Sattvik Sambar

Over the years cooking has been quite a challenge for me, not only to make something nice for offering Krishna in our home, but also something that my discriminating husband will honor. He cannot eat nightshades or chilies, among other things, and toor dahl (what is used in this recipe) itself has a flavor disagreeable to him (and probably others, too, not only myself) unless it is masked with things like coconut, molasses, tamarind, etc, 

But in this recipe, that does not include chilies. And that's probably what stands out the most compared to the usual sambar recipes cooked by Indian chefs. So this version could be considered a little more sattvik. Thus the title.

(For those who desire a little more zing, however, you can always keep a shaker of cayenne pepper handy on the dining table. :))

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c toor dahl, washed and soaked overnight.
• water
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 c coconut, finely ground
• 1 T fresh tamarind pulp
• 2 T molasses
• 2 t sambar masala powder (see recipe below)

For tempering:

• 2 T ghee
• 1 T mustard seeds
• 1 T fresh ginger, minced
• 1/4 t hing (the yellow kind)
• 1/4 t black pepper 
• 1/4 t fenugreek seeds
• 10 curry leaves (if available)

To make the sambar masala powder:

Roast in a hot skillet the following until some slight smell comes out and or slightly browning:

• 1 T chana dahl 
• 1/2 t urad dahl
• 1 T coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 t cumin seeds
• 3/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
• 3/4 t black mustard seeds 
• 3/4 t sesame seeds
• 1/8 c fresh curry leaves tightly packed

Add these next and keep roasting a few seconds more:

• 3/4 t white poppy seeds 
• 1/4 t black pepper

Turn off the heat. Immediately pour the contents into a cool pan. Then add and stir well: 

• 1/2 t cinnamon powder

Garnish finished dahl with:

• 2 t fresh coriander leaves, coarsely chopped (or parsley)

NOTE:

Nowadays, fresh tamarind may be available at your local Walmart, as well as fresh coconut. If not available, you can opt for the types of tamarind available in Indian groceries and prepare as required. 

Also Walmart has organic, unsweetened, dried coconut as a substitute for freshly grated.

To finely grind dried coconut, a spice (coffee) grinder can do the job. If it's fresh coconut, use the fine side of a grater.

To prepare the fresh tamarind, just remove the outer shell in each pod and let the fruit inside soak overnight. Next morning, push the fruit through a sieve to easily remove the seeds, etc., So that all your left with is pulp.

PREPARATION:

1. Cover the soaked toor dahl with water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface and discard. 
2. Add the salt and the coconut and bring to a boil again. Then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the dahl has broken apart and looks well cooked.
3. Add the molasses and the tamarind pulp. Continue to cook on low.
4. In a small pot, heat the ghee.
5. Add the mustard seed. 
6. When the mustard seed finishes popping, add the ginger and stir it around a little until it's browning.
7. Add the remaining ingredients in quick succession and pour the contents into the cooked dahl.
8. Stir in the sambar powder. And about a quarter teaspoon more salt or as desired.
9. Garnish with the fresh coriander
10. Offer to Krishna. Traditionally this is served in South India with iddli or rice. Breaking tradition, goes well with chapatis with avocado salad.

Butter Making Tip

 

How to get homemade butter onto the butter dish without getting your hands messy? (We're talking about butter made from fresh cow's milk rather than the store bought kind that contains thickeners.) After separating in a strainer the butter from the buttermilk, flip the butter onto a metal pan. Tilt the pan and with a flat ended, wooden spatula, squeeze out the remaining buttermilk. In this way, the butter will not get stuck to the wooden spoon nor onto the metal pan, making a mess. Instead, it will consolidate into a nice lump of butter.

Pressing the butter up against the edges of the pan, allows buttermilk to flow away from the butter and collect at the bottom. Carefully pour that off and transfer the butter for storage or other purposes.

Now you have nice butter for Krishna's offerings! 

Black Bean Soup

 INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 cup black beans, sorted and washed and soaked overnight.
• Water for cooking the beans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 2-3 tablespoons ghee
• 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon asafetida
• 1/4 t ground black pepper 
• Slices of lemon 

PREPARATION:

1. Bring the beans to a boil in about 6 cups of water. Cover and lower heat to a simmer and cook. To shorten cooking time, start the beans early in the morning with salt, a few hours before it's time to cook the meal. Bring to a boil, cover and let them sit until ready to prepare the meal. Then cook at least 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the beans are very soft.
2. When the beans are nice and soft, add the molasses and the oregano and basil.
3. Next, in a small saucepan, heat the ghee until nice and hot and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and asafetida and black pepper. When the mustard seeds stop popping, pour the contents into the soup.
4. Offer to Krishna with rice and a slice of lemon to squeeze into the soup.

VARIATIONS:

One teaspoon of ground coriander can be added to the spice combination and or one teaspoon of minced ginger.

Also chopped vegetables such as celery and or carrots maybe added and cooked until very soft.

