Drumstick Sambar | Mulakkada Sambar | Sambar Recipes

Sambar is the most popular south Indian accompaniment which pairs nicely with rice as well as the breakfast  idli/dosa varieties.I love all sambar varieties and Drumstick Sambar tops my list among them as drumsticks lend a nice flavor to sambar. At my mom's place it is prepared with the addition of freshly ground spices with fresh coconut paste where as at my MIL's place it is prepared using Andhra style Sambar powder.I usually prefer my MIL's version as it is easy to make and also goes well with idli/dosa varieties.

Few varieties of vegetables like Drumstick,Brinjal,Radish and mixed vegetable go well with Tiffin Sambar and few varieties go well with sambar variety for rice. This Drusmtick sambar pairs nicely with breakfast varieties or rice.When I prepare Sambar  to pair with idli or dosa, I usually prepare it slightly thick and also with less tamarind in the recipe which makes it taste more delicious.You can adapt the same process of preparation for preparing sambar with other vegetables like brinjal, brinjal, yellow cucumber,potato and radish. I have used Andhra style Sambar powder in this recipe which makes it suitable for both rice and breakfast varieties. The preparation process for Karnataka style sambar is slightly different because of the addition of ground paste with freshly roasted spices and fresh coconut, which I would post some time later.

Check out other Sambar recipes in my blog here - 

• Brinjal Sambar, 
• Gummadikaya(Red Pumpkin) Sambar
• Mullangi(Radish) Sambar-with freshly made masala.

Drumstick Sambar | Mulakkada Sambar Recipe:

Serves 3-4

Prep time:10 mins | Cooking time:30 mins | Total time: 40 mins

Cuisine: South Indian | Category: Side dish for Rice - Main Course

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Toor dal

2 long Drumsticks

1 Onion, diced

1 large Tomato, finely chopped

a small gooseberry size Tamarind

1/2 tsp grated Jaggery,optional

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

2 tbsp. Andhra style Sambar powder

1 tbsp. chopped Coriander leaves

2 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

to temper:

2 tsp Ghee/Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

8-10 Shallots ,peeled

1-2 Red chillies

a sprig of Curry leaves

a pinch of Asafoetida

Method:

• Wash and soak toor dal for 10 minutes in 1.5 cups of water. Add turmeric powder and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Once the pressure drops slightly mash the dal with a wooden ladle.
• Chop the corners of drumsticks and cut them into 2" pieces by removing the fibre in between with your hands.
• Soak tamarind in water for some time and extract pulp from it and keep it ready.
• Heat oil in a big kadai/pan and add diced onions and fry until they turn translucent. Add drumstick pieces and fry for 4-5 mins and then add chopped tomatoes and fry until they become pulpy.
• Add 1 cup water roughly and boil it for 2-3 mins. Now add tamarind pulp, salt, sambar powder( mix it in 2 tbsp. water before adding to avoid forming lumps), jaggery and mix nicely and boil it until the raw smell of the sambar powder is gone and the vegetables are cooked nicely.
• Add cooked and slightly mashed dal and add some more water if required. Boil it for 3-4 mins until the sambar thickens. Taste the sambar once and adjust the seasoning if needed. Sambar thickens slightly when it sits, so adjust the consistency according to your requirement. Add coriander leaves at the end.
• Heat ghee/oil in a small tempering pan and crackle mustard seeds and add shallots and fry them until it turns transparent and then add red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida and fry for half a minute and add the tempering to the sambar at the end and mix well.

Serve it hot with steamed Rice and fryums and a vegetable stir fry. You can even serve it with  Idli/ Dosa.

Notes:

• One can follow the same recipe and prepare sambar with various vegetables like Brinjal, Radish,  Potatoes, Carrots, Sweet Pumpkin, Yellow Cucumber and Bottle gourd.
• After you fry the vegetable pieces you can add tamarind pulp and pressure cook for 1 whistle if you want to make it quick.
• Always add tempering at the end to retain the flavour of sambar and close it immediately.
• I prefer to add ghee for tempering as it lends a nice flavour to sambar.

