Ulundu Sadam (Urad dal Rice)

Urad dal (Black gram) is used in a variety of dishes in South Indian cooking. It is used in making Idli (rice steam cakes), making all kinds of chutneys, thuvizhals (spicy paste that is eaten with rice). South Indian cooking is also famous for its flavored rice varieties.. Ulundu sadam is a unique flavored rice not very common such as tamarind, lemon or coconut rice and it is my family's favorite.

I discovered this recipe while I was in the US from an excellent South Indian recipe book, called Dakshin (Chandra Padmanabhan). Every time there was leftover rice, this was a quick spicy, flavorful snack everyone would relish.  It became my signature dish that my mom-in-law asked me to make for relatives or herself as she was very fond of the same.

Ulundu Sadam
Courtesy: Dakshin (Chandra Padmanabhan)

1 cup rice (cooked)
3 tbsp ghee or Sesame oil or refined oil
2 tbsp cashew nuts (can substitute with peanuts)
2 green chillies (this brings good flavor more than heat)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp black gram seeds
1 tsp bengal gram (chana dal)
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
a few curry leaves (the more, the flavorful)

salt to taste

Dry Masala
2 tbsp urad dal (blackgram)
1.5 tsp black pepper corns (this is a must - bring flavor)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp coconut powder


Directions
Grind the dry masala after dry frying the ingredients and keep it aside. In a pan, add 1 tbsp ghee and fry the nuts (cashew or peanuts) along with green chilli and keep it aside. In the same pan, heat the rest of the ghee or oil, and when hot, add the mustard, blackgram, bengal gram seeds along with red chilli, asafoetida and curry leaves. When mustard seeds start to sputter and the dal seeds are brown, add the powder (dry masala), peanuts/chilli mix, and rice and mix them together.

Sesame oil adds more flavor than ghee and goes well with the sesame in the dry masala. The black peppercorns add the heat to the dish apart from the green chilli.

Serve hot with papadam..

Cooking a new dish everyday

It is my very first blogging and am excited to start. There are many who have inspired me to blog. The one that has inspired me the most to blog about cooking is Julie Powell who blogged about her french cooking written by Julia Child (Credit goes to the movie Julie/Julia) .

I have always felt a joy of cooking for family and friends - in fact when I am alone, I tend to make do with leftovers and cereal. After living a servant-less life in US for 14 years, and being the mother of two, I have grown to be very independent when it came to household chores. However after moving to India in 2011, there was a lot of pressure to use servants for you name it all chores. My neighbor downstairs has 4-5 servants, one to clean the floors and wash dishes, one to tidy up and wash clothes, one to cook, and one to take care of her kids. I think her full time job is to take care of her servants.

Well, under all this peer pressure, I still stand strong in saying NO to a servant for cooking just because I believe in me being the sole food provider at home.. and definitely don't want somebody to steal the joy of cooking from me..

So, to keep me motivated, I decided to use the numerous cook books I have collected over the years and have fun blogging about my servantless cooking. I intend to share recipes and experiences of servantless vegetarian cooking for all inexperienced cooks out there who have the passion to cook.

Yesterday, I made recipes from the book "The Vegetarian Little Big Book" and today morning tried a snack that my mom-in-law makes.

Rice with Yellow Lentils - Page 377
Carrot and Sesame Stir Fry - Page 532
Khara bread - Bangalore recipe from mom in law.

Rice with yellow Lentils was made with Sauteed onions with cumin, clove, cinnamon in a rice + mung dal (green gram/yellow lentil) combination.

I add my own variation in Carrot and Sesame Stir Fry by adding Snake Gourd along with sauteed mustard seeds and turmeric as in South Indian cooking. Also, did not have any white sesame seeds at home so used black sesame seeds.. turned out "ok" as per my husband which actually means "Good"

Khara Bread is a simple snack you can make for breakfast. You sautee finely cut onions, green chilli, tomatoes, grated carrots, with cumin and mustard seeds and salt until all vegetables are cooked. You then garnish with cilantro (coriander leaves) and lemon juice and serve it on toasted bread.

Yum....