Diy paper towels

I learned this from a friend many years ago: If you want to avoid plumbing problems, as far as possible, it's important to prevent grease from getting into the drain. 

In that case, paper towels work great when dealing with greasy pots and pans that are ready for washing. But you won't have to buy any towels if next time a package arrives in the mail and the contents are wrapped with brown paper. You can save and use that paper!

I used to stash the brown wrapping paper as is, somewhere in our storage room, but quickly learned to roll it up into tidy little packets so it wouldn't take up much space or look messy. And then they could be stored more conveniently in a kitchen cabinet rather than me walking to the storage room and dealing with an unruly pile of paper, as before.

So when I finish frying something or there is a greasy pot that needs cleaning, I can unwrap and tear off a piece as needed to do the job. 

If doing this with a pan made of cast iron, I also like to spread a little of the grease collected on the paper, onto the back of the pan to prevent rust.

And when finished wiping off any excess, the pieces of greasy paper can be saved for fire starters if you have a fireplace or fire pit! 

Tulasi's Vacation

 

Usually in the spring, after all danger of frost has passed and until the first frost prediction in the fall, Tulasi gets a vacation outside.

 She doesn't like indoors very much. Especially the way our house is situated, it does not get a lot of sunlight. It was designed that way because we live in a very hot climate, and it helps to keep the house cooler. But it is not very satisfactory for Tulasi Devi during the cold winter months when she must come inside. 

So for the past few years I was putting some Tulasis in the ground and growing new ones from seed. That's when I noticed how huge she would get! Whenever she was out of her pot, she'd grow into giant bushes, noticeable to anyone who came by. 

The only problem was her manjaris became too difficult to manage, and soon I had wild Tulasis growing all around the garden area and lawn. I was told this is an offense to Tulsi because she may get stepped on or something mow her down or they'll all die in the winter. 

 I had been experimenting having the original Tulasi plantings in the ground close to the house, hoping she would survive the winters because the concrete house foundation warmed up during the day creates a microclimate in the winter. That's how our curry plants have survived all these past winters. But unfortunately, not Tulsi devi. Apparently she is extra extra sensitive to cold. 

So finally I got the bright idea, when I saw that Tulasi (pictured on the left) was getting pretty big while in the ground since spring, why not put her back in a pot before she gets too big to carry around the house during the cold season? She had a nice vacation and this move will spare her life (and with all those new leaves and growth, maybe she will have a easier time during the sparser sunlight in winter).

In this photo, you can really see the difference between the two Tulasis! They both were the same size in the springtime. The one on the left went into the ground then, and the one on the right remained in her pot. Now I look forward to transplanting Tulasi on the right into the ground soon for a new improved vacation, so she can get a little start on better growth before the winter comes and be happy. 

Her happiness is really what this is all about. 

UPDATE: Tulasi Devi, the one pictured on the right in the first photo above, had a shorter vacation than the others, but it still did her a lot of good! Here's a photo how she looks now after about 4 weeks in the ground and put back in the same sized pot:

Tulasi Maharani ki jaya!

Moong palak

 Moong palak is moong dahl with spinach. I've been using a type of wild spinach called lambsquarter. 

I have also used store-bought spinach and garden kale. But since the lambsquarter is free and abundant, I use it the most. I don't have to plant it either. It just grows. 

To prepare lambsquarter You just need to remove any tough stems. This isn't very hard. It just takes a little practice and you find a way to do it easily. Then you wash as usual. I usually wash the leaves ahead of time,  after visiting the garden, leave them on the counter on a absorbent kitchen towel to dry a bit, and then put them in a bag to store in the fridge until needed. 

INGREDIENTS:

A handful of lambsquarter leaves, or spinach of your choice, washed and chopped 

1 c whole moong beans

1/2 T ginger root, minced

1 t turmeric

1/2 T ground coriander

Water

2-3 T ghee

1 t cumin seeds

1/4 t yellow hing

1/4 t ground black pepper

Lemon slices or lime

PREPARATION:

Bring the moong dahl to a boil along with the turmeric, ginger root, and coriander powder. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

When the moong is soft and breaking apart, add the spinach of your choice, and let it cook about 10 to 15 minutes.

Make a chaunk: heat the ghee and add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds are brown, add the hing and black pepper. Then pour the spices into the moong dahl. 

Offer to Krishna with lemon slices, rice and or bread of choice.

Note: Moong expands quite a bit. Just add water as you cooking it if it looks dry. Stir to to make it smooth. This soup can make at least six servings.

Banana paratha

INGREDIENTS :

4 overripe bananas, well mashed

2 heaping T sugar 

1 generous T of molasses 

1/2 t salt 

1/4 t ground cardamom

flour 

ghee for frying

PREPARATION:

Combine all the ingredients together except for the flour and the ghee.

Add flour until you have a nice dough. Knead well until smooth. Then let it rest at least an hour.

