How to make Sambar Rice in Microwave | Sambar Sadam Recipe | Step By Step Recipes

I know I have made Sambar Sadam in many different ways. Yet I couldn't stop myself from making it in Microwave! Though I won't say it was a breezy one in terms of time. Anytime making this rice in Pressure Cooker gets thumbs up. But making Sambar Rice in Microwave sure has its advantage.

I finally found that one can get lot of things done while the rice gets cooked safely in the Oven. You need not fret over the fact that water from the cooker gets drained out. Or that you got to keep standing next to it to ensure it doesn't get burnt. Not that I am saying it will. But on the chances of course.

Else you can see yourself painting, doing that much needed exercise or even just sleeping! I am not saying I did all these but saying I could do all these things.

Yesterday being a Sunday, I again had loads of dishes done. Much to my own amusement, did quite a few of them in Microwave! Well I am sure I am going to be told never to cook again in a microwave.

Sunday was quite fun. We started the day with power outage which lasted for 4 hours. One plus point was the fact that kids actually thought of some games to play rather than the usual TV. Lunch was vegetarian, so made Pappu Chaaru with Beans Parupu Usli. What was different was the fact that I made the Parupu Usli in Microwave! Well I know I know, you will surely get to read about it.

Then I made Carrot Halwa as I had invited a friend for dinner. Kids had a major fun time with my friend. By the time we slept it was well way beyond our usual time.

Sambar Rice in Microwave
Cooking Time : 1 hr 15 mins
Cooking Method: Microwave mode, default setting.

Coming to the Sambar Rice that was made in the Microwave, lets see in step by step method.

Wash and Soak rice for 15 - 20 mins.

Cooking the Dal

Cooking Toor dal is quite difficult as it is very hard. So to easy the process, you can wash and soak it in hot water. For that micro 2 glasses of water for 3 mins, soak the toor dal in the hot water with lid covered for 10 mins. Else this might take about 20 - 25 mins of micro cooking.

Using a ladle, mash the dal well.

Roast the cashews in 1 tsp of ghee.

Soak the tamarind for extracting the pulp, else you can use if you have already prepared ahead.

Have all the vegetables ready for use

After doing the curry leaves, add the onions, tomatoes together. Micro for 5 mins.

 The tomatoes will be nicely mashed

Then goes the Sambar powder.

 Mix well and again micro for 2 min.

Add the chopped vegetables, micro again for 5 mins. Sprinkle some water for the vegetables to get steamed.

Mix the dal and soaked rice together. Pour the cooked vegetable masala to the rice bowl. Add 6 cups of water. Stir well and micro for 30 mins.

In the intervals of 10 mins, stop and stir well. This step is not really mandatory, you can stir in between 15 mins. But it ensures the rice is cooked well.

Check if the water is enough and the rice is getting cooked.

Stir again and keep it back!

At this stage it looked it needed some water, so added it.

Add the remaining cup of water. Add more if it is required.

At this stage when the rice looks well cooked, add the tamarind extract, salt and fried Cashews.

End of 30 - 40 mins, the rice is really well done.

How to make Sambar Rice in Microwave 

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice - 2 cups
Toor Dal/ Pigeon Pea - 1 cup
Mixed Vegetables - Carrot, Beans, Peas, Radish, Drumstick, Brinjal (I used only first 4)
Onions - 1 medium (Shallot is the best)
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Sambar Powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves few
Cashew Nuts- 5 whole
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 -3 tsp
Mustard Seeds, Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind Extract - 1-2 tsp
Water - 2 & 1/2 for dal
for making the rice - 7 cups

Method to prepare:

Wash and Soak rice for 15 - 20 mins.

Cooking the Dal

Cooking Toor dal is quite difficult as it is very hard. So to easy the process, you can wash and soak it in hot water. For that micro 2 glasses of water for 3 mins, soak the toor dal in the hot water with lid covered for 10 mins. Else this might take about 20 - 25 mins of micro cooking.

