Sambharapuli and Paldya

I was speaking to my friend on skype and told her about the RCI event, reflecting to her that inspite of being married to a Mangalorean, I have not picked up cooking authentic Mangalore dishes. The reason being that my parents-in-law were well settled in Tamilnadu and even if amma cooked anything that was South Canara, she would call it either, Kozhambu, Sambhar like in Tamil. And I can only recall Neeru dosai and Shavige that too served with some masala kozhambu or coconut chutney being made often.

As we were chatting, Lalitha, mailed me the recipe for paldya stating it was a very coastal canara dish. She said it was a close relative to moarkozhambu and she loves it. She suggested that I may like it too. The recipe was very simple and she was right on both counts. It was very similar to our pachchai (as for raw or uncooked) moarkozhambu and I simply loved it.

I had made my sambharapuli, which is nothing other than Kothumalli thogayal that is ground without water, so that it stays without rotting for atleast a fortnight. And with a simple carrot kari they were all complementing.

Now to the recipes,

Paldya:

Ingredients:

Any vegetable that suits a moarkozhambu. (Chow chow, Avaraikkai, Ash gourd and such)

1/2 a cup of yoghurt beaten and little water added to it.

1 large green chilli

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 tablespoons dessicated coconut

salt to taste

For tempering;

1 teaspoon oil

1teaspoon mustard seeds

1 red chilli

few curry leaves.

Grind coconut, greenchilli and cumin seeds to a paste.

In a pan on stove, cook the desired cut vegetable until half tender.

Add the ground paste and salt. Cook further until the vegetable is well cooked and the masala is blended to it.

Remove off the fire. Allow to cool slightly before adding the beaten yoghurt.

Temper with the mustard seeds, redchilli and curry leaves.

Serve with hot rice and upkari/palya.

Sambharapuli:

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of coriander leaves.

1/4 th of a cup of urad dhal

1 tablespoon channa dhal

10 red chillies (adjust according to spice requirement)

a small lime size ball of tamarind

asafoetida

salt to taste

oil few spoons to roast the dhals, chillies, tamarind and salt.

Wash coriander leaves. Dry them on a cloth spread until all water is dried.

Separate leaves and stems. ( if stems are tender we may grind them too.)

Place a heavy pan on the stove. Put oil in and roast red chillies, dhals ,tamarind, salt and asafoetida until dhals are golden and salt gives away crackling noise.

Remove these from fire and keep aside.

In the same pan toss the coriander leaves and stems for a few minutes.

Let them cool.

Put the dhal, tamarind, chilli combination in the jar of the blender and run it on a slow speed until they are coarsely pounded.

Add to this the coriander and grind further until they are well combined.

This will be sort of coarse chutney as no water is added.

If you intend the thogaiyal to be more combined, you may grind with some water. But that will not keep for long, you may have to use within two days.

This thogaiyal can be served as rice accompaniment or with dosais and idli with little oil.