Tuesday 1 December 2015

Easy way to make sambar #Indianfood

Hi guys..
This is a continuation of my last post where we learnt how to cook boiled rice. Today I'll let you how to make sambar by narrating how I made sambar :). Its a Indian recipe where people pour it onto the rice, mix it and have mostly as their lunch.

Ok, firstly, I took lemon sized tamarind in hand and soaked it in water for 5mins. On the other hand, I took sambar powder, salt and turmeric powder. This is a combo. Sambar powder for spice which is nothing but chilli powder + coriander powder mix. The reason for saying is sambar powder as such is available in market, in case if it is not available, You can get the raw red stout chilli and raw dhaniya/coriandar and mix it in a mixie. 5mins up. Now, I churned the tamarind with hand inside the water. Removed the tamarind seeds if any or any threads and mix the combo into tamarind water. This is the masala that is required for sambar.

Now, Ignite the gas stove, put some gingelly oil/sesame oil onto the pan. After the oil is hot, put some mustard seeds in a tea spoon, urad dal in a tea spoon, mustard seeds will burst and get settled, becomes noiseless, that time we can put the desired vegetables to it. If you put drumstick, it becomes drumstick sambar. If you put lady's finger, it becomes lady's finger sambar, if you put snake gourd, it become snake gourd sambar.. Hope you get it what I mean. You have to boil these vegetables in the presence of water on the pan. The quantity of water you add is the quantity of sambar you make.  After 5 or 10mins, depending upon the vegetables, just take one vegetable of its kind from the pan in hand to check if it is boiled or not. if it is soft and tangible, cooking sambar is half done.

The very important difference between sambar and vatha kulambu/kaara kulambu is the addition of toor dhal. We have to make toor dhal ready. How do we make it? Just about 100grms of dhal, cumin, a tea spoon, little bit of turmeric powder. Turmeric powder has got some medicinal value. It kills any germs in the foods. That is why we add in the combo as well as now in dhal. We will keep it in the cookware. 3 whistles and thats it. Dhal is ready. This dhal added to rice with ghee tastes yummy. We will keep aside a little and add the remaining to the pan where vegetables are heated up and add the masala as well. Leave it for sometime. The sambhar is ready in a while. Like a chemical formula, if I describe it, it becomes
Tamarind water+masala+vegetables+Dhal = Sambar..., Similarly,
Tamarind water+masala+Vegetables= vathakulambu/kaara kulambu.

Does it sound easy? Like I said before in my previous article, the funda has to be learnt and if your fundamentals are made strong, you can come up on your own without any assistance not only in cooking, be it whatever.

We just have to ensure the ingredients are mixed properly. Now you know after you taste it, if the spice is less, what you will do? Just add sambar powder little more the next time, if it is spicy, may be addition of salt will do or reduce sambar powder the next time.,

You have come to know the funda of making sambar, vathakulambu or kaara kulambu and the dhal alone.  Addition of dhal becomes sambar. without the addition of dhal becomes vatha kulambu or kaara kulambu. If in doubt you can always reach me through comments. Hope it was a useful article. Awaiting to see you share your experience with us,. Thanks. See you next time.




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Monday 30 November 2015

Start Cooking!!!

Hey guys.. how are you doing today?  I am going to share with you on how to make some Indian foods. I will list out the ingredients and the preparations steps. Hope it will be useful for all, that includes those bachelors who have taken rooms to stay for work or for studies and who are forced to cook for themselves. First time cooking uh? No worries. I assure you, you ll realize how easy is cooking after reading this blog.  You do not have to know anything about cooking. Just follow my steps. Experiment it by yourself and you ‘ll taste the most healthiest food of your life.  I don’t know if you have made a note while reading the last sentence wherein I have mentioned as healthy food and not delicious or tasty foods because I keep a check on oil and sweets. As we know “there is a limit for everything” and I won’t cross the limits of neither Oil nor Sugar and still I guarantee you, your taste buds will enjoy my food. Hence it is fit for all age groups especially to my granny and grandpa’s who are reading my blog now and my friends who went diabetic in recent times or suffering for longer time.  Fundamentals are very important. Here in my blog you’ll come to know the fundamentals of cooking.  

