My Summer Harvest 2008 and a mixed vegetable Sambhar/Saaru

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!

Here is my first post of 2009 today after almost 5 months of blog break! :)
Unfortunately, India had to go through traumatic time last year, my heartfelt condolences to all the families who lost their dear ones. I hope these things will never happen again and we will be at peace. Life is too short to endure all these violent nonsense!!!

A little peek at my brand new kitchen!
As you know, we have been remodeling our home in the last months. I know many of you are waiting to see my new kitchen, so here it is! My old white kitchen is here! :)

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Since we came back home from Winter vacation last week and I had been transferring all my blog stuff to my new laptop last weekend, I didn't have anything else to post today. So I thought I would show you my usual annual Summer garden post along with a simple dish made from homegrown vegetables, a tasty Sambhar/saaru/soup. I successfully grew some Indian Ridge gourd, Snake gourd and Bottle gourds last Summer, which was very exciting for me because in the summer of 2007 I failed miserably and those plants never gave any results! :)

Heirloom tomatoes, Pear Tomatoes, Grape tomatoes and Cherry tomatoes (I forgot to add Cherry tomatoes here in the photo!)
Seeds for Indian vegetables can be bought here and here.

This is how it all started: I planted Okra, Pear tomatoes, Red Chard, Eggplants; green and purple,Cucumber, Cubano Peppers and Tabasco peppers in May in my "above the ground" vegetable patch.

Potted herbs: Balm Lemon, Chives, Mint, Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary. Some of the herbs I planted last year thrived this Summer too, didn't have to buy new ones.

Around August, I got quite a few purple Eggplants, Cucumbers, Green Eggplants and Indian Bottle gourds.Potted mixed herbs, Dill, Methi (Fenugreek) leaves and Amaranth leaves grew luxuriously:
Plenty of Tomatoes, Cubano Peppers, Red Radishes and Tabasco chillies which I love and freeze them to use all until next Summer!
Curry leaves plant is growing well, it is inside my home now. You see the Red Chard which we enjoyed all Summer. I grew Indian Snake gourd (Padavalakayi, Ridge Gourd (Heerekayi), Zucchini and few green beans this year, loved them all! :) Got loads of beautiful rainbow Red Chard, colorful tomatoes including Pear and cherry tomatoes, Eggplants, Methi (Fenugreek) leaves, Amaranth leaves and red and white radish greens as well.
More Red radishes which is great for cooking or salad, Okras, Zucchini, Snake and Ridge gourds to enjoy, Bottle gourd and more tomatoes!! Are you tired of looking at them yet? ;D
Now that vegetable showcase is over, here is the recipe for a delicious soup/saaru which is made of freshly cut vegetables from my vegetable garden last Summer. Enjoy! :)

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Garden fresh mixed vegetable Sambhar or Tarkari bele saaru, my Mysore grandmother's style:
Of course she used to make huge amount of saaru powder with 16+ spices at her home to last for a whole year and send it to her sons' and daughters' families as well! I surely can't give you that recipe here, but you can have my lighter and simpler saaru pd version! :D

To make this dish, you need:

1 cup Tuar dal (cooked in 2-3 cups of water+1 tsp oil+1/4 tsp turmeric+mixed vegs if you like,some vegs tend to get mashed if cooked in pressure cooker which is not desirable), 2-3 cups of mixed vegetables, chopped, may be cooked in the microwave in advance. (I used few of each of all homegrown vegetables shown above, some frozen green peas to add color and some carrot slices. (Make sure to roast/shallow fry the chopped Okras with little oil in a non-stick pan to eliminate the slime), 2 tomatoes, 1/2 tsp Tamarind concentrate or 2 tbsp tamarind juice, cilantro to garnish.

Another look:

Simple Saaru/Sambhar powder:
Roast these spices lightly until crisp without oil and cool them before grinding with the fresh coconut:
2 tsp poppy seeds, 1 tbsp yellow roasted Chana dal/chutney dal/Dalia, (Hurikadale), 2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp Methi (Fenugreek) seeds, 2 dry red chillies, (or as many as you like), 1-1/2" Cinnamon stick (Indian Dalchini).
Grind the above with 1/4 cup fresh (dry coconut can be used but fresh is better, do not roast), few curry leaves, Cilantro, 1 garlic, 2 slices of onion and little water until smooth and keep aside.

Seasoning ingredients: 2 tsp oil+1-2 tsp Ghee, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, few curry leaves, 1 broken dry red chilly, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2-4 garlic chopped, 1/4 tsp hing (Asafoetida) and 1/4 tsp turmeric (if you haven't added it to dal already when pressure cooking).
You can also add this seasoning at the end of cooking to the Saaru as well. Seems like most Lingayat saaru is not complete without "Bellulli oggarane" (garlic seasoning)! ;D

How to:

1. Heat oil+ghee in a deep pot, add the seasoning ingredients and fry one by one until reddish, adding hing and turmeric at the end.Now, add 2 cups of water and chopped vegetables, cover and cook until veggies are soft ie if they are not cooked before in the microwave.

2. Add tamarind juice and salt, simmer until raw smell goes for about 3 mins. Add cooked Tuar dal, mix well.

3. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 2 mins before you add coconut paste. If the sambhar is hot and bubbling and the ground coconut paste added, it will look curdled and separate, it will make the sambhar thin and grainy instead of a smooth gravy, so don't add the ground masala when saaru is hot!
4. Now, add the ground coconut masala paste. Simmer gently for 3-5 mins. Adjust the salt. Saaru/Sambhar shouldn't be too thick or too thin. Adjust the water, chilli pd or salt as needed when simmering.

5. Garnish with cilantro. Tastes better the next day.

Note: Instead of mixed vegs, sometimes I use 1 huge Rutabaga, peeled and cubed with carrot slices which makes a sweetish saaru which my kids approve or with 3-4 Turnips as well.
Once you added the dal, do not boil the saaru too much, just 1-2 mins is enough since vegs are already cooked. Seasoning can be made separately and can be added at the end of cooking as we usually do.

This warm and comforting soup or Sambhar goes to Trupti of "Recipe Center", who is hosting "Winter Treat" event and Sunshinemom at "Tongueticklers" blog's "Food in Colors-Yellow" event as well. Thanks for hosting girls, enjoy! :))


That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed my homegrown vegetable galore as much as we did last Summer. See you all next Wednesday, I have got to catch up with old and new RCI event posts now! :D

PS: While on vacation in Orlando, we watched few movies. I highly recommend these two, "The curious case of Benjamin Button" (very moving and amazingly shot in New Orleans etc, Brad Pitt (Teenage Brad Pitt! OMG!! :D) and Cate Blanchett are excellent in this movie!) and I was thrilled to get a chance to see "Slumdog Millionaire" too. This movie was sad, shocking (Mumbai slums and survival; how could any democratic country would let her citizens live like that in this time and age is beyond me, makes me very very sad, specially for those slum kids who are supposed to be the citizens of tomorrow!!), sometimes hilarious, engrossing and very romantic! Dev Patel (Jamal in the movie) is a very talented young man.
Both of these films are nominated for Golden Globe awards. Hope you get a chance to see both of these wonderful, interesting "out of the box" movies.