I dreamed up this stir-fry veggie sambar for fun, as I wrote this story for the Chalks and Chopsticks event, which combines food with fiction, about four roommates at an American university looking to find the flavors of home armed with a very limited knowledge of cooking. But if you do try it, it actually tastes quite good.
Home, Or Something Like It
The Roommates liked to eat-- Indian food, exactly as mom had made it-- and that's why they decided it was time they learned how to cook. It was their first semester at grad school and they had more time than they could gossip, hang out, and study, in that order. They had delicious memories of the foods of home (which they were dying to eat again). And they had just sprung $10 for a slightly worn set of pots and pans from a Panamanian student in the apartment building who was moving back home. He had also thrown in a knife and some ladles. And a futon, if they agreed to carry it out so he could get his deposit back from the landlord.
The kitchen was new territory for the Roommates, in many different ways. Back home in India food had always been served up to them on a platter by mom, or their sisters, or grandmom, or an aunt. They did not even have to pick up the dirty plates and wash them, because someone else -- a woman -- would do it for them.
And then their kitchen here in the United States was so different. For one it looked too stark, too clean. There were no piles of just-washed vegetables dripping water on soapstone platforms, waiting to be cut before being added to sizzling kadhais sputtering with mustard seeds. No open shelves stacked with shiny, hand-scrubbed steel plates and steel tumblers. No large, round aluminum tins of rice and flour and lentils stacked on the floor, against the walls.
No mom, her hair pulled back into a bun, sweat beading her forehead, her sari tucked in at the waist, cooking up a magnificent meal.
This kitchen of the two-bedroom apartment the four Roommates had rented had pale wood cabinets, laminate countertops and a four-burner stove with an oven and coiled electric grills. The Roommates had never operated an electric stove before they moved here, or, for that matter, the gas stoves in their mom's kitchens. The only electric stoves they had ever seen were those single-burner hotplates people in India had sometimes used when the gas cylinder had run out and a new one was yet to be delivered. The hotplates usually burned the food, and sometimes whole houses.
One of the Roommates remembered how he had burned an egg as he tried to fry it on a hotplate he had smuggled into his college hostel back in Chennai. He didn't know he was supposed to oil the pan first.
"It was a little burnt-- but it tasted just great!."
Although none of the four Roommates had ever really cooked before, they weren't particularly nervous about this maiden venture. Each basked in the comfort of shared ignorance--after all, it wasn't as if anyone else in the room knew what he was doing, or was supposed to do.
The Roommate who had burnt the egg was put in charge of the actual cooking, since he was the most experienced. The others divvied up chores among themselves: one would run errands, the other would help prep and fetch anything that needed to be prepped and fetched, and the third would do all the washing-up afterwards, which meant he got to relax and watch an illegally uploaded Bollywood movie on his laptop while the others slogged in the kitchen.
"Okay, so what pan should we use?"
Four pairs of eyes scrutinized the four pans. Black inside, shiny green on the outside. Cooker Roommate tentatively picked up the tallest, and rightaway Washer Roommate smacked his hand down.
"We aren't cooking for an army, you know!"
"But mom always cooked sambar in the narrow-mouthed pans. The others are too wide."
After a lot of debate, the Roommates decided to settle on one of the wide saucepans. It seemed deep enough to hold the sambar, but small enough not to feed an army.
Next were the lentils, because everyone knew sambar was made with lentils, even the Roommates.
"Why do these look pink?"
"Aren't they supposed to be?" asked Errand Roommate who had already made three trips to the grocery store in preparation for this project, once to get the lentils, another to get the salt, and a third to get vegetables. The grocery store was almost a mile away and his legs were getting sore.
"No, you idiot, lentils are supposed to be yellow. Everyone knows that."
"I didn't see any yellow lentils. The pink was all they had."
"Well, what difference can it make?"
The lentils went into the pot, followed by some water.
"How much do I need?" Cooker Roommate who was pouring the water from a glass asked, wide-eyed. Helper Roommate peered into the pot.
"Why don't you just turn on the stove and let's see how it goes."
It was hard to know if the stove was heating up because they couldn't see any flames, but an acrid smell soon told the Roommates that not only was it heating up, it was burning something.
"The lentils!"
In went more water, and then some more, and after about half an hour the dal finally began to turn soft.Next to go into the pot was the sambar masala that Errand Roommate had brought with him all the way from Chennai. He had grumbled when his mother placed in his suitcase the huge plastic bag bulging with the fragrant orange-yellow powder she had lovingly made for him the week before he was scheduled to fly abroad to get his master's in computer science. She knew she might not see him for at least two more years.