Using a ladle, mash the dal well.

Roast the cashews in 1 tsp of ghee.

Soak the tamarind for extracting the pulp, else you can use if you have already prepared ahead.

Making the masala:

In a microwave safe bowl, take the oil along with mustard, curry leaves, micro for 1 min.

Then add the onions, tomatoes together. Micro for 5 mins. The tomatoes will be nicely mashed.

Add the chopped vegetables, micro again for 5 mins. With the moisture that is already in the bowl, the vegetables will get steamed.

Then goes the Sambar powder. Mix well and again micro for 2 min.

Mix the dal and soaked rice together. Pour the cooked vegetable masala to the rice bowl. Add 6 cups of water. Stir well and micro for 30 mins.

In the intervals of 10 mins, stop and stir well. This step is not really mandatory, you can stir in between 15 mins. But it ensures the rice is cooked well.

At this stage when the rice looks well cooked, add the tamarind extract, salt and fried Cashews. Add the remaining cup of water. Add more if it is required.

End of 30 - 40 mins, the rice is really well done.

Notes: When cooking with Toor dal, always make sure you soak in hot water for best results and quick cooking.

Sambar Rice is supposed to be very gooey, so adding more water is expected. This also ensures that the rice is well cooked.

I have added only few vegetables, you can add as per your preference.

This is simpler way of making Bisi Bela Bath, of course I can't claim this is anyway close to the taste that you get from that. But for a simpler taste you can settle for this.

Check out my other Sambar Rice that was cooked in Pressure Cooker. Well I have one Rice Cooker method too, which might surface sometime.

For those of you are bored to see so many Microwave Recipes, I can't help it. I really got to prove to Hubby dear that his investment has not gone waste..:)

And also I am clueless on what new thing I should prepare. If you have something in mind, ask away!

Until next time, which would be a sweet dwelling, have a great week ahead!

For other Rice Ides, check out the Rice Dishes

Sending this to PJ who is hosting my MEC event this month themed on our Favorites! 

Sending this to Susan's My Legume Love Affair, one of my favorite event, hosted by Siri this month.

Yellow Moong Dal in Microwave | Pesarapappu Kura for Poori | Step By Step Recipe in Microwave

Pesara pappu Kura was to my knowledge almost the first dish I learnt to cook myself. It is one of those dishes that can cook itself anytime. Cooking Yellow Moong Dal is not tough and this dal is one of the staple dals that get featured on our Sunday breakfast menu.

This Sunday I really thought I had enough of Channa Masala with Poori week after week. Mind you, except the elders nobody raised a voice in opposition. Infact seeing their favorite Channa not on the table I heard 2 voices protesting strongly. I sternly said I had enough and we should explore other wonderful dishes too.

Within minutes I heard one sweet little voice that said "Amma this is so tasty, please make this every day for me" That was Chinnu who asks for me to make a particular dish everyday if he likes it. Then Konda too joined him to say it was very nice.

Though I always make this dal in Pressure Cooker, this time I wanted to try the same in my Microwave Oven.

I was thinking of soaking the dal in water for 10 - 15 minutes. But felt soaking in hot water will be better. So Micro 1 cup of water for 2 mins in micro, while you wash the dal.

Soak yellow moong dal in hot water for 5 minutes with lid covered.

Micro the dal for 15 mins with 1 & 1/2 cups water.

Then saute chopped onions, green chilies, cumin for 2 mins

Followed by tomatoes and turmeric for 2 mins

Tomatoes get really mashed well.

Finally add the cooked dal along with 2 cups of water and salt. Micro for 5 mins

Dal is ready to be served

Ingredients Needed

Yellow Moong Dal / Peserapappu - 3/4 cup
Water - 3 & 1/2 cup
Onions - 1/2 of a small one
Tomatoes - 1 medium
Green chillies - 4
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Tadka

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - few springs

I didn't add Red chilies and Curry leaves. Hence chopped Green chilies while sauteing so it had normal spice.


