Recipe CookBook

Buttermilk Sambar

Serving: 4

Preparation time: 90 mins

Ingredients:

Red gram: 1 ts

Bengal gram: 1 ts

Water: 1/2 cup

Fresh ginger: 1 pc

/var/www/hin seeds: 2 ts

Coriander seeds: 1 tb

Green chillies: 6

Fresh coconut: 3 tb

A little water

Plain yogurt: 2 cups

Turmeric: 1/2 ts

Salt: To taste

Ash gourd: 1 cup

For tempering:

Oil: 2 ts

Brown mustard seeds: 1 ts

Fenugreek seeds: 1 ts

Red chilly: 1

Asafoetida powder: 1/2 ts

A few curry leaves

The Steps:

Pre - Preparation:

1) Pick over and rinse the gram.

2) Shred the ginger fine and grate the coconut.

3) Grind the turmeric and chop the ash gourd.

4) Halve the red chilly.

Preparation :

1) Soak the red gram and the Bengal gram in 1/2 cup water for 1 hr.

2) Drain off water.

3) Place the soaked gram, ginger, /var/www/hin seeds, coriander seeds, green chillies, and grated coconut in an electric blender or food processor.

4) Add very little water and blend ingredients to a fine paste.

5) Add the ground paste, salt to taste and ground turmeric to yogurt.

6) Mix well and set aside.

7) Chop the ash gourd into 1 cm pieces.

8) Set aside.

9) Tempering: Heat 2 ts oil in a heavy saucepan.

10) Add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, halved red chillies, asafoetida powder, and a few curry leaves.

11) When the mustard seeds splutter, add the chopped ash gourd to the pan.

12) Pour in just enough water to cover the gourd.

13) Cover pan, and simmer on a low heat until cooked.

14) Now add the yogurt mixture and heat the sambar through gently.

15) Take care to prevent curdling.

16) Serve hot with rice.

17) You can make this sambar with any vegetable of your choice -- okra (lady's fingers), eggplant (aubergine), sweet peppers (capsi/var/www/h), or cooked diced potato.

18) Lentil dumplings can also be used instead of vegetables.

19) For a slightly different flavour, use 1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut milk instead of grated or flaked coconut.

20) Use 8 - 10 tb coconut to make thick coconut milk.

21) Blend or process the paste without the coconut and make the sambar the same way.

22) Just before serving, add the coconut milk and stir to blend well.

Calories : 135 per serving

Suggested Accompaniments:

Rice

Left - Over Ideas :

Add a little leftover cooked rice starch to the sambar and use it as a soup.