in the chana masala.

Girish surprised us one weekend evening after mom and I  returned home after a long road trip. Mom and I were both exhausted, thinking of bringing take-out, only to get home to an apron-clad father and son in the kitchen dicing onions (something that’s despised by all of us) and grinding masala (spices). It was so cute! They served Punjabi Chhole and Potato/Egg curry with steaming hot rice and chapathis.

Here’s the recipe for the Punjabi Chhole that he made:

2 cups garbanzo beans or chick peas (he used 2 cans but you can also soak beans overnight and boil the next day).

2 tomatoes (chopped)

1 can chopped tomatoes

3 medium onions (finely chopped)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 1/2 tspn red chili pd

1 tsp coriander pd

4 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 tsp garam masala pd

3 tsp chana masala pd

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

For garnishing – chopped cilantro, 2 onions sliced into rings, lemon wedge

Method:

1. If using fresh beans, soak them overnight, in warm water with 2 tea bags. This adds the dark color that is so typical of punjabi chole. Boil the beans in a pressure cooker with the 2 tea bags.

If using canned beans, drain the water from the can, and soak the beans in water with 2 tea bags, while you cook the remaining steps. This, again, adds the color.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds when the oil gets hot. When it splutters, add the minced ginger and garlic.  Now add the chopped onions and saute until it becomes light brown.

3. Add turmeric powder, chili powder and salt to taste. Add garam masala, chana masala and fry a little more.

4. Take the chopped tomatoes and the canned diced tomatoes and puree them in a blender. Add this puree to the masalas and onion-garlic-ginger paste in the pan. Fry this mixture well, until you start to see oil leaving the sides of the paste. Add some chopped green chilies.

5. Now take the soaked/boiled chole, remove the tea bags and add the beans into the pan, add very little (1/4 cup)water and stir well. Cook this for about 8-10 minutes. It helps to mash the beans (chana) a little, so the mixture binds well.  Cook till it gets a little dry.

6. Garnish with onion rings, lemon wedges and chopped cialntro. Enjoy with hot chapathis/naan/puris.

Verdict: This Punjabi chhole was finger-licking good!

This one is a toughie to translate into plain English. Once again, an authentic Tamil dish, Kuzhambu, which means a kind of stew or soup, and Vatral which refers to sun-dried vegetables, is a comfort food in my home.

But before I write about this recipe, let me back up. I almost forgot , but today marks the 1 year anniversary of Roz ka Khana! I am actually a little embarrassed to say that I almost forgot that it was our birthday. I mean, yes it was February last when I penned the Paruppu Rasam recipe, but I had to go back into the archives to look up the actual date. And maybe I am a little overwhelmed too thanks to my dear friends and readers who reminded me to go look up that date! Sheela, thank you for being such a sweetie and shaking me out of my doldrums with your cheery note.  Thanks for being such an ardent follower among everything else.

And I should also thank Anu of AnEmily’s Vegan Adventures for requesting this recipe. Anu, this was the perfect recipe for RKK’s one year anniversary. I don’t think I’m really a Tamil purist when it comes to recipes, but Tomato Paruppu Rasam (lentil and tomato soup) and Vatral Kuzhambu are the staple, comfort foods in my home, so what better way to pay my tribute to RKK than to post another favorite comfort food? While the Rasam is my staple recipe, this one is Girish’s. As I wrote earlier in the 2 month anniversary of this blog with Girish’s Curry leaves Soup (Karuvepillai Kuzhambu) recipe , he is the inspiration behind this blog. So here’s to Girish again for your love and support, and to all of you family and friends who have been contributing and following this food chatter so far….thank you.

Vatral Kuzhambu recipe (Tamarind Soup)

This is also called Pulusu in Andhra/Telugu lingo. As I mentioned in the Curry Leaves soup recipe, this tastes best in a kachitti or a stone vessel, especially when it’s a day old. If you don’t have this vessel, it can also be made in a regular pot or pan, but make sure to save some for the next day so it has had all the time to let the flavors of the sesame oil, the fenugreek and the vegetables sink in. Also, this recipe is not really true to its name as we did not add the sun-dried vegetables or vatral. The sun-dried vegetables are available as is in Indian stores. We did not add it here since the onions have such a strong flavor that you can make this soup without the vatral. The real reason also was that we didn’t have enough vatral handy:). You can also call this recipe Vengaya Vatral Kuzhambu (Tamarind Soup with baby Onions)

Ingredients:

(I don’t have too many pictures to post for this one. I inadvertently erased some of the colorful ingredient pictures that I took  as I was transferring the pictures to my computer. As soon as I’m done poring through the 2500 photos on my hard drive in a desperate attempt to find them, I will try to update this post with better pictures.)

A large lemon sized ball of tamarind (enough to make about 2 cups of tamarind juice)

1/2 cup pink baby onions or shallots

2 tbsp fenugreek seeds

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tsp vatral kuzhambu podi (I get this from India, but you can also use Sambar powder that is available in Indian grocery stores – MTR Madras Sambar powder). Alternatively you can find the recipe here.

2 sprigs of curry leaves

6-7 green chilies (the Thai variety)

a pinch asafetida ( we use a brand called SSP that we have only found in India but you can use any brand. SSP is in the granule form instead of powder and we use about 3-4 granules for a good strong aroma )

1. Heat the sesame oil in the kachitti or the stone vessel.

2. When it starts to smoke a little, add the fenugreek seeds, lower the flame and let the seeds get dark brown and oil starts to smoke again.

3. Add the asafetida. Add the kozhambu powder (podi).

4. Add the shallots, curry leaves, green chilies and the sun-dried vegetables (vatral) if available here. Fry till medium brown.

5. Add the tamarind juice and salt.

6. Let the mixture boil on a low flame for 10-15 minutes until the soup starts to thicken a little. You can also add a small amount (half a tsp)of jaggery (crystallized brown sugar) here for an added taste. If the soup is too watery, you can add a little rice flour and water made into a paste to thicken it. But if you let it boil enough, you may not need this step at all.

7. Serve with hot white or brown rice and ghee (clarified butter) with a side of paruppu (boiled and mashed lentils).