All of us felt that this version of dal was much tastier than the usual Pressure Cooker one.

Since this is one of my favorite dish prepared entirely in Microwave, sending this to PJ who is hosting my MEC event this month themed on our Favorites!

Sending this to Susan's My Legume Love Affair, one of my favorite event, hosted by Siri this month. 

Sooji ka Halwa | Suji ka Halwa Recipe in Microwave | Step By Step Recipes | Microwave Recipes

The way the day went by today was quite an adventure. I almost cooked our breakfast and few more dishes in Microwave. True to the 365 days of Microwave Cooking, I want to make as many dishes entirely in the Microwave as possible. I made my point clear that I am going to get a list of dishes enough to fill 365 days.

I have a Microwave Convectional Oven and I will be posting recipes for both too.

I promised Nive that I would send some more halwas her way. She was worried that she may not get that many entries to make it a success. So my small contribution to make her happy! I have two more to go, hopefully will post it within this month.

If you have been a regular here, you would know my attachment to Halwas. You can check out the Halwa Recipes that I have. I have already posted Kesari Bath, this version is almost the same, just the proportions little different. And it is entirely done in Microwave.

Update: In Microwave Cooking, when you cook in Micro mode it is always Power Mode High. So normal cooking is always Micro Power High. Only for certain cooking you will have to change the Temperature Mode. This is a pre-defined setting you need not change this, at least in my Oven I don't have to change. Please check your Oven Setting before doing this.

In a microwave bowl, add 1 tsp of ghee and chopped cashew nuts.

Micro for 1 minute.

Remove the cashew nuts, in the ghee add 1 cup of semolina.

Micro for 1 minute. It turns well roasted.

Remove from the bowl, add 1 & 1/2 cup Milk, 1/2 cup water, cardamon and 1 cup sugar. Micro for 2 minutes

Then remove, add the semolina

Add kesari food colour. Stir well.

Micro for 5 minutes.

Finally add the roasted cashew nuts, 1 tsp ghee. mix well. Micro for 1 minute

Sooji ka Halwa | Suji ka Halwa Recipe in Microwave

Ingredients Needed:

Semolina - 1 cup
Milk - 1 & 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom a pinch
Cashew nuts - 5 whole
Ghee - 2 tsp

Microwave Safe Bowl

Total time to cook in Microwave - 10 minutes

Method to prepare:

In a microwave safe bowl, heat ghee with cashew nuts for 1 min. Remove the nuts, add the semolina. Stir well and micro for 1 minute.

Remove the semolina, add the milk along with sugar and cardamon. Micro for 2 mins.

Add the kesari food colour, stir well, then add the roasted rava. Mix well.

Micro for 5 minutes.

Remove, add the roasted nuts and ghee. Mix well and micro for 1 min.
 
Enjoy your Sooji Ka halwa.

Sending this to Nivedita's Celebrate Sweets - Halwa event!

Since this is one of my favorite dish prepared entirely in Microwave, sending this to PJ who is hosting my MEC event this month themed on our Favorites! Thanks for hosting the events guys!.

Plain and Sauteed Onion Idlis | How to dress up Idlis | Indian Breakfast Recipes

The one main reason that I love about this place I live, is its unpredictable weather. Not that I have lived in other places, still as a statement that holds true! Yesterday it rained and it is hard for me to capture the beauty that flowed from because of the rains and the thoughts that came to mind.

I really wanted to live just for that moment and nothing else really mattered. The worries, the apprehensions and so many other things that is part of everyday mundane life. While I was thinking about it, I realized that its been a while since I updated what my kids are up to these days. Thankfully both Peddu and Chinnu leave to school, somehow even when they make a fuss about not wanting to go.

Mornings were always the most hectic period of the day, it somehow become even more than before. Now we have three kids to pack and send to school. We are reeling down on the pressure but we are positive we will manage. As it is about 2 hours in the morning. At least for the boys, it is only the breakfast I have to worry about. Konda carries her lunch. So that is another constant worry as to what to make.