Shape into parathas and fry with the ghee.

flower beds and curry trees

 Inspired by the altar of a lady neighbor bedecked with profuse flower arrangements,  the garden over here has been expanding. We decided to start growing some other kinds of flowers, so we can offer attractive vases of flowers for our home altar, too!

And behind the new floral bed are two curry leaf trees. There's two more west of here. Curry trees grow well near the south side of the house because the warmth of the house in winter provides a micro climate so that the trees don't entirely die.

 Instead these trees die back during the cold winter months, but then they come back again in the spring and will again grow about as tall as the kitchen window. 

They supply a large amount of curry leaves for both cooking here at home and for bringing a supply to the temple kitchen down the road.❤️

Curry leaves can also be dried and made into a hair washing powder. We also plan to use them in our latest twig toothbrushing experiments. 

tostones (plantain chips)

 Tostones means fried twice. Made from green plantains. Here's a recipe: tostones 

The only recipe adjustments were using ghee for frying instead of vegetable oil and using hing instead of garlic.

 These can make a nice offering for Ekadashi, but in that case, omit the hing.

This was my first try at tostones. Still, they came out crip and delicious for Krishna's offering.

INGREDIENTS:

4 green plantains, peeled and sliced

2 c water

1 T salt 

1/4 t yellow hing (optional)

Juice from 1 lime

Ghee for frying.

PREPARATION:

Follow the directions for frying, dipping, and refrying the plantain chips.

Offer to Krishna piping hot.

 

okra sak with paneer

The okra plants in the garden needed thinning. The tender leaves of the new plants make a nice subji or sak, spinach dish. I use this recipe:

Zero waste- Okra leaf saag

And instead of feta cheese just used paneer cubes that were stir fried in ghee and added at the end. I also added the lime juice at the end.

INGREDIENTS:

3 T ghee

2 t ground coriander

1/2 t ground cardamon

2 large bunches of okra leaves, stems removed

Water 

Juice from 1/2 a lime 

salt

Paneer chunks and ghee to fry them

PREPARATION:

Heat the ghee and add the coriander and cardamom

Toss in the okra leaves, cover and cook with a little water until tender.

Cool a little. Then blend in a blender. 

Add the lime juice, salt and fried paneer chunks.

Planting by the Moon

I first heard about planting by the moon from The Farmers Almanac, a long time publication here in the US. There are different activities recommended for different phases of the moon. And then I learned that it is also according to what astrological sign the moon is transiting at any given date. Here's a sample website that gets into more detail

I did notice a good yield following FA's dates for planting and transplanting. But there was also some difficulties as usual. For example, for about 3 consecutive years, my peas would either rot or disappear, among other things.

Then this year I got the idea to follow a Vedic ephemeris and or panchang instead of the hit and miss version Farmer's Almanac uses. And I must say, this year I had the best crop of peas and green beans ever. Here's the first picking of beans. There were so many I couldn't even pick them all the first day.

Transplants have been a lot more successful too.

 It's interesting to note that when you follow the moon signs, the days for planting and transplanting are often cloudy or overcast and or rainy. But not so rainy that you can't go out and plant. At least you can expect some kind of moisture or coolness that helps a lot. Especially transplants need it. 

Of course, it's not always so regular. It's Kali yuga after all. And so many other factors can weigh in since astrological data can get quite complicated.

 So common sense is still in order, too. For example, one day a transplant might be better off being done towards evening time when the late season sun is cooling down.

In any case, with whatever I've learned, I'm happy with the results so far.

Split pea soup

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 c split peas, soak overnight and drain 

Water

1 carrot, scraped and chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped 

1 t salt

3-4 T ghee

1/2 T fresh ginger root, grated (optional)

1 t black mustard seeds

1 t cumin seeds

1 t ground coriander 

1/4 t black pepper

PREPARATION:

1. Bring the peas covered in water to a boil. Skim off the foam. 
2. Add the salt and vegetables. Cover and cook on simmer until soft and peas fall apart. Add more water as needed. This is not a thick soup.
3. Make a chaunk with the ghee:

• Heat the ghee in a small pot on high heat.
• Add the ginger, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Cover until the mustard seeds stop popping.
• Add the coriander powder and black pepper.
• The entire chaunk should be nicely browned (dark even but not burnt!)
• Pour the chaunk into the pea soup dahl.
• Add a little more salt, if needed. Go by 1 teaspoon salt per 4 cups of finished dahl.
• Offer to Krishna with rice, etc

VARIATIONS:

• Replace coriander with 1 t whole fennel seeds put in the chaunk with the ginger and mustard and cumin.
• Omit the vegetables. This soup is very good just plain with the spices!

Pigweed, aka Amaranth

Another “weed” worth posting. It’s edible. It shows here the leaves and seeds. There is one variety that has really sharp thorns. Those need to be pulled up. And then you may be blessed, hopefully, with the thornless type growing prolifically in your garden. It’s cooked like a spinach. The seeds may be used as a cooked cereal or ground into a flour