Receta [Meatless Monday] One Pot Sambar Rice | Sambar Sadam | One Pot Mixed Vegetable-Dal-Rice + IFBM 2014
Learn how to make sambar rice in one pot i.e pressure cooker. One dish to clean, one plate to serve and a bunch of chips with a bowl of yogurt is all that is needed to make it a full lunch or dinner meal. On busy (read as lazy) weeknights, such recipe ideas help us fill our tummies easily and quickly. To save time, I tend to chop veggies like - okra, green beans, tomato, bottle gourd, drumstick and refrigerate in air tight boxes.
There was a time in my life when I was totally consumed and living in a one hued food world. I hadn't realised and a got a grip on my obsession until one of my good friends pointed it out. My days were filled with whites of all shapes & forms - rice, potatoes, cheese, cream, bread and even my ravioli!
The realization hit me hard and I HAD to do what many people find so very difficult: Bring in a real change in the way I cook and in my eating habits. It first started with my weekly visits to the supermarket. I consciously would avoid the aisles of starchy 'white' food and head straight to the vegetable section. I challenged myself to experiment with one vegetable every week. Make something nice and surprise my taste buds. That was the deal.
After many weeks with decent amount of success and some occasional hiccups, the change became a habit. I could really feel the change, this new healthy lifestyle brought in me. I broke my addiction and today, am a different person all together. Some greens like spinach, fenugreek etc or grated carrots are usually kneaded into roti; Salads that sit on my plate have at least two to three colors;Even during my laziest days, I push myself to binge on veggies like green beans - lightly tossed in butter, salt & garlic or baked in balsamic vinegar.
Yes, my new leash of life has many colors and all I miss is the simplicity and convenience to live life in one tone. That is totally fine with me as the benefits of incorporating a motley assortment of ingredients are much more than I initially anticipated. Today's recipe "One Pot Sambar Rice" follows the same mantra as well and the only hard part of this dish is chopping all the veggies!
Enjoy.
- Add as many colors as I can. One Pot Sambar Rice | Sambar Sadam
- Inspired from Nags Sambar Sadam recipe
- Serves 2 to 3
- Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup toor dal (or moong dal, masoor dal)
- 3 cups of veggies, all evenly chopped - I used okra, eggplant, green beans, potato, tomato, bottle gourd, drumstick, onion
- 2 tsp (or more) sambar powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- salt - to taste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 3.5 cups of water diluted with 2 tbsp of tamarind pulp
- For Tadka/Tempering:
- 1 tbsp oil (or ghee for that extra taste and if you not watching calories!)
- few cashew nuts, split into halves
- 1 green chilli, slit lengthwise
- 2 red chillies, nicked into halves
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves
2 pinches of asafoetida (hing)
Preparation:
1. Place the rice and dal in a bowl. Wash couple of times and soak them while you work on other steps.
2. In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add urad dal, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and asafoetida. Once they start to splutter, add curry leaves, green chilli and cashew nuts. On low flame, saute until the nuts change to light brown color.
3. Into the tadka, next add all the veggies. Season with salt, turmeric, sambar powder and coriander powder. Mix everything together.
4. Drain water from rice & dal. Add into the vegetable medley.
5. Finally add tamarind water, cover with pressure cooker lid and let it cook for 3 whistles. Turn off heat and once the pressure subsides, fluff rice with a fork or a spatula.
It tastes absolutely yum with crushed chips, a small piece of mango pickle and a bowl of yogurt on the side.
On another note, I am so excited for the upcoming Indian Food Blogger Meet 2014 (Facebook Page) happening on August 1st and 2nd in Bangalore. Lots of fun stuff has been lined up, each one better than the other. :-) More details, here on their exclusive blog. Only handful of spots are available. If you are an active food blogger, you got to register now. I will be there too. We can meet, eat and be merry!