Technorati Tags: how to make sambar, drumstick sambar, mulakkada sambar ,south indian style sambar, sambar for idli and dosa varieties ,sambar varieties, andhra sambar recipe south indian recipes, andhra recipes

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Mukkala Pulusu | Kadambam Pulusu | Dappalam

'Mukkalu' in Telugu literally means 'Pieces' and 'Pulusu' means 'Stew'. In Mukkala Pulusu, we use various vegetables which are chopped into big chunks, cooked in tamarind extract and spiced up slightly.It is usually paired with Mudda pappu(mashed plain toor dal) and papds/fryums which is the ideal combination.While a few add some rice flour mixed in water to thicken this pulusu, I usually prefer to add some toor dal as it not only thickens the pulusu, it also adds to the taste.

Usually Pulusu would be prepared with a combination of leftover vegetables but I usually buy various vegetables in small quantities to prepare this pulusu.I love this dish very much and hence I prepare it more often than I prepare sambar.

Though the ingredients that we add in Pulusu and sambar are similar,the taste of pulusu is totally different from Sambar.We add less quantity of toor dal and more vegetables in pulusu unlike Sambar where we add more quantity of toor dal and less vegetables. Pulusu is very tangy,spicy and slightly sweet compared to sambar.

Mukkala Pulusu | Andhra Style Mixed Vegetable Stew Recipe:

(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Toor dal

1 very big lemon sized Tamarind

2 tbsp grated Jaggery

1 1/2 tbsp Sambar powder or 1 tsp Red chili powder

5-6 Curry leaves

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Vegetables:

1 Drumstick,cut into 1 1/2" pieces

7-8 Pumpkin pieces of 1" cubes

7-8 Bottle gourd pieces of 1" cubes

1 Carrot,cut into big chunks

1 small Sweet Potato,cut into big chunks

5-6 French Beans,cut into 1 1/2" pieces

1 Onion,cut into 8 quarters

1 Tomato,cut into 8 quarters

2 light colored Green chillies,slit

(other optional vegetables - potatoes,brinjal,ladies finger,raw papaya,winter melon)

to temper:

1 tbsp Oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

2 Red chillies

a sprig of Curry leaves

a pinch of Asafoetida

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal for 3 whistles until done.Mash the toor dal nicely and keep it aside.
• Soak tamarind in water for 10-15 mins and remove tamarind pulp and keep it aside.Add 1 cup of water to it.
• Add chopped vegetables(chop the vegetables in big chunks),slit green chillies,onions,tomatoes,few curry leaves to the tamarind pulp and add salt and turmeric powder and pressure cook for one whistle.
• After the pressure drops down add cooked dal to the boiled vegetables and add grated jaggery,salt and sambar powder(or red chili powder) and cook for few more minutes until you get the required consistency..The consistency should neither be very thick nor very thin.
• Meanwhile heat oil in a small tadka pan and crackle mustard seeds,red chillies,curry leaves and asafoetida and fry well and add this to the boiling Pulusu(stew).

Serve it hot with rice and papad/Curd chili/fryums.You can serve it with cooked and mashed toor dal(mudda pappu).

Notes:

1. I usually add vegetables like drumsticks,pumpkin,bottlegourd,beans,carrot,sweet potato which I strongly recommend to use them as they impart a nice flavor to the stew.But you can add other vegetables like brinjal,ladies finger,winter melon,potatoes too in the recipe.If you are using ladies finger I would suggest to saute them in oil before you boil it with other vegetables.
2. Few do not add toor dal in the recipe,in that case you can thicken then pulusu/stew with a tbsp of rice flour(which is mixed in water) and boil it along with pulusu until you get desired consistency.But I always prefer to add the dal to thicken instead of rice flour mixture.It is your wish,but do not add more amount of toor dal as it will change the taste of it.
3. We use more amount of tamarind pulp in the recipe,so adjust the jaggery and salt according to your taste buds.
4. You can add red chili powder or sambar powder or a mix of both in the recipe.
5. Always cut vegetables into big chunks for this pulusu.

 

Technorati Tags: mukkala pulusu, dappalam recipe, mixed vegetable stew, andhra dappalam, kadambam pulusu, south indian recipes, andhra style pulusu, mixed vegetable pulusu

 

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Drumstick Tomato Curry Recipe | Mulakkada Kura - Andhra style

Drumstick is a common vegetable used in Andhra for preparing various varieties like sambar, rasam, dal, curries and even pickle.It has a typical flavor which makes the dish quite tasty and I never miss buying it when I go for veggie shopping.Today, I am posting a very simple drumstick-tomato curry which serves as a good combination with rice.

