Dal vada

Tur Dal - 1cup, Channa dal - 1/4 cup, rice - 1/4 cup, red chillies - 3, green chillies - 2, salt - 1 tsp or according to taste, oil - to fry, curry leaves and coriander leaves.

1. Soak tur dal, channa dal and rice in water for an hour.
2. Grind red chillies and green chillies and then add the soaked dals and rice and grind it very coarsely ( a few seconds) without adding water.
3. Add salt.
4. Cut the coriander and curry leaves to small pieces and mix.
5. Take a small bal of the mixture, flaten it on a plasitc sheet and deep fry in oil in medium flame till it becomes golden brown and crispy. Keep turning over till it is fully cooked.

Onions and garlic, or cabbage cut into small pieces, and pudhina (mint) leaves may be added for enhancing taste.
Eat with tomato sauce or coconut chutney. Soutn Indians love dipping these vadais in hot tomato rasam and eating them.

Delicious Sambar Rice

We can call it the Chennai Version of Bisi bela huli anna , the famous rice-dish of Karnataka.

1.Cooked rice – (Cooked with 1 cup rice)
2.Cooked tur dal – 1 cup
3.Tamarind pulp – 1 cup (extracted with a lemon-sized tamarind ball and water)
4.Sambar powder – 3 tspns
5.Sambar onions – peeled – 15 to 20
6.Carrot, potato, beans, peas, cauliflower – chopped – 1 cup (Any vegetables suitable for sambar like radish, potatoes and drumsticks can also be added)
7.Tomato – 2
8.Mustards – 1 tspn
9.Oil – 1\2 cp
10. Salt

To roast and grind: (Roast 1 to 4 separately and 5 to 14 separately and mix it to a paste)
1.Krambu or cloves – 4 to 5
2.Elaichi – 2
3.Khus khus – 2tspns
4.Lavang or cinnamon sticks – 3 small pieces
5.Mehthi or vendayam – 1 tspn
6.Urad dhal – 1tspn
7.Dhaniya – 3 tspns
8.Channa dhal – 11\2 tspns
9.Black Pepper – 1 tspn
10.Jeera – 1 tspn
11.Mehthi or vendayam – 1 tspn
12.Urad dal – 2 tspns
13. Red Chillies – 3 to 4
14. Coconut scrapings – 1\2 cup

1. Splutter mustard, add urad dhal in a tspn of oil, and roast it to golden brown.
2. Fry the onions and tomatoes. Add the chopped vegetables.
3. Pour the tamarind pulp.
4. Add sambar powder. Add salt as required.
5. When the vegetables are well cooked, add the cooked tur dhal and make it to sambar consistency.
6. Add the roasted and ground paste to the sambar.
7. As the sambar keeps boiling, add the cooked tur dhal.
8. Stir well and then mix the cooked rice and stir again. Add oil.
9. Switch it off when it has the gravy consistency.
10. Garnish with curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves.

Options:
Add 2 to 3 tspns of gingely oil and mix and add melted ghee when serving.

Garnish with roasted cashew nuts.

Pepper- Jeera rasam

This is a special rasam made in South Indian houses, which has medicinal properties too. A cup of this hot rasam is a soothing tonic for people who have cold and cough.

For 3 cups of rasam:

Tamarind pulp – 1 cup (pulp extracted from soaking a lemon sized ball of tamarind in water)
Milagu or Black pepper – 2 spoons
Jeera or cumin seeds – 1 spoon
Tur dhal - half cup
Curry leaves – half cup
Mustard – 1 tspn
Oil – 1 tspn
Salt – as required.
Chilly powder – 1\2 tspn.

1. Grind Tur dhal, milagu, jeera and curry leaves to a paste.
2..Add salt and chilly powder to the tamarind pulp and allow it to boil. Allow the fame to simmer for sometime till the raw smell of tamarind and chilly powder goes off.
3. Add a cup of water to the paste and add it to the boiling mixture.
4. Add one more cup of water and allow it to come to a boil till froth forms on the top.
5. Splutter mustards in oil and add to the rasam.
6. This can be taken hot and plain, or mixed with plain rice and eaten with appalams.

Penang Sauce

There is no specific reason for calling this one as Penang Sauce.

Cooked Tur dhal - 1 cup
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Brinjal - 4 (cut into big pieces)
Drumsticks - 2 (cut into 1" pieces)
Potatoes- 2 (Diced)
Small onions - (sambar onions) - 1 cup
Garlic - Half cup (Full ones)
Green Chillies - 5 to 6 or more depending on taste
Oil - 4 tspns
Mustard - 1 tspn
Salt to taste

1.Extract milk out of coconut twice and keep them separately.
2.Heat the oil; splutter the mustards in a pressure pan.
3. Add green chillies and fry. Add the garlic. Then add onion and fry till golden brown. Add brinjal, drumsticks, and potatoes. Mix them and add the second extract of coconut milk. Add salt.
4. Close the pan and pressure-cook the vegetables without getting them overcooked.
5. Open the pan and allow it to be cooked in simmering flame.
6. Add the cooked Tur dhal and mix it well till it blends with the vegetables.
7. Mix the first extract of coconut milk When it starts boiling, switch off since it might curdle.
8. To make the gravy thick, you may add a paste of 2 tspns of channa dhal flour and water and then add coconut milk.
9.Garnish with roasted cashew nuts, coriander and curry leaves.