Zero-oil Tomato Sambar

I've made this sambar a few times now. Its a one pot meal that requires no effort except for prepping the veggies. When in a hurry, I only use tomatoes and make a tomato sambar. You can add additional veggies to this recipe.
Veggies that go well in this sambar are spinach, carrots, beans,  snake gourd (padavalanga), drumsticks, ivy gourd (tindora/kovakka),sweet potatoes, potatoes, taro (cheppankezhangu/chembu/arbi), bell pepper, green peas.

Ingredients:

Lentils – 1 cup (use toor dal/masoor dal/moong dal/ or a mixture of these)
Tomatoes – 3, chopped
Onions – 1, chopped
Green chillies – 3, chopped fine
Ginger – 1″ thick, minced
Garlic – 4 cloves, minced
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Sambar powder – 3 tbsp.
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – 1 tsp
Water – 2 cups
Additional veggies are optional – eg. carrots, beans, snake gourd (padavalanga), drumsticks (moringa oleifera), ivy gourd (tindora/kovakka), sweet potatoes, potatoes, taro (cheppankezhangu/chembu/arbi), bell pepper, green peas.
Salt to taste
Cilantro – a handful, chopped

Method:

Add all ingredients into a pressure cooker and cook for 2 to 3 whistles. After it’s cooked, sprinkle the cilantro over the top – do not forget this step because it lends the tomato sambar that signature flavor. It’s that simple!

You can have it with brown rice, and a side of other veggie dishes. Or on its own like soup.

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Kovakkai Poriyal - Ivy Gourd Stirfry

This is the first guest post on this blog, from one of the biggest followers of my blog, my dear husband!
Now that he has started trying his hand in cooking, he surprised me one day when I came back from work, by cooking up this beautiful poriyal. I have never tasted anything like it before and it was scrumptious! He even plated it and took photos for me to post this on the blog. How sweet! Hopefully there will be more guest posts on the way.
This recipe is followed from Solai's True Chettinad kitchen blog.

Ingredients:

Ivy Gourd/Kovakkai/Tindora-1/2 kg
Big onion- 1 (cut length wise)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Chana dal (roasted and powdered) - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Mix the sambar powder and salt needed with the kovakkai and keep aside for 15 minutes. Now keep the kadai (wok) in the stove. In one table spoon of oil, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the onions and garlic, fry till golden brown. Now add the kovakkai pieces and sauté in the oil itself for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of water, mix well, close the kadai, reduce the flame and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Check in between if there is enough water in the wok. When you feel that the veg has been cooked till soft, increase the flame and let all the water content evaporate. The oil you added in the beginning will come out at this stage. Now add the Bengal gram mix kept ready and mix well. If you cook for another 2 to 3 minutes stirring continuously, the Bengal gram powder will form a coating on the kovakkai and it will get roasted well. If you don’t have Bengal gram powder, paruppu podi (toor dal powder) can be used.

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