Check out other Drumstick varieties in my blog:

• Drumstick Rasam
• Drumstick Masala Curry- a must try!!!
• Drumstick Kootu
• Drumstick leaves Adai

Drumstick Tomato Curry | Mulakkada Kura:

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 Drumsticks,cut into 2" pieces

1 Onion,chopped

1 big Tomato,finely chopped

3-4 Garlic pods,roughly chopped

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

a sprig of Curry leaves

3/4 tsp Red chili powder 

a pinch of Turmeric powder

1 Red chili

2 tsp Chana dal

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

Salt to taste

1-2 tbsp Oil

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadai/pan and crackle mustard and cumin seeds.
• Add chana dal and fry until they turn slight red in color.
• Add red chili,curry leaves,garlic pods and fry for some time and then add chopped onions and fry well until they turn translucent.
• Add the chopped drumsticks and fry well for 4-5 mins.
• Now add chopped tomatoes and fry for another 2-3 mins until the tomatoes become mushy.
• Add turmeric powder and some water(1/2 cup) to it and cook it covered for 5-6 mins until the drumstick pieces are cooked.You can add more water to it to make it thin and also adjust the seasonings accordingly.
• Add salt and red chili powder and cook for 2 mins.Garnish with Coriander at the end.

Serve it hot with hot steamed Rice and papad/fryums.

Notes:

1. You can increase the amount of onions and tomatoes in the recipe according to your wish.
2. Adjust the amount of red chili powder in the recipe.

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Drumstick Rasam | Mulakkadala Rasam

The most common dish with drumsticks is Sambar which is very tasty and quite common among south Indian homes.Apart from Drumstick sambar and Mulakkada Masala(which are our family favorites) this drumstick rasam is also quite regular at our home.The flavor from the drumsticks adds a nice punch to the rasam which makes it tastier.This rasam is not quite common even among south Indians and hence I wanted to share the recipe for those who are not familiar with it.

Drumstick Rasam | Mulakkadala Rasam Recipe:
(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:
2 Drumsticks,plump and tender ones
2 big ripen Tomatoes
2 tsp Tamarind pulp
1-2 light colored Green chili
2-3 tsp Rasam powder(home made or MTR brand)
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp grated Jaggery
2 tbsp Coriander leaves(with stems)
5-6 Curry leaves
Salt to taste

for Tempering:
1 tsp Oil/Ghee
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
5-6 Curry leaves
1 Red chili
a pinch of Asafoetida(Hing)
Method:

• Cook drumsticks,cut the edges and further cut them into 3" pieces.Add them in a pot of water with salt.Or alternatively you can either steam them or pressure cook for one whistle.Take care that they stay intact and not mushy.
• Grind tomatoes to a fine puree.
• Pour the tomato puree into a deep vessel and add curry leaves and slit light colored green chili and add around 1 cup of water(you can add water in which drumsticks are cooked) to it and let it boil for 4-5 mins.
• Mix turmeric powder,tamarind pulp,rasam powder well together and add it to the boiling rasam.
• Add chopped coriander leaves along with their stems to it and boil for another 3-4 mins.
• Add grated jaggery,salt,cooked drumsticks and boil for another 2-3 mins.
• Now taste the rasam and adjust the seasoning according to your wish.Feel free to add more rasam powder or salt or jaggery or tamarind pulp or more water to balance the rasam.Rasam tastes best when it is balanced well.If needed boil for another couple of minutes.
• Meanwhile heat a small tempering pan add oil/ghee and crackle mustard seeds.
• Add curry leaves,red chillies,asafoetida and fry for a couple of seconds.
• Add this tempering to the rasam and cover it immediately and remove from stove.

Serve it with rice,any vegetable fry and papad/fryums.
Notes:

1. A key to the perfect rasam is to balance the spicy,salt,tangyness rightly.Hence while making it,feel free to add more rasam powder or salt or jaggery or tamarind pulp to balance the rasam using your judgement or with 1-2 tasting sessions in between and boil it nicely.
2. For a vegan version use oil instead of ghee in the recipe.

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Avial Recipe | Kerala Style Aviyal - ONAM Sadya Recipes

Every cuisine offers its unique taste even if it has several common ingredients in between them.Coconut is one such common ingredient which is used abundantly on a daily basis in both Kerala and Karnataka cuisines though the flavors and taste of the dishes differ with the additional masalas added in each dish.While I do not prepare many kerala recipes regularly, I like to indulge in few of them once in a while. A few dishes like avial,Appam-vegetable stew,puttu-kadala curry,neyyappam, few kheer varieties do feature once in a while in my cooking.

