KEERAI SAMBAR & RAW BANANA PORIYAL– LUNCH RECIPES

I learnt both the recipes from my MIL. Its a nice combination. I usually make this sambar once in a week. We love this. My MIL says , keerai sambar needs less tamarind and more dal. This sambar should be little bit thicker than our usual sambar. I used Arai keerai ( Amaranthus) here.U can try Mulai keerai & siru keerai , karisilankanni keerai too..If u r using siru keerai or karisilankanni keerai  add little more tamarind as those leaves tastes slighlty bitter..

INGREDIENTS

Arai keerai ( amaranthus) – 1 cup Tamarind – Big gooseberry size Toor dal – 1/2 cup Green chillies – 3 nos Sambar powder – 2 tsp Sambar onions – 12 nos ( use whole onions, no need to chop) Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp Hing – 1/2 tsp Salt & water – As needed To temper: Oil – 2 tbsp Mustard seeds – 1 tsp Methi seeds –3/4 tsp Urad dal – 1/2 tsp Red chilli – 1 no ( pinch & add) ( i dint use here)

METHOD

Wash & chop the keerai ( use the stem too ) roughly ..Pressure cook toor dal along with greens , 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder & a drop of oil till the dal is nicely mashed and set aside. Extract the juice from the tamarind and set aside. Now in a kadai ,heat oil and all the tempering items one by one  in the same order. Add the sambar onions & green chillies and saute till it turns transparent. Now add the tamarind extract , 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder ,sambar powder , salt & hing. Let it boil well for few minutes with a nice aroma. Then add the mashed dal & greens mixture.Add little water if the sambar is too thick. Boil for 3 –4 minutes and serve hot.

NOTE: Greens can be cooked in the tamarind extract instead of adding with dal. But i follow this  method to reduce the cooking time.
Sometimes my MIL adds only red chillies ..
Adding sambar onions is a must for this sambar. This gives a great smell & taste. If u dont have sambar onions in hand, u can use roughly chopped big onions too..

RAW BANANA PORIYAL / VAZHAKAI PORIYAL

INGREDIENTS

Raw banana – 1 no ( big)  OR 2 nos ( if very small) Sambar powder – 1.5 – 2  tsp Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp Tamarind – Berry sized ( less than small gooseberry size) Salt – as needed To grind Grated coconut – 2 tbsp Big onion – 1 no Jeera – 1 tsp To temper Oil – 2 tbsp Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp Urad dal – 1/2 tsp Curry leaves – few

METHOD

Wash , peel the skin and chop the raw banana in circles and soak in water. ( to avoid color change) In a vessel, cover cook the raw banana along with salt , a piece of tamarind, sambar powder , turmeric powder , salt with required water.Cook for 5 mins & check the banana is done.Do not over cook them.. Now drain the excess water & set aside.Grind the coconut in a mixie, then add the big onion & jeera and run the mixie once or twice to crush the onions.( Onion pieces will be visible) In a kadai , temper all the items given above and add the cooked raw banana pieces & the coarsely ground coconut- onion mixture..Saute in a low flame till u get nice aroma and the golden brown layer forms at the bottom.Add oil if needed.. While sauting make sure u don’t break the banana pieces and becomes mushy. Serve with sambar rice !

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