Udipi Sambhar and Green Beans Gojju

Karnataka Cuisine has always fascinated me because of its rich and healthy ingredients. I had kannadigas and mangaloreans as my neighbours and tasted much of their food as a kid and grown up too. But not older enough to note down their recipes ^_^ I loved their jonna-rottis (jowar rotis/bread), uppit, kosumbari's, thalipit, chutney powders, etc...so on and so forth, half of them I cannot even recollect their names but truly enjoyed eating them.

Nevertheless I didn't have any hands on experience cooking Karnataka cuisine so internet and google were at my rescue. I wanted some good, authentic and common recipes which are also famous in every house from this state and delicious too. Finally after a week long of research I ended up cooking the famous Udipi Sambhar from here and Green Beans Gojju from here. Also you can find my first post when I started this blog was Akki Roti, if you want to see the detailed recipe, click here. I hope you all will enjoy the celebration of this great state Karnataka and its cuisine.


Udipi Sambhar

Click here to see Green Beans Gojju





Source: Adapted from Pachakam
Cuisine: South Indian, Karnataka
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Makes: 5-6 people
Ingredients:
1 cup Red gram dal/toovar dal/kandi pappu
2 cups mixed vegetables of your choice (Drumsticks/Eggplant/Yellow pumpkin, etc diced or cubed)
6-8 whole shallots/madras sambhar onions, peeled
1 plum tomato, cut into large chunks
3-4 green chillies, cut lengthwise-slit
2 tsps tamarind pulp (I used the readymade one here)
1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
2 tsps of cilantro/coriander chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1 tbsp jaggery, grated
salt as per taste
for poppu/tadaka:
½ tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dry red chillies/endumirapakayalu ¼ tsp asafoetida
2 tsps cooking oil
Dry roast and grind to fine paste:
2 tsps of black gram dal/minapappu/urad dal
2 tsps of cumin seeds/jeera
3 tsps of coriander seeds
½ tsp of fenugreek seeds/methi
4 dry red chillies/endumirapakayalu
¾ cup fresh or frozen (thawed) grated coconut
water as required to make smooth paste
Method:

1. Cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric and a tsp of oil in a cooker upto 3-4 whistles, mash it and while its still hot/warm and keep as side.
2. Meanwhile heat oil in a deep heavy bottom pan to make the sambhar.
3. Add asafoetida followed by shallots/madras sambhar onions, green chillies and half of the curry leaves off the sprig, and sauté until the onions become transparent and start to leave the juices.
4. Add the vegetables of your choice, tomato pieces and turmeric powder, if not adding any vegetables then add more shallots/madras sambhar onions.
   
5. Cook covered until the vegetables are cooked with enough water to cover the veggies, take care to retain their shape/texture.
6. Once thoroughly cooked add the tamarind pulp and cook covered until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off, approx 5 mins.
7. Add the ground paste, jaggery and salt to taste. Sambhar should not be too thick nor too watery, so add more water if necessary. You will notice that your kitchen is filled with nice aroma of this sambhar.
   
8. Once the mixture comes to a boil add the cooked dal, mix well and check for salt.
9. When the sambhar just begins to boil, switch off the stove. Make sure you don’t boil the sambhar after adding the dal coz the dal will lose its soft texture.

For tempering/poppu/tadka:

• Heat a tsp of oil in a small kadai, add the mustard seeds, when it starts to splutter add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. fry for a min and pour over the sambhar.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with idlis, dosas, or plain rice.

Note: You may also make this sambhar powder/paste in large quantity without the coconut and store in air-tight container for future use. Just dry roast coconut and grind along with a couple of spoons of this sambar powder whenever needed.

Udipi sambhar with green beans gojju

Green Beans Gojju

Click here to see Udipi Sambhar

Source: Adapted from Payaswini's
Cuisine: South Indian, Karnataka
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Makes: 4-5 people
Ingredients: 1/2 kg or 1 pound green beans, chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 long spring curry leaves (optional)
1-2 tsp tamarind juice (I used 1/2 tsp of store bought tamarind pulp)
1 tsp jaggery, grated
1 tbs oil Salt as per taste
Dry roast and grind to fine paste:
1/2 cup grated, coconut(fresh or frozen)
4 green chillies
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1 tbsp coriander leaves/cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tbsp bengal gram dal/chana dal
1 tsp sesame seeds/til
Method:

1. In a pan, dry roast the cumin/jeera, bengal gram dal/chana dal, sesame seeds/til until light brown. Grind in the mixie with coconut, green chillies, asafoetida, coriander and little water to a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a suce pan, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add chopped beans, turmeric powder and curry leaves.
3. Add water and bring it to boil of cook till the beans turn soft.
4. Then add the grinded paste, tamarind juicer/pulp jaggery and salt.
5. Cook for another 10-15 minutes till the gojju thickens.
6. Serve hot with chapatis, rotis/Indian flat bread or plain rice.
   

