I love going to flea market on weekends. I feel excited when I find a unique, useful item at a bargain price. Luckily what we have here in Ohio near our home is a flea/farmers market. We can buy stuff and fresh veggies too. Last Sunday, weather was fine and sun was out, so we decided to make a trip to the flea market. I bought cherries, white icicle radishes, red radishes, tomatoes, and cantaloupe. Vijay bought a Sony radio for 3 bucks and yes, it is working. He wanted one for his office room. I saw two very thick, aluminum, restaurant quality pans, but they have no lids, and so I decided to not buy. This is our first visit to this flea market as we recently moved here. Compared the flea market, where we used to go in Pittsburgh, this one is much bigger with lots of stalls. We went there around 9, walked around for 3 hours, we still didn’t cover all. The whole summer is ahead of us.
I prepared white radish (mullangi) sambhar for dinner. They have mildly pungent taste, sweeter than the red skinned radish, tasted delicious in sambhar.
Recipe:
1 cup toordal, pinch of turmeric
One onion (if you find pearl onions, use them as whole, about 6to8 ), 2 ripe tomatoes and white radish - all cut into long strips
3 tsp of tamarind (imli) pulp
1tsp of red chilli powder, 2tsp of salt
3 tsp of sambhar powder (roasted and powdered- 1 tsp of chana dal, uraddal, coriander (dhania) seeds, fenugreek seeds (methi), jeera and shredded coconut)
I added jaggery to compensate the pungent taste of radish.
Different vegetables give different flavors to the sambhar. You can use carrots, cauliflower, capsicum, potatoes, okra, eggplant, and cucumber; choose whatever you like or combinations.
1. Ingredients for Sambhar ……. 2. Pressurecooked and Mashed Toor dal
Preparation:
Pressure-cook toor dal thoroughly until it falls apart, with turmeric in two cups of water. Mash and make a paste.
While the toor dal is pressure-cooked, heat 1 tsp of oil in a big saucepan, crackle some mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves. Add onions, tomatoes, white radish, sauté them for few minutes.
Stir in the tamarind juice, salt, red chilli powder, sambhar powder and 1 glass water. Mix it well, cover with a lid. Bring the water to boil, then add mashed toor dal. Let it simmer for fifteen minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally, till the good aroma fills your kitchen.
Serve hot with rice. Don’t worry about leftover sambhar, it tastes better next day.
Sambhar is quite popular all over South India. How did the plain dal or pappu rasam turned into Sambhar, if you are curious, read this quite interesting story.
You lived in Pittsburgh? I’m originally from a town about 150 miles North, but I’ve made more trips to the ‘Burgh than I can count…mostly for Pirates games!
Comment by Stephanie — May 24, 2005 @ 12:43 pm
Have you been to the new PNC park? We went there two years back to see a game, beautiful setting, loved the whole experience.
I have a special attachment to Pittsburgh. Its where we landed in US, when we first arrived here. Its like our hometown in US. Lived there for 3 years, all good memories, still make weekend trips often.
Comment by Indira — May 24, 2005 @ 2:28 pm
Timing is everything, and I moved to California a few months before the stadium opened! It’s still on my wish list, though…fortunately, I subscribe to MLBtv, so I can at least watch the games.
Pittsburgh’s a good city. It’s not the best, but I’m awfully fond of it.
Comment by Stephanie — May 24, 2005 @ 3:13 pm
Oh people from the ‘burgh. Where did you both live when you were here? I stay in North Hills.
Comment by Mika — May 24, 2005 @ 10:31 pm
I lived in north side,downtown and in greentree area.
Comment by Indira — May 25, 2005 @ 4:51 pm
Hey,
I just gotta say your sambar recipe is awesome. I just tried it - used potatos instead of radishes though - and the aroma and tase are extremely similar to the way my mom and aunts make it. I absolutely love your site. Im so glad I came across it!!!!
Radha
Indira says…
Hi Radha, I am glad sambhar came out awesome. Sambhar with potatoes, nothing can go wrong with that.
Looking forward to your visits and feedback on my recipes, thanks.
Comment by radha — December 1, 2005 @ 3:35 pm
I made this sambhar yday with carrots and beans it was YUMMY !! the best sambar ever i have ever tasted. I bet it would be great with radish and brinjals. I stored the rest of the sambar in fridge and had it with idlies and ur peanut chutney. It became a liitle bit semisolid coz of the toor dal paste, so i added more water and microwaved.It was unbelievable. Usually i never store any leftover in the fridge try to finish it off the same day. But this can be stored for a week .The taste gets better and better.Thanx u now i can boast to my family that i can make better sambhar than the rest
thank u indira
Indira says…
Priya.. I am glad it came out tasty and happy that you enjoyed this recipe.
How is lucy?
Comment by priya,ar — December 16, 2005 @ 1:48 pm
hi Indira, i have mailed u abt Lucy’s story. Sh e died on monday
Indira says…
Oh Priya… I just read your email. I am so sorry for your loss.
Comment by priya,ar — December 16, 2005 @ 2:37 pm
Hi Indira,
I have been browsing your blog since yesterday and I am hooked!!
I was wondering, did you grow mullis in your own garden? I haven’t seen them anywhere!!
Indira replies:
I’m glad that you found my site interesting.
No, I bought these small type of white radishes from local farmer/flea market.
Comment by sandhya — May 5, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
They llok really yummy! Have you tired mulli stuffed paranthas…..they are amazing!yum yum…:-)
Comment by sandhya — May 9, 2006 @ 11:58 am
I have found the red radish very tasty in a raita or yoghurt salad. Simply wash well and grate finely with the skin, add a little salt and marinate for an hour. Squeeze out the water (this will take out the strong flavour)then mix into yoghurt, add chopped green chillies and fresh green coriander. Season with mustard and hing in a little hot oil. Tastes good and looks colourful. (A little grated carrot can be added if desired).
Comment by Nirmala — May 27, 2006 @ 5:09 am
hi, tried the recipe … it was awesome … i tried it with ven pongal today …thanks
Comment by vidhya — January 15, 2008 @ 11:12 am
hi indira,
yummyyy….. I am originally from karnataka, right now in UK…. loved ur site!!!!!
Being a kannadiga I never knew many andhra recipe (coz my hubby is an andhrite) I used to struggle initially …. until I found ur site…. very helpful….
thank u so much!!!!
regards
Keerthy
Comment by keerthy — January 23, 2008 @ 7:18 am
yummy!!!!!… to see the dish tonight im going to try this. thanks
Comment by raji — February 12, 2008 @ 2:29 pm