Lasuni Palak Sambar- Garlic Spinach Sambar

Hello dearies!!!! My love for sambar is  shown time and again on this space. Its the most satisfying and healthy soup/ dal/lentil for me. Be it a cold day or a warm day, Sambar and rice with a dollop of ghee/clarified butter is my go to meal.

I have an en-number of South Indian friends who make all kinds of sambar. I was totally alien to the concept of adding different veggies to the sambar. My mom at the most added drum stick, eggplant and potatoes to the sambar.

But the exposure I got from meeting people of mixed cultures, food habits after coming to US, is what I cherish most in my stay here. One such food exposure I got was adding leafy greens to Sambar and lentils.

You will need;
1 Cup cookedToor dal, 
**Pressure cooked with little Turmeric and Hing and mashed well
3-4 Cloves Garlic
1 tspn Tamarind Pulp
1 cup chopped spinach
1 tbspn(heaped) Sambar Powder
** I used 777 brand sambar powder.
Salt to taste
Little Jaggery/Gur-Optional
Water as needed
 
Tempering;
1 tspn Oil 
1 tspn Ghee/Clarified butter
1 tspn mustard seeds
1 Tspn Cumin /Jeera 

In a pot heat some oil+ghee, ad the tempering ingredient let the seeds splutter then add the chopped garlic, let it fry well.
After the garlic is fried well, add some water, add the Sambar Powder and salt and the Tamarind Paste. Add the chopped spinach. Lastly add the cooked dal and Gur and bring it to a boil. Let it boil a few minutes and the Sambar is ready. 
Since I made it for dinner to go along with rice, I did not use any garnishing and even Curry Leaves, as I had none on hand. But feel free to jazz it with curry leaves and cilantro. I drink sambar in bowl fulls, so any lentil with sambar powder will work for me.

 This Sambar is so tasty on its own, that I skipped rice  totally and had it like soup.

Hariyali Matar- Peas in Spinach and Cilantro sauce

Hello Sweeties!!!! This is the time for jolly, feasts and partying. Good food, Gifts and Snow are the highlights of this month. If feasting can be done in a healthy way nothing like it.

So to keep the check on our eating and food habits in order, I bring to you this dish which was taught to me by my little sister ''S". She made it for Diwali dinner and my boys were talking about till good month.

I kind of immediately took the recipe from her, but could get to making it only now. I skipped the addition of the dry cashew paste and the cream, but we did not miss it in any way.

To make Palak Paste;

1 Bunch spinach leaves or one bag cleaned spinach

4 cups water to blanch the spinach 
Salt to taste

Boil water on high heat with salt. Once it comes to a boil, Add the washed, cleaned spinach leaves (Do not bother to chop the leaves as we will grind them in a grinder to make a fine paste), let them wilt for 2 minutes and take them out. You can dip them in ice water to stop their cooking process or grind it immediately in the grinder. Doing this helps the spinach retain their vibrant green color. You have the paste ready to use.

To make Hariyali Matar;

2 cups palak paste

1 Cup Cilantro Paste

** Grind the washed Cilantro and make a fine paste 

1+1/2 cup Frozen peas thawed

1 small onion-finely diced

1 small tomato diced fine

2-3 cloves garlic mashed

1/2 inch ginger grated

2tspn oil to make the gravy

1 tsp Garam Masala
1 Tbspn Cashew paste-Optional
** Soak 1TBspn cahsew nuts in warm wtare and grind into a fine paste
1/2 cup heavy Cream-Optional 

Salt to taste if needed.--

**Paste has salt

In a wok. heat the oil, add the onions, ginger and garlic for a minute, add the tomatoes, cashew paste and fry them till they look cooked and sweat a bit, then add the palak paste and the cilantro Paste. Then lastly add the peas, cream and the garam masala and let the mixture heat up a bit. Check for salt and add if needed.. Delicious Hariyali matar is ready to be served with any Indian bread.