Ulundhu Kali / Uluntangali / Urad Dal Halwa – South Indian Recipe




     Ulundhu Kali / Uluntangali is a South Indian traditional delight. This traditional sweet is specially given to teen girls when they attain puberty mainly because as it strengthens the pelvic bones and muscles. This sweet is made of super nutritious ingredients like urad dal (Protein), palm jaggery(Iron) and gingelly oil (Vitamin E). You can have this healthy and nutritional dish for breakfast or as snacks. Good for adults and kids.

    Ingredients

       3/4 Cup of Urad Dal (White)
       1 and 1/4 Cup of Palm Jaggery
       1/4 Cup  of Gingelly Oil
       Pinch of Salt
       1/2 Cup of water or as needed


    Method

  • Grate the palm jaggery and keep it aside.
  • Dry roast the urad dal lightly, let it cool for sometime.
  • In a pan, heat the water, after it boils, add the palm jaggery , let it be in the flame until jaggery melts and stir it occasionally. Once it done, turn off the flame

  • Powdered the urad dal finely or rava consistency using mixie or spice grinder.
  • Using tea strainer, strain the jaggery syrup to get rid of impurities. 
 
  • In a medium flame, add the Jaggery syrup to the same pan, add a pinch of salt, bring it to a boil, add urad dal powder little by little and stir well to avoid lumps.
  • Add oil little by little and keep on stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of a pan.


  • Serve hot or cold with a tsp of ghee. Make a small balls, in the center, add a tsp of ghee. Sorry I didn’t use ghee in my recipe.



   Tips

  • Adjust sweetness according to your taste buds.
  • For sweetness, you can use yellow jaggery (Vellam) from sugarcane or Palm Jaggery (Karuppatti) from palm .
  • Adding ghee gives you a rich taste.
  • Addition of cardamom powder or coconut is optional.
  • Always use gingelly oil for a authentic South Indian taste. Otherwise you can do full recipe with ghee.
  • Try to avoid lumps while mixing.
  • Adding a pinch of salt enhances sweetness.
  • If you want more like a  halwa  padham, then you should add more ghee and oil.


   Health Benefits of Urad Dal

   “Best medicine for back ache ”

   Urad Dal

  • Urad dal provides energy to the body.
  • Rich in protein.
  • Enhances digestion because of high in fiber content.
  • Boost heart health because of high in magnesium level.        


   Palm Jaggery

            Ability to cleanse your body, act as a digestive agent, sweeten your food in a healthy manner and provides a good amount of minerals.
       



Green Onion Sambar / Vengayathal Sambar



         Sambar is a lentil based dish popular in South India made of toor dal. Each state in South India prepares it with a typical variation, adapted to its taste and environment. Basically toor dal are cooked in pressure cooker along with turmeric powder, salt and water. After that vegetables, sambar powder, tamarind are cooked, lentils are added, allowed it to boil for sometime. Then cooked sambar are tempered with curry leaves, mustard and urad dal , finally garnish it with coriander leaves. Fresh curry or coriander leaves may be added at the very end to enhance the flavor. 
         This is a basic sambar recipe. You can use any vegetables to this sambar like carrot, brinjal, drumstick, radish, okra, mango or potato. Coming to this sambar recipe, addition of green onions or scallion are so flavorful and aromatic. Spring onion is a nutritious plant, and therefore it provides a host of health benefits to us. It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals which aids in curing the various ailments. Try this flavorful and nutritive sambar for rice or idly or dosa.


    Ingredients

    Pressure Cook

         1/2 Cup of Toor Dal
         1/4 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
         1 Tsp of Oil
         1/2 Tsp of Salt
         Pinch of asafoetida
         2 Cups of Water

    To Temper

         3 Tsp of Oil
         1 Red Chilly (Big)
         1/2 Tsp of Fenugreek
         1 Tsp of Mustard
         1 Tsp of Urad Dal
         Few Curry Leaves
         Pinch of Asafoetida

    To Saute
        
         1 Bunch [6]  of Green (Spring) Onion
         3 Small Onion (Shallots)
         1/4 Cup of Sliced Red Onion
         1 Large Tomato
         2 Green Chillies
         2 Tsp of Sambar Powder

    Other Ingredients

          Gooseberry size of Tamarind
          Handful of Coriander Leaves or Cilantro
          Water as needed
          Salt to taste       


    Method

  • Wash and peel it, chop the small onions and spring onions tomato into small pieces, slit the green chilly lengthwise, and finely chop the coriander leaves.
  • Soak the toor dal for 30 mins and wash it cold tap water.
  • Soak tamarind in hot water, roughly 1 cup and squeeze out the juice. Keep this aside. 

    To Pressure Cook

  • Pressure cook the dal by adding 2 Cups of water, salt, turmeric, oil and asafoetida for 5 whistles. Turn off the stove. Keep this aside.