"Amma, what will I do with this?"
It was her tearful eyes rather than any conviction that he would use the sambar powder that made him agree to tote it across continents and past the sharp eye of the U.S. customs officials. Now he was a little proud of it as he handed it to the other Roommates. His mom's sambar had been legendary.
"How much of this should I add?" Cooker Roommate picked up a large, round-bottomed ladle because they had no spoon or cup measures-- didn't even know what they were.
"Four ladlefuls?"
"Maybe you should start with one, and we can add more if it's not spicy enough?" Errand Roommate was not sure his mom had meant for it to be used up in one cooking session.
In went a heaping ladleful of sambar powder. Cooker Roommate stirred it vigorously, trying to break the lumps that immediately formed in the bubbling dal and not quite succeeding.
He put a spoon in the sambar and tasted it, then made a face. "Oh my god, it's too spicy!"
"Oh come on, it cannot be too spicy. How's it otherwise?"
"It needs salt. Do we have salt?"
Helper Roommate handed him the salt, but not before he had had a brainwave.
"Wait, sambar has vegetables in it, doesn't it?"
Errand Roommate threw up his hands. "Of course. What do you think I bought all those veggies for?"
He pointed to a white plastic tray lying in a corner of the kitchen platform. It was another stellar find from the apartment building trash dump that had already yielded a dining table, a bookshelf, and an entire encyclopedia set from 1978. Into the tray was stuffed an odd assortment of lemons, a grapefruit, and a couple of okra.
"Aha, I've been looking for my laptop charger!" Helper Roommate said, grabbing at a mass of wires and adaptors tangled around the vegetables and fruit.
Cooker Roommate picked up one of the slender green fingers. "What were you thinking?" he shook his head at Errand Roommate.
"I love Okra Sambar," Errand Roommate said defensively
"I love it too, but how on earth is one supposed to cook this?"
"How should I know? You're the cook."
Cooker Roommate turned to Helper Roommate. "Do you know how to prep this?"
Helper Roommate shook his head vigorously.
"Then go check if the girls have some cut-up veggies."
The "girls" were three women students from India who were also renting an apartment in the same building, and with whom the Roommates had struck up a deep and instant friendship that they hoped would blossom into more.
When Helper Roommate came back, he held up a frozen bag. "This is all they had." It was a bag of stir-fry vegetables: mushrooms, broccoli, celery, carrots, and water chestnuts.
"I've never seen a sambar made with mushrooms-- or celery. And what on earth are water chestnuts?"
"Well, they are vegetables, aren't they? That's good enough!"
Cooker Roommate grabbed it from his hand and emptied the package into the bubbling sambar.
"It smells great! I think it needs more salt."
"Oh, and don't forget the lemon-- a good sambar needs some tang."
"Shouldn't we have made some rice?"
The Roommates gathered around the dining table. Sizzling sambar was generously drizzled over slightly-hard-from-the-refrigerator rice leftover from the Chinese food they had ordered yesterday. The Roommates dug in with their fingers, just as they had back home. Everyone was silent for a good two minutes as they chewed over celery, broccoli, water chestnuts, and mushrooms, and tried to find the flavors of home.
"How is it?" asked Cooker Roommate, eager to know the result of all that pouring, mixing, sizzling, and stirring.
Three pairs of eyes looked up at him.
"It's a little lumpy," said Errand Roommate.
"A little too spicy," said Washer Roommate
"And a little burnt," said Helper Roommate.
"But it tastes just great," all four roared together.
**
The Roommates are based loosely on memories of students I met after first moving to the United States to go to grad school. For many Indian students-- and there is a significant number of these in universities around the world and particularly here in the United States-- food is perhaps the most difficult in a plethora of adjustments they are forced to make when they choose to live abroad. While the new foods of their new home are fun for a while, it is not too long after that these creatures, who are usually stepping away from the comfort of mom and dad's home for the first time, start pining for the familiar.
The adjustment is, of course, hardest for Indian men who have never usually cooked back home or even helped in the kitchen. My story was inspired by an episode Desi narrated to me, from a time he and his roommates tried to cook sambar and ended up with a mighty strange version of it, mushrooms and all.
***
Strange though a stir-fry veggie sambar might sound, I decided to take a stab at it. And the Roommates might have been on to something-- celery, broccoli, mushrooms and water chestnuts do taste pretty good in a sambar, especially when the sambar powder comes from back home (mine came from my sis-in-law Paddu).
Who knew? Thanks, Jaya and Aqua, for hosting this fun event.
