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Traditional Lunch Series - Day 1 ( Vengaya sambar, Vendakkai curry, Potato Roast )

For the next few days - we are going to be having traditional Tambram food for lunch. When it's just me, I usually make one-pot meals which have a fair balance of carbs, proteins and loads of vegetables. Now that I have company for the next couple of weeks, proper lunch it is! I'm just doing this fo
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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For Vengaya Sambar (Onion sambar):
  • 3/4 cup tur dal (pressure cooked with pinch of hing and mashed)
  • 5 onions medium sized (peeled and quartered)
  • pinch asafoetida (fat)
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 2 sprigs curry leaves
  • 1 red chilli dried broken
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsps tamarind water ready paste soaked in and extracted (or 1 lemon sized ball )
  • 1 tsp salt or to taste
For Potato Roast:
For the dry marinade:
  • 1 tbsp rice flour fine
  • 1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 1/2 tsps salt
  • 2 tsps red chilli powder
  • 2 tsps coriander powder
For Tempering:
  • pinch asafoetida (fat)
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp Bengal gram dal (chana )
  • 1 tsp dal udad
  • 2 sprigs curry leaves
  • 1 tbsp coriander finely chopped for garnish
For Vendakkai Curry (Dry okra / lady's finger / bhindi saute):
  • 2 cups okra thickly sliced
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 2 chillies broken dried red
  • 1 tsp dal udad
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Method
 

  1. Recipe for Vengaya Sambar (Onion sambar):
  2. In a heavy pan, heat the oil. Temper with asafoetida, fenugreek, mustard, curry leaves, dried chilli and saute for a few seconds.
  3. Add the quartered onions, turmeric, pinch of salt, saute on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
  4. Add a glass of water, cover and cook till onions are soft.
  5. In a bowl, make a slurry with sambar powder, tamarind paste and 1/2 cup water.
  6. Add this slurry to the softened onions, bring to a simmer.
  7. Next add the mashed dal, salt, bring to a simmer.
  8. Check for salt and sourness, adjust and bring to a simmer again.
  9. Remove from flame and keep covered until ready to serve with rice.
  10. Recipe for Potato Roast:
  11. Sprinkle the ingredients for the dry marinade on the boiled potato cubes, coat using light hands and keep aside for 15 min - half hour.
  12. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add all the tempering ingredients, stir around till the dals turn golden.
  13. Add the spiced potato cubes, toss well to coat with whole spices. Let the potato brown on a low flame. For this it is necessary that you don't keep tossing them around, keep them on a low flame and turn around after 10 minutes, to brown the other sides.
  14. Once ready, garnish with coriander and serve hot.
  15. Recipe for Vendakkai Curry (Dry okra / lady's finger / bhindi saute):
  16. In a wok, heat oil. Splutter the mustard seeds, fry the red chillies and saute the udad dal till golden. Add in the sliced okra, tumeric and salt and saute on medium flame off and on for 7-8 minutes till okra is cooked yet lightly crunchy.
  17. Do not cover while cooking.
  18. Serve with rice and rasam / sambar / mor kozhambu.

Notes

Notes:
Vengaya Sambar (Onion sambar):
This tastes better after 1-2 hours of making it, as the flavours improve with time.
You can use chinna vengayam (Madras onions / Shallots) instead of regular onions.
I will share with you the recipe for homemade sambar powder in a later post, you can use MTR sambar powder instead.
Potato Roast:
The udad dal, bengal gram, fennel seeds and curry leaves are not added in a typical Iyer style roast, I have incorporated some Chettinad flavours in this. So you can avoid them to make a simpler roast.
Vendakkai Curry (Dry okra / lady's finger / bhindi saute):
A curry in Tamil Brahmin cuisine is a dry sauteed preparation, not involving any gravy. Most 'curries' are prepared in the similar manner using a variety of vegetables.