    Tempering and Sauteing

  • Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add all the ingredients under ” To Temper “list, one by one. After mustard seeds crackles and urad dal changes color, add small onions, green onion both white and green part, sliced red onion and salt, saute this for 2 – 3 mins until it changes golden brown color.
  • Add green chillies and tomato, fry this for 1 min.
  • Add sambar powder, saute this for a min.
  • Add tamarind juice and mix well. In a medium high flame, bring it to boil for 3 mins until raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder goes.
  • Add the cooked dal, bring it to boil, add chopped coriander  and cover the pan with a lid and simmer it for 5 mins. 
  • Finally add chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves and turn off the flame.
  • Serve it with hot rice or any side dish of your choice.




    Tips

  • Serve it with idly or dosa or rice.
  • You can add any vegetable to this sambar to enhance the nutrition.
  • Adjust the spicy taste according to your taste buds by increasing the amount of sambar powder or green chilly.
  • You can add tempering either way that is before sauteing the veggies like I did or at the end.
  • If you use ghee, sambar would be more flavorful and tasty.  

    Health Benefits of Sping Onion / Green Onions      

  • Spring onion lowers the blood sugar level.
  • Good source of vitamin A, B, C, k, minerals and flavanoid antioxidants.
  • It is a support against gastrointestinal problems.
  • It is often used as a medicine for common cold.
  • It is used as an appetizer as it helps digestion.
  • Prevents ovarian cancer.
  • Allicin in this vegetable is good for the skin as it protects from skin wrinkling.
  • It speeds up the level of blood circulation in the body.




Sambar Powder / Sambhar Podi / Curry Powder


sambar powder recipe



            Sambar powder /sambhar podi / curry powder is a basic and important ingredient available  in all South Indian kitchen. This sambar powder is prepared by sun drying and pan roasting of whole spices, make it to a fine powder using a spice grinder. Ingredients and method of making sambar powder may vary from one home to other home. This is my mom’s method. I can say, this powder is her magic wand  in making most of her recipes not only in sambar preparation but also she treats it as a curry powder and  uses it  in curries, stir fries, kulambu, kootu & korma. It tastes extremely good and delicious.  So everytime we return from India, our bags are filled with sambar powder, curry leaves powder, kulambu milagai powder and paruppu podi.  So one fine morning my heart sank as I found that my spice supply was getting low . So I started making my own sambar powder after getting the formula from my Mom and it turned out really good. So here is the sambhar powder recipe so that any one can taste a slice of South Indian cuisine …

   Ingredients to make Sambar powder

  • 1 Kg of Whole Coriander Seeds ( Dhania)  
  • 1 Kg of Dry Red Chillies (Varamilagai)    
  • 1/4 Kg of Whole Turmeric( Virali Manjal)    
  • 100 gms of Whole Black Pepper ( Milagu)      
  • 100 gms of Whole Cumin ( Seeragam)             
  • 100 gms of Fenugreek ( Vendhayam)                
  • 100 gms of Toor Dal ( Thuvaram Paruppu)     
  • 100 gms of Bengal Gram (Kadalai Paruppu)  
  • 50 gms of Mustard (Kadugu)                          

   Method for sambhar podi

  • Measure the ingredients one by one correctly in a weighing machine.
  • Dry the whole coriander seeds, whole turmeric and red chillies in a sunlight for 6 hrs.
  • Roast the rest of the ingredients in a pan without oil, roast it one by one until it turns golden brown and aroma comes.
  • Let it cool for 30 mins.
  • Grind all the sun dry and dry roast ingredients in a spice grinder or flour mill to a fine powder.
  • Spread the ground powder in a wide plate or in a newspaper to cool for 30 mins or 1 hr.
  • Transfer it carefully to a airtight container.

 

how to make sambar powder

   Tips

  • Always be careful in roasting the spices, don’t burn it.
  • You can use this powder to make sambar, Puli kulambu, curries, stir fries and korma.
  • If you use whole turmeric, you have to give it to flour mill to grind. Do not grind it spice grinder, it will break the blade.
  • If you use spice grinder, grind all the ingredients except turmeric. In that case, you can add turmeric powder separately in dishes.
  • Storing is most important, so store it in a airtight container.

   Health Benefits of Sambar Powder

  • Coriander Seeds : Protects against salmonella bacteria, aids in digestion, lowers blood glucose and cholesterol.
  • Red Chillies :  They not only add heat to the meal, high in vit A, boost immunity, weight loss, prevents cancer.
  • Turmeric : Prevents cancer, natural pain killer, antimicrobial properties, treatment for depression, prevents Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis, help in weight loss    
  • Black Pepper : prevents cancer, weight loss, powerful antioxidants, dental health, antidepressant.
  • Cumin : aids in digestion and respiration, good for lactating mothers, boost the immunity, prevents cancers.
  • Fenugreek : good for diabetes, aids in digestion, good for skin disorders and lactating mothers, cancer prevention, rich in fibers
  • Toor Dal and Bengal Gram Dal: Excellent source of carbohydrates, fibers and protein.
  • Mustard Seeds :  high in anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and anti fungal properties,  rich in selenium, reduces migraine problems 

Tags : Sambar powder, sambar powder recipe, sambar podi, homemade sambar powder, sambar powder preparation, how to make sambar powder.

   

sambhar podi