Green beans gojju with rice

Food Event: This straight away goes to Asha of Foodie's Hope, Asha is hosting this month's RCI-Karnataka. RCI-Regional Cuisines of India is celebration of various cuisine across India. Each month we get an opportunity to learn, explore and experiment food from different states of India. Of course the thought process was started by Lakshmi K of Veggie Cuisine.Asha dear I am sending here with two entries on RCI, Udipi Sambhar and Green Beans Gojju your way.

Jeera Aloo -- Crushed Cumin with red skinned Potatoes

Its time to treat the king of spices *CUMIN*. Although the small cumin seed looks rather unassuming, its nutty peppery flavor packs a punch when it comes to adding a nutty and peppery flavor to chili and other Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes as well playing an important role in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine where it is a key component of curry powder. Both whole and ground cumin are available year-round.

Cumin seeds resemble caraway seeds, being oblong in shape, longitudinally ridged, and yellow-brown in color. This is not surprising as both cumin and caraway, as well as parsley and dill, belong to the same plant family (Umbelliferae).

Health Benefits : It is probably not just for taste alone that cumin has made it into the stellar ranks of Indian, Middle Eastern and Mexican cooking. This ordinary looking seed is anything but ordinary when it comes to health benefits. It is a very good source of Iron for Energy and Immune Function, cumin seeds benefit the digestive system and also helps in cancer v and stomach and liver tumors. How many of us remember when we have some vomiting sensation or nausea, chew raw cumin seeds to soothe, at least I used to have them like this. More interesting info about Cumin can be found on WHFoods site and on Wikipedia too.

When Sunita of Sunita's world announced the event for Think Spice....think Cumin this Jeera Aloo sounded a perfect entry. I came across this recipe on Khana Khazana by Sanjeev Kapoor a great chef/cook and a lovely host. If you remember the Mother's Day episode, his mother was invited and this was here signature dish. Since then I had been cooking and enjoying this dish. Very quick and simple one to make and happily goes well with rice, biryani, pulao, rotis/Indian flat bread or simply a side dish instead of Mashed Potatoes, why not?

Jeera Aloo - Crushed Cumin with Potatoes

Jeera Aloo

Source: adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana
Cuisine: Punjabi, India
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Makes: 4-5 people
Ingredients:
6 red skinned medium size potatoes, boiled and chopped into 3/4 th inch cubes
1 tsp of cumin seeds/jeera
2 tbsp of cumin seeds/jeera, roasted and crushed coarsely
1 tbsp of coriander seeds/dhaniya, roasted and crushed coarsely
1 tbsp of raw mango powder/amchur
1 tbsp of ground cumin powder/jeera powder
1 tsp of chilli powder/cayenne pepper/mirchi powder
½ tsp of turmeric powder/haldi
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
few curry leaves
salt as per taste
2-3 tbsp of oil
mint /cilantro leaves for garnishing
Method:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes, upto 3 whistles be careful not to over cook them, else they will turn mushy-mushy. Cut them into 3/4th inch cubes and keep aside.
2. Take a deep bottom sauce pan/bartan (hindi word). Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil on a medium flame, yes I am right you have to at least take 2 tablespoons of oil and you will know why we require that much amount, common its better than using 1 slab of butter..hehe!
3. To this add the cumin seeds, let them fry for few seconds, then add the curry leaves, coarsely crushed cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fry for a min- remember do not reduce the heat/flame. You must be seeing foam like thing in your pan don't worry thats nothing but the spices are frying grandly.
4. Now add the cumin powder, raw mango powder/amchur, chilli and turmeric powder and lastly salt.
5. Keep on stirring for a min check the hot and salt levels in the mixture and then add the cubed potatoes, mix well so that all the potato pieces are thoroughly coated with the spice mixture.
6. Garnish with mint/cilantro/coriander leaves and serve hot with rice, rice, biryani, pulao, rotis/Indian flat bread.

Crushed Cumin with red skinned Potatoes