greetings I am Alamelu and I thank you for joining me today as we explore how to make delightful vegetarian dishes with the enticing Indian flavors today we are preparing three marvellous vegetarian dishes Paul onion and tomato sambar a signature saucy South Indian dish a versatile eggplant and potato masala and a delicious cabbage and green peas Poirier and easy to prepare stir-fry each has wonderful flavors so everyone will enjoy eating their vegetables now we will prepare pearl onion and tomatoes sambar summer is a very nutritious saucy dish cooked with lentils and vegetables first let me go through our ingredients I have half a teaspoon of turmeric powder quarter teaspoon of asafoetida powder for about two to three curry leaves with the red pepper quarter teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1 TSP mustard seeds 1 teaspoon urad dal and I have 2 TSP sambar powder 1 teaspoon salt and quality spoon tamarind paste and I have quite a cup of red lentils here and I'm going to be using about 3 tablespoons of oil 1/2 a cup of fresh pearl onions that is peeled 1 cup chopped tomatoes quarter cup tomatoes sauce and I have quarter cup cilantro now let's start cooking so let me first talk about the lentils that is used in preparing the sambar okay here to prepare the sambar I'm using the red lentils okay that red lentil when it cooks it becomes yellow and look how creamy it is this is how that red lentil will look like when it is cooked do you know what lentils are used in India it's called tour dog tour dal is also called pigeon peas but this takes longer time to cook and you may need to soak this water and cook it in a saucepan to make it creamier and here is another lentil called mangu lentil you can also use mangu lentil which will cook within 20 minutes so it's your choice whether you want to use the red lentil or the manga lentil so I'm going to go here I'm going to heat my skillet now I poured the oil and when oil is hot but not smoking I'm going to add the curry leaves under that pepper and we see how nice it leaves I remember when I was learning to cook I ran away but now I'm used to it I'm adding the fenugreek seed and the mustard seeds and the worid okay and when I lower the heat and I'm going to add that onion and then I'm going to add the tomatoes the sambal is wonderful you can either have full onions and tomatoes some buzz you can use the same method and you can use any vegetables to make some but there it is totally amazing how many some birds you can make using the same principle and I'm going to let it cook for a while and I'm going to add the ground turmeric okay and we can make so many varieties of sambars generally in India when they are making the sambar what they will do is they will cook their lentils like this it's cooking there see that it's it's cooking when when it becomes nice and creamy what they will do is they will take all these vegetables and they will put it in the in the lentil water and then they will add all this ground spices and then they will do that tempering which is just we did you know heating the oil adding the curry leaves red pepper fenugreek seeds mustard seeds and then they will do that that the technique is called tempering then they take that and they put it into the into the pot where all the vegetables are cooking when everything is combining together the last step is where I add the I add the lentil water okay so now I added the turmeric and I'm going to add the sambar powder let me talk about the sambar powder sambar powder is a blend of many spices it has red chili pepper curry leaves coriander seeds cumin seeds fenugreek seeds all of this are roasted and they bring it to us like powder like this which is so easy to use I when I see quality product I just go for the quality the that is already made makes but that is available for us if you like you could do the sambar powder at home where you have to take these individual spices roast them grind them and add it that is fine too look how beautiful it is now it's all because of the spices if you don't want to add the salt you can totally reduce it or eliminate it because all the sambar powder and other spices really enhances the taste did you do see how nicely it blends together now let me talk about the tamarind paste actually tamarin is a fruit it's called Indian date when you open the shell and take the fruit out they remove the seed and they take all the fibers that is surrounding the fruit they will remove that and you they press it and they make it into a paste like that see and I added a little water to it and then I'm just adding it here yeah and tamarind gives like a nice sour taste okay it really enhances the flavor of the dish and that's what I have and I have a supported or a supported uh can be added to the oil in the beginning stage because I am right now I have it like a ground spice I can still use it later also okay so I have the