Avial is basically mixed vegetables mixed in ground coconut and yogurt gravy, which reflects the rich coconut flavor in each and every bite.Ideally, avial is served with adai and is a well known combo. I am not fond of the adai and avial combo or I can say I am too lazy to prepare avial for adai when a simple chutney would go nice with adai.I know its just an excuse,but I usually pair avial with plain white rice.We like Avial in a slightly gravy form than a very thick curry(which is the usual Kerala Avial),so it is your wish to adjust the consistency according to your requirements.

Aviyal Recipe | Mixed Vegetables in Coconut-Yogurt Gravy:
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh Curd,beaten well
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
a sprig of Curry leaves(12-15 leaves)

Vegetables-peeled and chopped lengthwise:
1 Potato,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Raw banana,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Carrot,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Drumstick,cut into 2" pieces
6-8 French Beans,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup sliced Red Pumpkin
1/4 cup sliced Yam

to grind:
1 cup grated fresh Coconut
1 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
5-6 Green chillies
1 tbsp Rice,soaked for 1 hr
a pinch of Turmeric powder(optional)
Salt to taste
Method:

• In a big pot add water and add chopped vegetables like potatoes,carrots,drumsticks,french beans and let them boil for 5-6 mins until half done.Now add the remaining vegetables ,raw banana,yam,red pumpkin and boil for another 6-8 mins until completely done.Do not make the vegetables mushy,they should be firm to touch and slightly crunch to bite.If you have more water in it remove some.

• Meanwhile grind grated fresh coconut,cumin seeds,soaked rice,green chillies,turmeric powder and salt to a fine paste using little water.
• Add the ground paste to the boiling vegetables and reduce the flame and cook until it comes to a boil for 5-6 mins.Adjust the consistency of the gravy according to your wish.I like it slightly thicker one instead of either dry or thin consistency.
• Heat coconut oil in a small tadka pan until it is luke warm.
• Add curry leaves and heated luke warm coconut oil to the boiling gravy and switch off the flame.Cover it with lid,this will help in retaining the flavor.
• When it is warm add beaten curds and mix well and serve it.You can add the beaten curds and simmer for another 2-3 mins,but do stir continuously in order to avoid the curdling.
  

Serve it with hot rice/dosa/adai.
Notes:

1. You can also add vegetables like snake gourd,chow-chow,white pumpkin and peas to avial.
2. Always retain the crunch of vegetables which is a key to good aviyal.
3. Do not skip coconut oil in the recipe which adds a typical Kerala touch to the recipe.
4. If you want a white colored Avial avoid turmeric powder in the recipe.Also add slit green chillies to the boiling vegetables instead of grinding to a paste with coconut.
5. Cut the vegetables uniformly for even cooking.

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MULAKKADA MASALA | DRUMSTICK MASALA CURRY

This recipe is based on drumsticks - which I must admit I had never purchased until I shifted to Mumbai, thanks to my neighbors in the small town I spent my childhood days. While we didn't have much of a garden to talk about but our neighbors had planted various trees and plants including that of drumsticks. We used to source their home grown drumsticks at least twice a week and my mom used to make amazing stir fry,curry and podi with those drumstick greens. I must say the drumstick greens are very flavorful and tasty and you can even use them in making adai, rotti, dosa and paniyaram.While drumstick sambar was one of the usual fare and also our family's favorite, drumstick masala is another recipe which we were really fond of. Apart from these, I dont think my mom used to prepare any other variations. I however, experiment with a lot of varieties and use it in lots of gravies, sambar, rasam, raita, gojju to name a few.

Drumstick has a peculiar taste and flavor which I really like. Drumstick sambar is my most favorite one till date and I make it quite often.Drumstick masala is another one I like and for this one needs tender drumsticks. I didn't make this recipe for a long time, as I was not sure how my hubby would react to this dish.When I found some tender drumsticks, I picked them up to make this and surprisingly he loved it and asked me as to why I never prepared this before. In fact he even asked me for a second serving even though his favorite bitter gourd curry had also featured in the menu that day(I have already mentioned about his liking for bitter gourds in this post).I am sure I have convinced you enough, to try this recipe, this is truly a lip smacking gravy which goes very well with hot steamed rice and as well as rotis,but I prefer with rice usually.

