A super simple dal and comfort food with minimal ingredients. Fresh and tender ridge gourd is cooked with tamarind extract and tempered in toor dal to make a satisfying light meal with rice.
Spaghetti With Semi-homemade Spicy Tomato Sauce
Simple hacks to store bought spaghetti sauce makes this a sublime, satisfying meal. I had this first at a Telugu friend’s place – she tweaked a storebought ragu sauce with some Indian spices, and chili powder and I loved it. As a new immigrant who wasn’t used to eating sweetish tomato sauce with pasta, this made it very palatable. Not just palatable, but it became a family favorite, when I added some vegetables – fresh carrots, spinach, broccoli… Try it! It comes in handy on those busy nights, but you won’t feel guilty about opening a jar of store bought sauce.
Bajji! (Batter-dipped fried vegetables)
If you asked me what my most favorite snack is, I’d say bajjis! in a heartbeat. And my favorite weather is a breezy, cloudy, midly rainy day (but not so rainy that it’ll disrupt life). Put these two together, and you have the perfect day! It’s been raining for a week now, and I kept resisting frying something, trying to be healthy. But yesterday my resolve crumbled. Plus, I had these peppers I’m growing that were meant for bajjis! They were sad, and begged me to dip them in batter and plunge them in hot oil. Okay that’s going too far, but I did feel I was depriving them of their fateful destiny, and from reaching their full potential. (I resolved to walk extra when the weather got better)
Simple to make, ready in less than 30 minutes, and vegetables, whether fried or not, are still a good choice!
Vathal Kuzhambu/Vendhaya Kuzhambu
Vathal or vendhaya kuzhambu is the ultimate Tambrahm rustic dish, made when you don’t have fresh produce on hand, especially during the monsoons when the sundried vegetables from the previous year come in handy. Vathal means dried stuff basically any vegetable or certain berries like turkey berry (sundakai in Tamil), black night shade (manathakkali in Tamil) in their sundried form are added to a thick tamarind extract, with basic kuzhambu powder (spice mix) and boiled to a thick jam-like gravy, and eaten with rice. The flavor comes from the tadka/thalippu/tempering in sesame oil and the tart tamarind extract, the tartness balanced by the vathal or vegetable of your choice. Fresh vegetables such as drumstick, red pumpkin, onions/shallots are also used and are typically my favorites. If you have no vegetable or vathal on hand, one version of this uses papads. Fry the papads broken in pieces in the initial tempering, and proceed as usual.
Guest Post by Allison Dale: Samosa and Gluten Free Samosa Chaat
This recipe is from Allison, who has been dating my son for about 31/2 years now. Allison is vegan, and a big fan of cooking and eating Indian food. She can polish off a big bag of bhel mix all by herself. This was one of the first recipes she made with/for my son, and has also made for us one Thanksgiving.