asafoetida and I have the fenachrone the smell is so amazing now I'm going to take the lentil that's already cooked here see that and we are going to this is called dal and I'm gonna put it here and that's what makes the sauce nice and rich and I am putting that doll here and I'm going to increase the heat and let me tell you okay when you want to make a dish like this let me add the tomato sauce now let it all cook while I'm explaining everything to you so I'm adding the tomato sauce and it'll become nice and rich like that and I let it cook for a while see how beautiful it looks and also sambar can be made and I'm going to close this see sambar can be made thick or thin however you like it if you like it then you can add a little bit more water to it and it'll become a good consistency when it comes to a boil pull onions very quickly cooks and its really very aromatic because of that curry leaves and the asafoetida together see how it's boiling now so that oh look at that oh holy cow it's really good and now what I'm going to do is I'm going to let still I can see that pearl onion is a little bit hard I want that to become soft when it's beginning to boil I will add the cilantro and I'm going to give it a good stir and I'm gonna let the pearl onions become nice and soft and there you have the sambar hi here we are in West Allis Farmers Market en West Allis Wisconsin it is so exciting to go into farmers market to see what vegetables we have in there we will pick some wonderful vegetables and cook some delicious vegetables that are easy to prepare let's go in and check out what we have there Wow look at all these varieties of eggplant eggplant well it's a purple glossy beauty I would say it's a large pure shape the eggplant and here we have the Japanese eggplant and here we have a small eggplant which I call an Indian eggplant we can cook it's so easy to prepare so many dishes with eggplants and when we pick the eggplant we want to make sure it's heavy and firm and that tells us that it is fresh of course it's farm-fresh vegetable and it has a smooth shiny skin and we have the zucchini look how beautiful green color this is it is firm and hard it's this is a delicate flavor vegetable this is delicate vegetable and it should be handled carefully it is a star vegetable in this salad but we can also season it cook it with coconut and it's totally amazing look how bright and green it is and it will last in the fridge for at least a week then we have the red radish look at this beautiful red radish and we can remove the stem remove the root and clean this up and it is a star vegetable again in the salad but also we can make wonderful dishes with red radish I I think I have used red radish with bell pepper to make an amazing lentil dish now we will prepare eggplant and potato masala masala is a vegetable or a meat dish cooked with a blend of spices and herbs with onions and tomatoes here are our ingredients we have two to three slivers cinnamon stick 1 tsp cumin seeds 3/4 TSP ground turmeric 1/2 a teaspoon cayenne powder 1 tsp salt quarter teaspoon garam masala and I have about two cups of potatoes cut lengthwise 2 cups of eggplant cut lengthwise half a cup of onion cut lengthwise 1 cup diced tomato and I have 1 cup of tomatoes sauce and 2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut and I'll be using 4 tablespoons oil now let's start cooking the eggplant dish that we are going to prepare can be cooked with any type of eggplant when you pick a hard and firm eggplant the eggplant has a lot of seed in it see this it's so beautiful and the way I cut it was simply just I didn't peel the eggplant I just cut it like that and like that and just you know I just like the potatoes I just cut it and put it here I'm going to add generous amount of oil because when you're cooking the eggplant it does require oil and the potatoes too when it cooks it needs quite a bit of oil here when the oil is hot but not smoking I'm going to add the cinnamon stick there that's a good one and then I'm going to add the cumin seeds and when I added the cinnamon and the cumin seeds I'm going to add the onions I just cook the eggplant just the way it is and now I added the tomatoes and it's nice and stifling and the smell with that cinnamon and cumin it's very good and now I will add the ground turmeric turmeric is an Indian gold and it is filled with antioxidants now I'm going to add the potatoes I have decided to put the potatoes in the water because it will stay nice and fresh and it doesn't get drowned so I'm just going to share the potatoes with the spices and the turmeric and the tomatoes and then I'm going to close it and closing the lid while the potatoes is cooking it will speed up the cooking process while we are cooking it's often good to give it a good stir looks delicious now I'm going to add the eggplant the combination of the potatoes and they eggplant together is really