Related recipes
Stir-Fry Veggie Sambar for Chalks and Chopsticks
Ingredients
- 1 12- oz package of stir-fry veggies (mine had carrots, broccoli, celery, water chestnuts, and mushrooms in it)
- ¾ cup pink lentils or masoor dal (Cooker Roommate was right-- sambar is usually made with yellow split peas, but Errand Roommate would be happy to know that red lentils magically cook up yellow, and taste great in a sambar). Soak the lentils for 30 minutes in water, then drain, cover with fresh water, and cook for about 20-30 minutes until very tender.
- 1 1- inch ball of tamarind , soaked in ¼ cup of water for half an hour. Extract the juice by crushing with your fingers. Strain the juice and throw away the solids.
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 heaping tablespoon sambar powder (not a ladleful, for sure)
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon asafoetida , or hing
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon grated jaggery (use sugar if you can' t find this)
Instructions
- Heat the oil and add the asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds. When they sputter, add the curry leaves.
- Add the tamarind juice and turmeric bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the sambar powder. Stir well.
- Add the veggies and more water, if needed. Cook until veggies are fairly tender, about 5 more minutes.
- Add the lentils, or dal, and stir together well. Add salt to taste.
- Bring everything to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Serve hot over rice.
Opie got a haircut for the summer, and everyone in the neighborhood wants to know if we got a new puppy. I miss all that gorgeous silky golden hair to bury my face in, but how cute is this?
Vaishali
SS, I am sure you do. 🙂 Welcome, again!
SS blogs here
Awesome story, Vaishali! I'm sure I know some of those roommates! 😀
Visiting you after a while. Your doggie looks cute!
Vaishali
Anonymous, don't add water or any other liquid to the tofu if you're using it as an egg substitute. Whisk the tofu and use.
I would suggest using firm silken MoriNu tofu, although regular firm tofu would work at a pinch. Blend it thoroughly to get rid of lumps.
Vaishali
Anonymous, glad you related to it. Your story sounds eerily close to my fictional one, for sure! And eggs in the freezer-- that's a good one. 🙂
Mints, thanks, and Opie sends a tail wag!
Khushi, thanks, I'll try to participate.
Anonymous
Hi Vaishali, I was reading the substitutions page and have a question. The 1/4 cup of tofu to replace an egg, is that any particular kind of tofu, Mori-nu type or water packed, also firm or soft? Do you blend it by itself or with some water. If with water, how much per 1/4 cup of tofu? Thanks!
khushi
lovely recipe...do visit the ongoing event and send us some beautiful recipes of yours 🙂
A Girl's Diary
Event:
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Mints!
Hilarious! Great writing as usual Vaishali.
Sambar is nice too.
Lots of love to 'bobcut' haired Opie 🙂
Anonymous
u r story really impressed me as I can relate to it so much...
the first day I came to US, I made Okra fry and I kept adding sugar instead of salt (u knw how diff they look in India but hear u cant differentiate it without tasting it)
and I kept thinking the sweetness is because the Okra is caramelising...anyway, all my poor roommates ate it with curd rice and as you mentioned the 4th roommate said it was good 🙂
my husband and myself went to the same school and like you mentioned he was my neighbor who came in everyday to borrow something or the other...anyway, he always tells me they had a very similar exp...for 6 people in the room they decided to make sambar using 12 cups dal counting atleast 2 cups for each...now they definitely ended up cooking for a whole army 🙂
oh n btw, they stored their eggs in the freezer the first say ....but I am proud to say myself and my husband are good (ok...average) cooks now after 7 yrs in this country...
Vaishali
Sunshinemom, Harsha sounds adorable-- and bright! 🙂
Sam, Sambar powder has a pretty distinct taste and the ingredients it contains vary significantly from those in garam masala or curry powder, or other Indian spice mixes. It's easily available online and at Indian grocery stores. But if you have access to curry powder, you could get a decent dal by using curry powder instead of the sambar masala-- it won't be sambar, but it'd be delicious.
Ms. S, I did buy the English version of Sumaithu Paar the last time I was in India, but haven't opened it in forever. Now I can't wait to run home and look at it! I do remember some other translated Indian cook books that give amusing instructions like, grind the dal to a "nice" texture. 🙂
Ms. S
Ooooh..that brought back memories:) My roommate and I rolled with laughter reading the English version of meenakshi Ammal's "Samaithhu Paar" (Cook and See). If ever you want a good laugh, do read it...the literal translation is to die for:)
Ms. S
Sam At H.V.R
This recipe looks YUMMY! Just one question, what can I use as an alternative for sambar powder? I'm not really familiar with it... 🙂
Sunshinemom
Oh yes, Harsha enjoyed it thoroughly. She remembers you as 'the journalist who is vegan'.:)
Vaishali
Miri, thanks, and the sambar powder is certainly key. 🙂
Zengirl, good to see you back. Thank you for your kind words!
