Mughalai's introduced us biryani, have you ever wondered, what would our ancestors made for one pot meal before biryani. my grand mom's never prepared biryani. but they prepare delicious kadamba sambhar sadam.  it is not at all our tradition to have biryani. slowly now biryani is ruling all over here in tamil nadu. now a days its very difficult to spot kootanchoru or sambhar sadam in hotel menu(all the bhavan's have. i agree. but others?)



 Kootanchoru or Kadamba sambhar sadam is cooking rice,dal, vegetables and greens together in one pot. what a healthy one pot meal that could be.  Have you ever cooked in your childhood with your friends? or have you had your dinner with your family down the moon on a full moon day?


During my childhood, we four friends bring small amount of rice, vegetables, dal from our home's and cook in a small stove made by us with just three stones and some sticks. cooking together and eating together was so much fun then.



Kootanchoru / Kadam Sambhar Sadam

serves : 2
cooking time:20 minutes
preparation time: 15 minutes
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Ingredients:
  • Rice - 200gms
  • Tuvar dal - 50 gms
  • Carrot - 1
  • Beans - 6
  • Radish - 1
  • Raw Banana - 1
  • Brinjal - 2
  • Arai keerai - 2 cup
  • Murungai keerai - 1 cup
  • Tamarind - a lemon sized
  • Turmeric powder - a pinch
  • Sambhar powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
To grind:
  • Coconut grated - 1/4 cup
  • Cumin - 1/2 tsp
  • Garlic - 2
  • Shallots / Small onions - 6
  • Dry Red chilli - 3
  • Water - little to help grinding smoothly
For tempering:
  • Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
  • Mustard - 1/2 tsp
  • Split urad dal - 1/2 tsp
  • Thalippu vadagam - 1 tsp

Method:
  1. Traditionally its all cooked together in a big pot. but now pressure cooker can be used to make the cooking express fast.

  2. Wash and soak the rice and dal together for 30 minutes.

  3. Chop the vegetables into small pieces. Boil the tamarind with 1/4 of water and wait till it cools and get the tamarind extract ready.

  4. Clean and was the Greens and chop them.

  5. In a wide bottomed pressure cooker, add rice, dal, vegetables, greens, tamarind extract, turmeric powder, sambhar powder, little salt and 5 cup's of water. pressure cook upto 5 whistles. let the steam escape and  place the pressure cooker again on medium flame.

  6. Now add the grounded coconut mix to the pressure cooker and mix well. let the flame be low and cook for 5 minutes till the raw smell of the grounded mix goes off.  Add 2 tbsp grated coconut to rice and mix well.

  7. Finally in a small tempering pan, add 2 tbsp oil, mustard, urad dal and let the mustrad splutter, switch off the flame and add the thalippu vadagam.

  8. Now add the Tempering to the rice in pressure cooker and mix well. switch off the flame and serve hot.
Notes:
  • Coconut add up the taste, so do not skip it.
  • You can add drumstick, but when i added, it got mashed while pressure cooking. so if you want to add, add cooked drumstick in the later stage while adding grated coconut.
  • While serving for kids, serve with a dollop of ghee.
  • Use your choice of greens, from spinach, little methi leaves, mulai keerai, etc.


Kootanchoru / kadamba sambar sadam is ready, serve with appalam and some potato roast or vazhakkai(raw banana) roast.

Recipe for Vazhakkai roast:


Peel the skin and chop the raw banana(1) into small pieces. Add  2 tbsp oil in a heated pan. add mustrad, curry leaves, sambhar powder(1 tsp), dhaniya powder(1 tsp), salt to taste, asafoetida a pinch, all in the temepering stage and roast the powders. then add the chopped raw banana and mix well with the masala. let the flame be low, add another tbsp of oil, if it sticks to the pan. cook for 10 - 15 minutes in the closed pan.



Sodhi, also known as mapillai sodhi, a speciality kulambu/gravy made in tirunelveli, kanyakumari districts. This sodhi is prepared for the newly married groom by his mother in law, when the groom first visits bride’s home. Lovely occasion isn’t it? Traditionally this sodhi kulambu is served with inji thuvayal/ginger chutney. When I prepared and ate, I felt spicy potato poriyal or roast will go really well with this sodhi.




 I prepared this sodhi, just for its fancy name and to find out, is the fancy name worth for it. Well it’s certainly a rich dish with lots of coconut milk and lots of vegetables that makes perfect to serve for son-in-law to impress him.

                   
Vegetables cooked in coconut milk makes this kulambu very delicious. what makes this different is, using green chilly and using moong dal/roasted gram for thickening  this kulambu.

       

Mapillai Sodhi Kulambu

Serves 3
Recipe source: AVM mangayar choice book


     Ingredients:

·         Carrot – 1
·         Potato – 1
·         Beans – 10
·         Green peas – ¼ cup
·         Brinjal – 2
·         Drumstick – 1
·         Onion – 2
·         Ginger – 2 inch size
·         Garlic – 5
·         Green chilli – 5
·         Coconut – ½ grated / thick coconut milk – 1 and 1/2 cup
[mudhal thengaai paal / first pressed – 1 cup and second pressed / irandavathu paal – 1 cup]
·         Roasted gram / pottukadalai – 1 tbsp
·         Turmeric powder – a pinch
·         Curry leaves – 1 sprig
·         Sesame oil /coconut oil – 2 tsp + ½ tsp
·         Mustard – 1/2 tsp
·         Fenugreek – ¼ tsp
·         Lemon juice – 2tsp

  
      Method:

1.     First, chop the vegetables, brinjal, drumstick, carrot, potato and beans into big chunks. Chop the onion, ginger and garlic finely. Extract coconut milk. Make sure you have first pressed coconut milk about 1 cup separate from the second pressed coconut milk 1 cup. if you are using store bought coconut milk, use 1 cup as it is and dilute 1/4 cup of coconut milk with 1/2 cup of water.

2.       Heat a pan, add 2 tsp oil, add green chilli and sauté it for at least 1 minute till it turns soft.

3.    Remove the green chillies and add finely chopped ginger, garlic, fenugreek seeds and sauté them well. Next add finely chopped onions and sauté till it turns translucent. Now add the chopped vegetables, green peas and sauté along with the onions for at least 3-4 minutes. Add turmeric powder, salt for the vegetables and mix it. Add 1 cup of water and second pressed coconut milk to the vegetables and let the vegetables boil for 10 minutes in medium flame. to cook drumstick it takes 10 minutes, if you are not using drumstick, then let the vegetables cook for just 6 minutes.

4.     Now grind the sautéed green chillies along with roasted gram dal/pottukadalai with little water into a fine paste.

5.   Check whether vegetables are cooked or not, if cooked add the grinded roasted gram/ pottukadalai paste and give a mix.  Turn the flame low. Now add first pressed coconut milk and let the sodhi boil in low flame. It takes 1 or 2 minutes. Once it boils, remove the sodhi from flame. Add lemon juice and give a stir.

6.   Heat a small tempering pan, add ½ tsp oil, add mustard and let it splutter, and then add curry leaves. Transfer the tempering to the sodhi.

7.   Serve with hot steamed rice, potato roast and with some ginger chutney.


Notes:
You can choose any vegetable, or this sodhi can be prepared as a plain one without any vegetable.

Many people add cooked moong dal (1/4 cup) to this sodhi. you can try that and avoid using roasted gram.



So what did your mom cooked first for you husband?  Friends, Love to hear from you.