wonderful it's a hearty vegetable dish that can be used as a side dish with any meal so now that the potato what I'm going to do is I'm going to use the Cayenne but if you just use the Cayenne by itself it's just a little hot spice but I like to use a little bit of garam masala and I think many of you know that garam masala is a very aromatic spice blend and it is available in even in the local grocery stores and it gives a wonderful aroma and garam masala is a blend of many spices and it is like cardamom cumin cinnamon cloves and all of that and this is a garam masala is very popular in northern India and I'll add the sauce to it and we have the tomato sauce so that will help us see the cooking so when you're sorting the spices and when you're cooking like this no matter where the family members are in your home they will come to your kitchen to look at what's happening and that's a very magical experience and when you cook vegetables like this it can be used as a side dish it can be used as a side dish even with the western meal look at that the potatoes are looking soft really little bit more that looks really delicious and what I'm going to do is the last one that I'm going to add the potatoes look cooked and I'm going to add the shredded coconut and we'll keep it closed and that that will be it now we will prepare cabbage and green peas poriya for eel means it is a dry stir-fry and easy to prepare stir-fry that makes a tasty and unique side dish for any meal here are other ingredients spice wise I have 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 2 teaspoons or a DA 3 curry leaves and half a TSP turmeric powder 1/2 green chili pepper chopped here and 1 tsp salt 1/2 a TSP chutney powder I'm going to be using 2 tablespoons oil about 2 cups of coarsely shredded cabbage and I have 1 cup of frozen green peas and half a cup unsweetened shredded coconut cabbage is a cruciferous vegetables and it has so many wonderful nutrients and it is also great for digestive health so we are going to add some oil and when the oil is hot but not smoking I'm going to be adding the spices and that looks like it's sizzling that's good so I dropped the curry leaves into the oil and I am going to lower the heat and I'm going to add the black mustard seeds the worid black mustard seeds and water together gives a nice nutty crunchy like case and when you prepare vegetables like this you will be amazed how the children will be wanting to come and eat cabbage green peas I am waiting for the mustard seeds to burst and would add all to turn golden once when I was say I was invited to the school to talk to five-year-olds about the helpful eating and when I took a couple of dishes to dance you should see how they were so much interested in knowing what I brought to their school so now after the spices have a turn brown and mustard seeds have popped I have added that cabbage this is like a one to two minute cooking so you'll be totally amazed how quickly it cook now I'm adding that tumeric and already there is a lot of there is some tumeric in the checking powder you may ask what is stretchy powder sati powder again comes in the ready-made mix it's a blend of some lentils that is roasted and then it has some cumin coriander seeds and so it's all ready now I'm going to add the green peas the frozen green peas that is thawed I'm just adding to it and now I'll add the salt and this particular vegetable if you are making a big chicken or a fish or any type of grilled me just like salad make this vegetable dish with cabbage and green peas I'm going to turn it off because it's almost done I like all my vegetables crisp tender and here are the green chilies if you like the green chili fine if you don't like it you don't have to add it right this is a very hot chili so I don't want to add all of it it's a Thai green chili and then I like to season it with the unsweetened coconut powder you could use fresh coconut that's fine too but here I'm just using some unsweetened shredded coconut and there you have it it's done can you believe it and it's so easy to prepare so I hope you will include more vegetables in your daily and daddy taught there this I'm delighted you could join me today as we discovered how easy it is to transform ordinary vegetables such as eggplant potatoes cabbage and green peas into tasty and irresistible dishes they can be enjoyed together with rice or bread as a wholesome vegetarian meal or any one of them can be used as a side dish for lunch or dinner thank you so long for now until next time with love from my kitchen to yours when I come to order copies of alamelu's cookbooks including recipes from this series or the DVD set of this cooking series visit mptv.org and click on store all prices include shipping and handling for more information about healthful indian flavors with alum a Lu logon - mptv.org or find us on facebook at healthful indian flavors with alla melon