Boys have been sweet enough to ask me only for Dosa or Poha. Chinnu keeps saying Avoul Avoul is what he wants. And yes I guess I forgot to mention, both of them have developed deep love for Drumstick. Everyday they want Drumstick Sambar. With Rice, Dosa and loads of Drumstick. I think end of their affair, we will end up not liking Drumstick!

Talking about their latest fancies, both of them like to play with Wheat dough. Last night, Peddu took a big pinch of the dough flatten it like the biscuit I really made, showed it to me and said "See I made like the bikie you make for me, I love that bikie Amma, very much". with a twinkle in his eyes. He sure know how to melt me with words!

Coming to this Idli variation I got to today, this was something Amma made weeks ago. I stopped making Idlis because kids refuse to eat them. Amma knowing how much we miss Idlis, made this for us. This is very much like how you make Uthappams. When the Idle batter has gone a bit sour, spice it with different things.

Amma makes many varieties with Idlis, like stuffed idlis, Masala Idlis, Spiced Idlies, well the list is endless. I should say your imagination can get wild!

I really don't have a name for this version, but lets call it simply as Onion Idlis

Plain Onion Idlis

Ingredients Needed:

Idli batter - 4  cups
Onions - 2 medium
Finely chopped Green chillies – 2
Coriander leaves – a few
Curry Leaves handful
Salt – a little
Method to prepare :

In a bowl, take the batter and add the finely chopped onions, green chilies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Mix well.

In a greased idli molds, fill with one scoop of this batter and steam for 15 mins or till done.

Serve hot with sambar or chutney.

Sautéed Onion Idlis

Idli batter - 4  cups
Onions - 1 medium
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram – 1 tsp
Finely chopped Green chillies – 2
Coriander leaves – a few
Curry Leaves handful
Salt – a little
Oil – 2 tsp

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, Urad dal and Bengal gram.

When the mustard starts spluttering add onion, green chillies and curry leaves one by one and fry till onion turn light brown.

Remove from heat, pour into the idli batter, stir in the chopped coriander and add salt if required.

Pour a ladleful on a greased idli plate. Steam for 15 mins or till done.

Serve hot with sambar or chutney.

If you are looking for colour, you can add turmeric. We normally that to spice the dosa and not with idli. But Yellow Idlis will look good too.

Basic Biscuit Recipe | Bakery Biscuits | Step By Step Recipes

I am sure many of you remember those buttery biscuits that all Moms make during their kid's childhood days. I remember Amma making this on stove, then in oven, if I am not wrong, even on a makeshift oven using sand. Those perfect melt in your mouth biscuits, that look very white and smell so well. The moment you bite into it, you can feel it melting away and you have the aftermath of a wonderful sensation.

I had long forgotten how Amma used to make nor did I wanted to try a new recipe. When I got my new Microwave Convectional oven, I got to see this recipe being done as a demo. It was wonderful to know that those battery biscuits one gets from shops could so well be done at home. Only disadvantage being it uses Vanaspati instead of Butter. When I asked Amma, she said most shops use Vanaspati instead of Butter. Vanaspati as you know is a hydrogenated vegetable fat. It is mostly used as a butter substitute.

These biscuits are called Venna Biscuit or Butter Biscuit in our bakery, these are white in colour and usually very soft to bite into.

For now I really won't worry this inclusion, but will surely try with exact butter measurement soon. Konda and Peddu loved this on the very first bite and have asked me to make it some 4 times now. Every time it disappears as fast as it was baked. This time round I wanted to ensure I have some left for the final pictures.

Its been ages since I baked anything, and this really was very therapeutic. I sniffed at something in the memory and it felt like Pizzas..yes I know what is my next on the list.

Do remember to check out my favorite Dal Rice for Kids

 Konda enjoyed her share of mixing the dough.

 You should continue to knead till you get a soft dough

 Place each pressed ball on the tray

 Biscuits getting baked towards the end of the 15 minutes.