Mulakkada Masala | Drumstick Masala Recipe:
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
3 long Drumsticks(slightly thick and tender ones)
10-12 Shallots or 2 medium Onions,sliced
2 large Tomatoes
3-4 tbsp grated dry coconut
3-4 Garlic pods
2 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Tamarind pulp
4-5 Red chillies
4 Byadige Red chillies(optional,gives a nice color)
1/2" Cinnamon
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil

to temper:
1/2 tsp Ghee/Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
a sprig of Curry leaves
Method:

• Dry roast coriander seeds and red chillies separately and keep them aside.In the same pan warm cinnamon,grated dry coconut and keep aside.Let the mixture cool.
• Grind all the roasted ingredients to a fine powder and add garlic and tomatoes to it and grind to a very fine paste.
• Clean and cut drumsticks to 2" long pieces.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a kadai and add cut drumstick pieces and fry them well for 3-4 mins.
• Add shallots or sliced onions at this stage and fry them again for 2 mins.Reduce the flame and cover the kadai with a deep plate and pour some water over it and let the drumstick cook over a steam for 7-8 mins.
• Add the ground paste to the cooked drumsticks and fry well for a couple of minutes and add tamarind pulp and enough water to get a gravy consistency,add enough salt and cover it and cook for 5-6 mins until the gravy is cooked and the oil starts floating over the gravy.
• Meanwhile in a small tadka pan heat ghee/oil and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds and pour this tempering over the drumstick gravy.

Serve it hot with hot rice and ghee with some fry/fryums/papad.You can also serve it with rotis.
Notes:

1. Always select nice and tender drumsticks for full flavor of the curry.
2. Add red chillies according to your spice levels.If the gravy is very tangy add a bit of grated jaggery or sugar to it.
3. For a Vegan version,use oil instead of ghee in the recipe.
   

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Raw Banana Pepper fry & Drumstick kootu.....a platter from Rak's Kitchen

Sometimes we will run out of ideas about what to cook for lunch/dinner and I am sure that this will be a common problem for most of us....;)In that sense,blogging is helping me a lot in getting lot of ideas,infact it is inspiring me more to try out new dishes from different regions and cuisines.I generally make sambar out of drumstick or I will use in aviyal at the most and I rarely cook raw banana at home.When I saw Rak's post I was sure that I will be going to cook that combo for my hubby's lunch box.On the same day I went to buy those veggies from the vegetable vendor just next to our building(that is the comfort of staying in our mother country,everything is easily accessible..) and prepared it for hubby's lunch box next day.Thank you Raks for sharing this,we just loved it.I modified the recipes lil bit to adjust according to our taste.

Drumstick kootu:

Ingredients:

2 Drumsticks
1/4 cup Moong dal
1 tsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
1 Tomato,chopped
2 generous pinches of hing
salt to taste

To grind:
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp Rice flour

for Tadka:
1 tsp ghee/Oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
a pinch of hing
a sprig of curry leaves
1 tbsp chopped shallots



Method:

1. Cut drumstick into 2 inch long pieces.
   
2. Boil moong dal with tomato,turmeric,sambhar powder in pressure cooker until done.
3. Meanwhile cook drumstick and salt in a vessel until tender.No add cooked moong dal to it and mix properly.
   
4. Grind coconut and rice flour with little water and add to the cooked drumstick,moong dal mixture and let it boil,remove from fire after one boil.
5. Heat ghee in a tadka pan and crackle mustard seeds and jeera.Add urad dal,curry leaves and hing and fry for a minute.Add chopped shallots and fry until the onion is soft and pink.
6. Add the tadka to the dal mixture and stir.

Serve it hot with rice and papad.

Note:

• For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee for seasoning.

Raw Banana pepper fry:

Ingredients:

2-3 Raw banana
1 tsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
1 tbsp curds
1 tsp freshly ground pepper powder
salt to taste

for Tadka:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 sprig of curry leaves

Method:

• Peel the banana's and dice them into 1/2" cubes and drop them in salted water mixed with curds.This helps in retain its color.For a Vegan version avoid adding curds to water.
  
• Wash the banana cubes properly and boil them in enough water mixed with sambar powder,salt and turmeric until they are nice and tender.Drain them and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a kadai,crackle mustard seeds and add urad dal and curry leaves and fry for a minute and then add cooked banana pieces and stir fry on high flame for 1-2 mins until it is dry.Add pepper powder to it and mix well.
  
• Add grated coconut to it and mix well.

Serve it hot with hot steaming rice with ghee and papad.

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