white pumpkin sambar | Malar's Kitchen

Tags

Chettinad style poosanikai sambar, chettinad style sambar, podi munikina poosanikai sambar, Poosanikai Sambar, pumpkin sambar, sambar recipe, south Indian sambar recipe, white pumpkin sambar

OK, this is going to be a little long post. Feb 26th is the first anniversary for Malar’s Kitchen. I never thought I would blog on for a year. It is already a year and I can’t believe it myself. I started it just like a kid and to document all recipes. To share some Chettinad recipes. I never felt I would be blogging so seriously. Blog world has given me wonderful friends. Though sometimes I did go stressed with the blog post, blogging is always fun, addictive and enjoyable.

I hope and guess have given some healthy recipes, some traditional recipes. Till date there is 182 published post in my blog. Sigh!!! Did I do that? I wonder myself 🙂 I should give credits to my husband who did bare my cooking 😉 yeah sometimes when I try out a recipe and if doesn’t work…he has to manage with it 😛 He is always supportive. He is as well a blogger, who encouraged me all these days. In case you are interested do check his blog @ Known is a drop, Unknown is an ocean Thanks to all my blog followers, friends who follow in Facebook, friends who have subscribed via email. A big Thanks to everyone who have supported me and let me go on.

I never knew that food photography existed in the first few months while I started blogging. After seeing some wonderful pictures from co bloggers, I thought I should change my way and did few things. Till date I have just taken baby steps to learn. Hope my pictures look a bit better now.

So for the first anniversary I have chosen my grandma’s recipe, who is everything for me in this world. Instead of a sweet, I have chosen a savory food 🙂 Why not a sweet, read on…

This sambar holds a very special place in my heart, a recipe of my grandma. Whenever she prepares this sambar, I eat lot more 😀 She makes it really spicy and everyone at my home loves it so much. She calls it Podi munukina poosanikai sambar. I have tried it many times and couldn’t get her results 😦 So I called again last week and said amma(I call her amma(mother) rather than grandma as she was the one who grew me up 🙂 ) give me the exact measurements. She always tells me add a bit of this, a bit of that and I miss the correct proportion which spoils the sambar. So this time I got the perfect measurement from her and YAY, I got it perfect 😀 I was so happy and jumped in joy 🙂 I wanted to document it and share with my blog reader, hope everyone would love it as much as I do 🙂

Ingredients:

White Pumpkin/Poosanikai : 1 1/2 cup chopped (skin peeled)

Onion : 1/4 of a large

Tomato : 1/2 of a large

Turmeric Powder : generous pinch

Tamarind : 1 teaspoon

Water : as needed

Salt : as needed

To temper:

Oil : 1 1/2 tablespoon(reduce it if desired)

Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Urad dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves : Few

To grind :

Red Chili : 2 large (I have reduced from 4 to 2, if you like it more spicy can increase to 4)

Fennel Seeds/Sombu : 1 1/2 teaspoon

Fenugreek Seeds/Vendhayam: 1/4 teaspoon

Channa Dal/Kadalai Paruppu : 1 tablespoon

Raw Rice/Pachai arisi : 1 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetida/Hing : 1/8 teaspoon

Method:

In a pan, dry roast each ingredient in to grind separately , make sure not to burn and let it cool. When cool, grind it to a coarse powder( I made it to a fine powder).
Heat oil of 1 tablespoon in a medium pan. When hot add onion, saute for 2 mins.
Next add the chopped pumpkins, saute for 3 to 4 mins.
Next add tomato and saute till it mashes well. Add turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
Now add around 1 1/2 cups of water and let it boil for 6 to 7 mins. Close pan with lid.
Check if the pumpkin is 60 to 70% cooked. Now add the ground powder. Mix well.
Sambar would start getting thicker. Add 1/2 cup of water more and mix.
You can adjust water , so that it has the consistency of sambar. Make sure it is not too thick or not too watery.
Check for salt and adjust it as well.
Boil for another 10 mins. Now add tamarind juice and mix.
Boil for 5 mins. Finally check if the pumpkins are fully cooked with flavors.
Now heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal, hing. When they crackle, add curry leaves. When it splutters add it to the sambar.
Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with rice.