It all started like this when by chance when I was reading primary school book where it was mentioned “Cooking is nothing but heating any food items”.  Yes, that’s it. Cooking is nothing but heating. If you know how to heat an object, you are half the way by now learnt cooking and If you have the device to cook like gas stove OR microwave oven OR any heating medium, why should you wait, start heating.. oops sorry.., Start Cooking and  become a Chief Cook in few days starting today.  Good luck.

I went to the supermarket the other day,( sometimes I go to the provisional shop) and asked for rice. It’s a raw rice. Bought for 1kg the raw rice to my room. Yeah., I was a bachelor too and I was in early 20s. I had the measuring cup with me where it had the marking like 100g, 200g etc vertically. Someday when I have misplaced the measuring cup, I have used the tumbler for measurement. . According to my appetite, I take rice. I took 150grams of rice for 2people.  I took the rice on a vessel washed it with water. This washed water I do not throw it out. I pour it on the flower pot which is in my balcony where I grow some plants.  This is the funda for organic farming. Let’s come back to our topic. It’s a trial and error method that worked for me.  After washing the rice, I soaked the rice in water. Are you thinking for how much the water quantity should be?? If you are of that kind, I advice you not to think of perfection by this time. It is okay to mistakes. Just chill.. relax.. take a deep breath.. Don’t forget, “Affection is better than perfection”. Love what you do. Here, its cooking. Just enjoy doing it. Don’t be serious while learning.  Laugh at your mistakes and never regret for anything or get serious on your silly mistakes.Back to our topic.. Now the quantity should be as much where all rice get soaked into it. Can say a little more than required.  After sometime of soaking, I observed the quantity of rice has grown. Of course, it will as the grain, rice observes water and every morsel of rice grows in size. What I wanted to tell here is Be observant. Observe what you do. In cooking it is very very important. Not only in cooking but in everything what you do and others around you do. Observe. That’s another funda of life. That suits here as well. Lets come back to our topic. You know what, when I am in a hurry, I don’t even soak it in water. I skip this step and I proceed to next step which is boiling of rice. I had a LPG connection in room, a gas stove, a rice cookware. The ratio I have between rice and water is 1:3 respectively. I reside down the south of India. The rice grain that I get here requires 3times the quantity as that of rice for water. Might differ if you reside in Mediterranean climate or temperate climate where the way of cultivating rice differs.  As I told you Trial and error method will efficiently work for you too. Now, coming to the point, I put the soaked rice in the cookware and three times the quantity of soaked rice for water. Closed the boiler, i.e., the cookware. Once I see the steam coming out of nipple where the safety valve is placed, I place the safety valve onto it. The reason for the wait until steam comes out is is to purge air from the boiler. Ensure the gasket for rice cookware is in. If it isn’t placed rightly, You’ll see water dribbling out if you have OBSERVED. .  3 whistles. And I switch off the gas stove.

Keep your senses open.  Nostrils have to play to significant role to check for any abnormality. Wait for sometime until no steam coming out if lightly lifted. There shouldn’t be any noise too.  Once you have observed no steam or noise coming out, you can open the cookware. Check for abnormality.

Just think what happens if you have added less water to the rice? You’ll see burnt spots at the bottom of the cookware and the rice tastes abnormal. If the rice is wet, that means water added is more. If black spots, burnt marks on bottom, water isn’t adequate. If you see the morsels as churned much, you have to reduce the number of whistles.The Boiled rice is ready.

You have learnt to cook boiled rice today. Mext time we will learn something else. Comment  your views with us if you have tried experimenting it. I hope it was a useful reading. Thanks for reading and I hope you have learnt more than the basics of cooking. Keep reading my blog. See you another time. Take care. Love you all !!!

Friday 27 November 2015

Greetings!!!

How you doing today.  It is my first blog site and these are the words that I am texting for the first time as such in a blog. Excited!!! Hope I do well in blogging. What am I going to write? Thats the thing running behind my head this time. I assure you I come up something good , inspiring entertaining blogs in near future. Do visit my blog when you free and if you have beautiful heart bless me for a better blog writer. Thanks. Cya soon. Love You All  :)