Kholmbo Pitti / Konkani Sambhar Powder
What is it about nanis (maternal grandmas), and their granddaughters? This bond has to be amongst the strongest, for even though my Biji's been gone these past nine years, she lives in my writings. Biji was tiny, plump, and beautiful. Amongst my happiest memories of her are those wherein she pottered about the kitchen, fixing hot meals for the family. She'd hum, and I'd bombard her with questions. Although she was a strict vegetarian, she cooked the meanest meat dishes (with nary a taste to judge if the dish turned out alright. It unfailingly did). My comfort food remains all that she'd cooked and fed me. Much to my chagrin, I never did learn cooking from her. As she grew old and frail, I remember her child-like joy in my cooking.
Imagine my rush of nostalgia, when Gauri [@gauriburma] shared this about her grandma "I grew up watching her huddled over the stove, stirring the rust-coloured liquid (sambhar) until it bubbled into what has now become a memory. Towards the end, her weak legs couldn’t hold her up, but they did nothing to quell her love for cooking. She would sit on a chair-she was tall, so she could pull it off-and cook. It’s how I remember her, even though, for most part, she stood upright, and with alchemist-like clarity, cooked." This recipe is via the vivacious Gauri-a chronicle of her love for her ammamma. This is to celebrate my joy in family heirlooms: recipes! Gauri, my hands smell like your ammamma's.
This recipe uses volume for measures. I used half of these volumes, and uncannily produced exactly 500 g of sambhar powder. Ingredients-
4 cups of coriander seeds (dhania)
3/4 cups of black cumin (jeera)
1/4 cup black peppercorns (kali-mirch)
1/4 cup mustard (sarson)
1/4 cup fenugreek seeds (methe)
1/2 cup bengal gram/lentil (chana-daal)
1/2 cup black gram/lentil (urad dal)
1 tola (11.6 grams) asafoetida (hing)
25-30 curry leaves, stir fried in a few drops of oil.
Dry-roasted each of these ingredients, and powdered them together. This made for 250 g powder. Added 250 g of powdered red chillies (I used Byadgi chillies), and voila! Now to cook Kholmbo for dinner.
Imagine my rush of nostalgia, when Gauri [@gauriburma] shared this about her grandma "I grew up watching her huddled over the stove, stirring the rust-coloured liquid (sambhar) until it bubbled into what has now become a memory. Towards the end, her weak legs couldn’t hold her up, but they did nothing to quell her love for cooking. She would sit on a chair-she was tall, so she could pull it off-and cook. It’s how I remember her, even though, for most part, she stood upright, and with alchemist-like clarity, cooked." This recipe is via the vivacious Gauri-a chronicle of her love for her ammamma. This is to celebrate my joy in family heirlooms: recipes! Gauri, my hands smell like your ammamma's.
This recipe uses volume for measures. I used half of these volumes, and uncannily produced exactly 500 g of sambhar powder. Ingredients-
4 cups of coriander seeds (dhania)
3/4 cups of black cumin (jeera)
1/4 cup black peppercorns (kali-mirch)
1/4 cup mustard (sarson)
1/4 cup fenugreek seeds (methe)
1/2 cup bengal gram/lentil (chana-daal)
1/2 cup black gram/lentil (urad dal)
1 tola (11.6 grams) asafoetida (hing)
25-30 curry leaves, stir fried in a few drops of oil.
Dry-roasted each of these ingredients, and powdered them together. This made for 250 g powder. Added 250 g of powdered red chillies (I used Byadgi chillies), and voila! Now to cook Kholmbo for dinner.