Skay, Thanks! Means a lot coming from you.
Skay
Vaishali, that was a wonderful piece! Fiction and food...its right up your alley. Absolutely loved it!
Zengirl @ Heart and Mind
Dear Vaishali,
You have truly gift of words! The story came alive as I read it!
The sambhar images made me drool over as always, even though I took precaution and ate before reading your blog post!
Opie looks cute with hair cut! I missed reading here as I have been bit busy in chaotic life lately.
Preeti
Miri
Very funny and memorable V....!
the sambar itself i must try one day to see - but the sambar powder must be the key too.....
Vaishali
Notyet100, Thank you!
Sunshinemom: Thanks for your kind words-- that's really sweet of you. I hope your daughter enjoyed the story too. 🙂
Sunshinemom
Beautiful!! Of course one does not expect anything less than excellent from you, Vaishali! I have always enjoyed reading your posts and admired the flow and continuity of thoughts. My daughter and I enjoyed reading this together.:)
notyet100
Truly enjoyed reading this 🙂
Vaishali
Adam, that brought a smile to my face. 🙂 I remember going down to the Hare Krishna temple here in the DC area to snag some meals-- they were always incredibly tasty.
Joy, you are so kind-- thank you!
Joy
I absolutely love your blog, it is so amazing and interesting. This entry is indeed humorous!
I love Indian cuisine as well, as it offers a great variety of delicious vegetarian food.
adam
What a funny story! I relate to it fron the outside as I was an English student living with Indian students when I first went to Uni here in London. None of us knew how to cook, so we all went down to the local Hari Krishna temple and did some chanting in order to get our free meal. Then I met an Indian girlfriend there and so the first food I learnt to cook was Indian not English as she slowly taught me a few basic curries - but I still didn't know how to boil an egg!
Vaishali
Desisoccermom, I admit I forgot about the photo cue and had to work it in at the last minute, but it worked out okay in the end. Thanks for hosting this fun event!
Desisoccermom
Thank you for that comedy of errors Vaishali. And it fit perfectly with my photo cue. Awesome!
Vaishali
Richa, dead beetles as cumin...??!! I don't have one to beat that! How hilarious, but so believable.
Poornima, Thanks!
Swati Sapna, Thanks! I like pink lentils in sambar too, not least because they cook up so fast. Good to know that's how most south Indians like it. 🙂
Swati Sapna
I absolutely loved reading the Stir-fry Sambhar Story!! I'm sure everyone is going to identify with it 🙂 all of us started experimenting in the kitchen in college or just after, and the tales the kitchen could tell...!!! 😀
though i'm not sure if I would actually be as adventurous as to try mushroom, and broccoli in sambhar, the pink masoor dal makes a very nice variant. in fact many south indians prefer their sambhar with pink dal!
Poornima Nair
Great story...we've all probably had similar experiences. Sambhar looks delish!!
Richa
this was one fun post! i made my husband read it to me coz my eyes were wonky.. and let me tell u that this is so true a story..:) i have lots of exactly similar stories from my husband and his roommmates kitchen! making white sauce out of flour and potatoes.. and thinking of dead flour beetles as cumin..:)
Richa
Vaishali
Kamini, 🙂 Thanks!
Pavani, thanks. And yes, I think most of us who learned to cook as adults can relate to this-- I was in my 20s when I first made my first dal, and I for sure didn't know what I was doing.
Allysia, Sambar is indeed an amazing dish. It's south Indian, often referred to as kuzhambu, and is usually very healthy. Hope you'll try it sometime. 🙂
Santosh, Divya, Thanks!
Harini-Jaya, well said. 🙂
harini-jaya
this comical story sounds so typical of students (specially pampered young male students) who land into 'dream land' only to be jolted by the stark reality of 'cooking'!!
divya
wow very innovative n ur clicks r awesome
Santosh Bangar
NICE POST WITH DISH ALSO
Allysia
I love this story! It made me laugh. And I don't even think I've ever had sambar before, but it looks amazing!
Pavani
That is a great story Vaishali. I was a little like that when I first started cooking, but thanks to a more experienced roommate I got to learn things fast. Sambar with mixed veggies looks awesome.
Kamini
Ha ha that was hilarious. I am sure my husband will relate to it, the time when he came to the US years ago packed with podis and powders! Your dog is adorable......!