Lunch Menu 3 – Beans Sambar – Cabbage Masala – Beetroot Vadai – Rice

Beans Sambar

PREP TIME: 10 Mins

COOKING TIME: 20 Mins

Ingredients

Beans – 1 Cup

Onion/Shallots – 1 cup

Tomato – ½ cup

Toor dal – ½ cup

Mustard – 1/2 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1/2 tea spoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Sambar powder – 3 teaspoons

Tamarind water – ½ cup

Salt – per taste

Oil – 2 teaspoons

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash the toor dal and pressure cook the dal for 5 whistles. Mash well and keep it aside.

STEP 2: Chop the beans to 1 inch pieces. Chop onion and tomato. (I have used both red onion and shallots)

STEP 3: Soak the tamarind in water. Discard the pulp after extracting the juice from the tamarind pulp and save the water.

STEP 4: Transfer the chopped beans, onion and tomato to the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles.

STEP 5: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters. Add urad dal and curry leaves.

STEP 6: Add the cooked dal and vegetables.

STEP 7: Add the tamarind water, salt and sambar powder. Mix well and let it cook for 10 minutes on high flame.

TIP: This is a simple sambar recipe. I have used homemade sambar powder but you can also use store bought sambar powder.

————————————————————————————————————————

Cabbage Masala

PREP TIME: 5 Mins

COOKING TIME: 10 Mins

Ingredients

Cabbage – 2 Cups chopped

Onion – 1

Tomato – ½

Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon

Urad dal – ½ teaspoon

Fennel seeds – ¼ teaspoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Chilli powder – 3 teaspoons

Salt – per taste

Oil – 2 teaspoons

Procedure

STEP 1: Clean and chop the Cabbage finely (like noodles).

STEP 2: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, urad dal, fennel seeds and curry leaves.

STEP 3: Add the onion, salt and cook for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes.

STEP 4: Add the chilli powder and ¼ cup water.

STEP 5: Toss in the chopped cabbage and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

STEP 6: Once the mixture becomes dry and the cabbage is cooked turn off the heat.

TIP: This masala tastes good with curd rice.

————————————————————————————————————————

Beetroot Vadai

PREP TIME: 60 Mins

COOKING TIME: 15 Mins

Ingredients

Beetroot – 1 cup chopped

Toor dal – ½ cup

Onion – 1

Curry Leaves – 1 sprig

Salt – per taste

Chilli powder – 2 teaspoons

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

STEP 1: Soak the toor dal for 45 minutes and grind to a coarse paste.

STEP 2: Chop the beetroot and blend to make puree. Transfer the puree to a mesh sieve and let the excess water/beetroot juice drain from the beetroot puree.

STEP 3: In a bowl add the toor dal, beetroot puree, finely chopped onion, salt, chilli powder and curry leaves. Mix well. (Make sure the mixture is thick. If the mixture has excess water, you will not be able to shape the vadai).

STEP 4: Heat oil in a deep pan.

STEP 5: Take a portion of the beetroot mixture and make small balls or flatten the small ball to make vadai. Toss it gently into the hot oil.

STEP 6: Cook till the vadai changes to a darker color or till the bubbles in the oil subsides.