I learnt how my mum cooks ‘sambar’ or ‘dhal’ in her kitchen a couple of weeks ago. I’ve seen her prepare it many times but have never paid any attention to what it entailed. I now know that it entails quite a lot. Too much dicing and slicing, spices, cooking and slaving over a hot stove.  And, working a pressure cooker to boot.

My first question to my mum was, “What if you don’t have a pressure cooker?” Her answer was, “Get one.” Simple. Yes, get one if you want the ‘paruppu’ or ‘dhal’ an essential ingredient for ‘sambar’ to cook properly. Apparently, the ‘Thuvaram paruppu’ or ‘Toor dhal’ or Split Pigeon Peas sold in Malaysia won’t or doesn’t cook quickly enough on a stove or even a microwave. Who knew? Not me. Anyways, I discovered that she has five, yes five, pressure cookers in her condo. Various sizes for various functions. The one that she was using for my ‘Sambar 101’ tutorial was rather smallish and made disconcerting hissing noises. My mum demonstrated how the pressure cooker worked especially the role of the little topper thing that sat on the lid.

After five or six hisses of the pressure cooker, the ‘Paruppu/dhal’, tomatoes and garlic mixture was finally cooked. Excess water was removed, the mixture was mashed, and seasoned with salt, chilli and turmeric.  Water was added again for more cooking. Chunks of brinjal or aubergine and carrots were carefully dropped into the pot. My mum continued to use the same pressure cooker to cook on the stove. Her version of a one-pot meal. Bad idea, I thought, as the ‘sambar’ curry was already bubbling at the brim.  Adding the vegetables, especially the chunky brinjal, was like trying to stuff an already overflowing volcano of hot orange liquid. The ‘sambar’ sputtered and sprinkled all over the black stove top. Yes, my mind was already racing ahead to the heavy duty cleaning involved to remove the caked splotches. Simultaneously, I thought once I drowned … I meant submerged the brinjal into the liquid – that was the ‘sambar’ done.

No so. There were a few more steps that were needed to bring the ‘sambar’ to completion. ‘Talekaran’ or tempering. I Googled it. Tempering involved using a clean wok (out went the one-pot meal idea) to fry onions, curry leaves and a handful of mustard seeds in some hot oil. This was then tipped into the pressure cooker of ‘sambar’ and brought to another boil. Tamarind water/sauce was added. Tamarind prevented the ‘sambar’ from going bad or stale prematurely, my mum said. The final step was pouring a generous amount of coconut milk into the heaving pressure cooker to cook some more. ‘Sambar’ done. Yay.

I didn’t like my encounter with mustard seeds. Harmless until they hit the hot oil. Almost immediately they turned aggressive and popped up like Pop Pop Crackers or jumping beans. They popped and landed on my arms, all over the stove top, rug and even as far as the living room. Some rolled and hid under my mum’s kitchen roll stand, knife holder and condiment containers. Hunting down the runaway mustard seeds was not fun. 

My mum’s ‘sambar’ and long grain pulao rice were accompanied by side dishes of coconut milk-infused tomato and onions, and cashew nut based potatoes. Nice. But honestly, too much work and energy spent to produce and clean-up after. Still, my mum enjoyed the spread. And, that’s all that matters.

Ingredients, measurements and instruction

The ingredients, measurements and instruction are based solely on my mum’s description. A handful is the size of her arthritic cupped hand. Cup is her old milk tin. A ladle full is the ladle she’s had forever. Enough of this or that refers to gut feel and visual appearance. And, save some for later means prepare more of one ingredient so that it can be used in another recipe.

Ingredients

For use in the pressure cooker

• 1 cup (milk tin) of ‘Thuvaram Paruppu’ or ‘Toor dhal’
• 2 tomatoes sliced
• A few cloves of garlic
• 2 cups of water ( or enough to cook the ‘dhal’ etc.)

Other ingredients

• Turmeric (just enough)
• Chilli powder ( just enough)
• Salt to taste
• Oil to temper
• 2 big brinjal or aubergine sliced
• 6 large carrots chopped
• 1 onion diced
• A handful of mustard seeds
• A handful of curry leaves
• A handful of tamarind
• 1 cup (milk tin) of coconut milk

Instructions

• Place the ‘Thuvaram Paruppu’ or ‘Toor dhal’, tomatoes, garlic and water in a pressure cooker
• After 5 or 6 hisses, it should be cooked completely. Check after each hiss to ascertain state of ‘dhal’ etc
• Remove lid carefully. Once cool enough to handle, mash the ‘dhal’ etc.
• Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder and water to cook some more
• Throw in carrots and brinjal
• Once boiling and seemingly cooked, time to temper
• To temper, heat oil in a wok. Drop diced onion, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Once ready, pour mixture into ‘sambar’ curry.
• Cook some more
• In parallel, soak tamarind in hot water. Squeeze the tamarind. Add the tamarind water/sauce to ‘sambar’ curry. Cook some more.
• Add coconut milk. Cook some more
• ‘Sambar’ done

Point to note.  It is so much easier to go to a South Indian restaurant to have ‘Yala sapade” or a banana leaf rice meal that serves ‘sambar’, pulao rice, and a choice of vegetables and meat dishes. Good, but not as good as my mum’s. Naturally.