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Saturday, March 18, 2017

Mini meals - A South Indian lunch platter and the recipe for Sambar Rice

BM #74 Week 3 Day 2
Theme : Thali/Platter
Dish : Sambar Sadam/Sambar Rice

Several years back, when I started cooking, one of the things I could never get right is the quantity. For the longest time, I used to cook one dish and then we would eat it for several days. Now, with some experience, I think I am finally getting the hang of it. I still do tend to cook more when I have guest, but most of the time, I manage to cook the right quantity these days. In the initial days of cooking, I never would have imagined cooking a thali meal at home, but today, I've tried recreating the Mini meals served in several popular restaurants in Tamilnadu, India. Small portions of different varities of rice, a flatbread and its side, some fried vadam and pickle are the usual components of a mini meal.


Pictured in the thali above are :
Puri with aloo masala
Thakkali sadam / Tomato rice
Sambar sadam / Sambar rice
Thair sadam / Curd rice
Lime pickle
Vadam

All the recipes except the ones for sambar rice and curd rice have been shared on the blog before and clicking on the names above will take you to the individual recipes.
Today, I will be sharing the recipe for sambar sadam. For this thali, I made sambar sadam by cooking rice and sambar separately and then combining them.

What you need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Cooked dal - 1/2 cup
Mixed chopped vegetables - 3/4 cup (I used carrot, beans, potato, onion and drumstick)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp. (I used sesame oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
Salt

In a large pan, heat oil. Saute chopped onions until translucent. Add in the rest of the chopped vegetables and turmeric powder. Now add tamarind concentrate and a cup of water. Boil on a low flame until the vegetables are cooked. To make it quicker, you can pre-cook the veggies and add them to the tamarind concentrate.  Now add the cooked dal, sambar powder and salt. Stir well and let it boil for  a few minutes. Switch off heat.
Mix the cooked rice to this. The sambar rice should be a little watery as it will thicken on cooling. You can adjust the consistency by adding some hot water if needed.
In a small pan, heat a teaspoon of oil. Add urad dal, chana dal and mustard seeds to it. When the seeds pop, pour this over the sambar rice. Top with some chopped curry leaves and coriander.
Serve hot.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74.

8 comments:

Namratha said...

Delicious spread!

Srivalli said...

Cooking a thali always leaves lot than regular times..it also happens when we cook a new cuisine right..your thali looks so inviting!..

Priya Suresh said...

Who will resist to this comforting lunch platter, definitely not me. Drooling again.

Nalini's Kitchen said...

Finger licking spread,it's my all time favorite.

Harini R said...

That is my kind of spread!

Pavani said...

That's a hearty and delicious thali.

Sowmya :) said...

That looks perfect for a weekend lunch and a siesta after. Yum

MySpicyKitchen said...

Lovely spread there and am salivating reading the list on the platter, specially the sadams