Linda R. (NC) wrote:Sounds like you hit several ethnic groups there. Yum! Most sounds pretty good, except that I don't know what Sambar and Iddli are.
Yes - Cajun, Chinese, and Indian.
Sambar is a highly spiced and hot soupy stew. You start by simmering hulled and split pigeon peas (toor dal, in Indian) in about a 1:4 ratio with water, until the dal are soft and starting to break apart and thicken the mixture. Independently you sweat/fry some onions and garlic in a little oil and cook until soft and starting to turn golden. Add some ground dried spices (coriander, roasted coconut, turmeric, dried red chiles, etc.), minced fresh ginger, and reconstituted tamarind, and a pinch of asafoetida, mix into the dal with more water, add assorted chopped veggies if you wish, and then simmer together about 20 minutes. At the end a tarka (fried spice garnish) of black mustard seeds, curry leaves, and perhaps other things is briefly fried in a tablespoon or so of oil and poured over the sambar. Put a pinch of garam masala over the finished dish as a final garnish.
A standard accompaniment to sambar is iddli, which are steamed cakes made from a batter consisting of coarsely-ground white rice and urad dal (hulled, split black gram lentils), in a proportion of 2/3 rice to 1/3 dal. The rice and dal are soaked overnight separately, then ground into a thickish batter that is left to ferment (or you can add a dollop of yogurt to get it started). The batter is spooned into the cavities of an iddli tree (the Indian equivalent of a muffin or cupcake mold) and then steamed for 15 minutes. The finished iddlis are more like corn muffins than anything else, as they have a somewhat grainy texture, but they are much softer than a muffin and have a slightly sourdough flavor that's all their own. They are a magnificent foil for sambar.
I haven't had much success with making iddli batter myself. I manage something that's within acceptable range, but the local Indian grocery store here sells iddli batter that makes foolproof iddlis, so I don't bother mixing up the batter from scratch anymore.
-Paul W.
P.S. - Spring thaw has been delayed. We got snow, sleet and freezing rain today, and more predicted for tomorrow.
