Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai! (Sambhar Rice - Guest Post)

The Skinny Chef has just tied the knot with Lady Riteswipe.

I, the Lazy Author; one of his bestestest friends, have taken the mantle of running this blog that may be confined to the dark corners of the web – given that The Skinny Chef’s attention is rightfully diverted now.

Back in 2012, The Skinny Chef was really skinny. He swam 100 lengths of the swimming pool and did Insanity workouts.

The upside of all of this wasn’t just health for him, it was the challenge. He also had a good metabolism. This combined with his love for cooking allowed me to handover the kitchen to him all the while that I was there.

This was in the city of Birmingham, UK. I would take up a serviced apartment and The Skinny Chef would crash at my place over the weekends cooking this or that, or the number of things that exist on his blog. However, this was over the weekends. Over the weekdays, it was a different story. As my name suggests, I was too lazy to clean the dishes and The Skinny Chef would come over, drop everything and start washing up. It was heartwarming.

Over the next couple of weeks, he was curious as to what it was I was making. I promised I’d save up my stuff for him and it so happened that I ended up cooking my special sambhar rice for this guy over one of those weekends. Yes, those exact weekends when he was supposed to do the cooking.

Thanks, Skinny Boy.

To make the sambhar rice here’s what you need to do:

1. Boil rice (Duh!). (1 cup)
2. Boil toor daal with hing. (1 cup)
3. Boil veggies, in water and use the stock – don’t throw it.

·         You would typically need aubergines (small ones - 4)

·         Drumsticks (1/ 2)

·         Potatoes (optional - 3)

·         Kaddoo (1/4 kg)

·         Tomatoes (2 of ‘em)

·         Onions (2)

·         Beans (optional)

4. Pour oil in a wok and let it heat.
5. Drop mustard seeds into it and wait for them to pop.
6. Put the finely chopped onions and let them braise till golden brown and add sambhar powder (sakthi masala is a good fit).
7. Pour in the boiled veggie stock and the veggies
8. Let the concoction boil for a proper 15 minutes – go watch a YouTube video.
9. I repeat, it’s important that you don’t hang around for it, go watch a video.
10. Sambhar's ready; pour over your rice and enjoy – don’t forget to add ghee.

Disclaimer: The image has been 'borrowed' from one of the existing recipes. I couldn't be bothered to take a picture of my own. Following this recipe may result in a different looking and tasting dish.

Author: Akshay Gawali (http://entropicky.blogspot.co.uk/)