 Allow the biscuits to cool

 

Bakery Biscuits in Microwave Convectional Oven.
Makes - 20 small ones

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanaspati - 75 gms
Vanilla essence few drops

Method to prepare:

In a bowl, shift the flour with icing sugar well. Add the vanilla essence and mix.

Then slowly mix in the vanaspati. This needs to be done with small quantity and you need to keep rubbing it to get that crumble texture.

Press the Convection mode in your Microwave, increase the temperature to 185 degree. The time duration for pre heat is taken care automatically by the mw oven.

Keep kneading in the dough and continue till you get a dough that is soft yet stays in shape. Pinch out small balls and press between your palms to form a small circles.

Else you can also make balls and roll them to the thickness you prefer and cut with a biscuit cutter.

I simply pinched out balls and pressed them before placing them on the tray. You need not grease the tray as the biscuits will let out oil during the baking process.

Once you have placed all the biscuits on the tray and the timer on the pre heat goes out, place the tray inside the mw oven and bake for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, you can let it rest for few minutes inside the oven. Then remove and allow it to cool before storing it in an air tight container.

With 1 cup of flour, I was able to make 1 batch, but if you want to make more, remove the biscuits on to the wire rack and bake the second batch.

 Enjoy! Next on the list will be a savory biscuit.

How to Make Rasam in 5 minutes | Thin Lentil Soup | Step by Step Recipes

And pack yourself to work in next 10 minutes. Well of course this post is not about how you can pack yourself to office. But it surely is about making Rasam, the famous South Indian dish. Many refer to this dish as a Soup, somehow I am not really comfortable. Though I have seen and known many who drink this as such. Rasam is an integral part of the Thali or even the regular meals.

Making rasam is an everyday affair in most South Indian and they won't consider making this a task beyond them. As I said in my Cumin Pepper Rasam, Amma is known for her lip smacking Rasam. Dad teases her that she makes it extra special when she has guests to entertain.

Though I have already posted Jeelakarra Miriyala Rasam/ Cumin Pepper Rasam, I am posting it again in clear step wise as few of my bachelor readers wanted to make at home. Hope this helps!

Rasam can be made with different combination. We normally add cooked dal to the rasam to give some thickness plus the required protein supplement. Mostly dhal is not added.

It is a thin base made with tomatoes, tamarind and other spices. Rasam is very good for digestion. Since I mostly send Dal rice for my boys, I make it every day. Though cooking the dal, soaking the tamarind etc right then will not take much time, it is always convenient to have certain things. I tried making the rasam everyday, some days it gets too hectic. That time I used to wish I had some short cuts. I never liked refrigerating the rasam for the next day.

So the next best option was having the ingredients ready on hand for a quick Rasam to get prepared.

Following are the ingredients you need to have ready, if you really wish to make the Rasam in 5 minutes. Don't worry I have timed it exactly many times.

1. Have cooked Dal ready at hand.
2. Tamarind Paste/ Extract
3. Cumin Pepper Powder
4. Coriander Leaves and stacks, Scissors.

For getting the entire recipe, check out Cumin Pepper Rasam,

Lets see how this can be done so very quickly!

Toor Dal can be cooked on Sundays or even on Mondays. I normally cook bulk amount on Mondays and store through the week. Take the dal water you get and make rasam. Else scoop out a half a ladle as in the pictures. Rasam powder is made to last me 5 days.

In a bowl, take the cooked dhal, finely chopped tomatoes, Tamarind extract.

Mash the dal, tomatoes and tamarind very nicely to get everything mixed up. ..Update..see in the hurry to get this done, I forgot to mention that you should add Salt at this stage..Thanks Anon...

For Seasoning, this is what you need. Rasam Powder, Crushed garlic. It is always said that you should crush the garlic and allow it to breathe, this way it is supposed to be very healthy.

Here's where you need the scissors. Wash and clean the coriander leaves. Chop down the coriander leaves very finely over the cooking rasam.

In a deep botton pan, heat a tsp of ghee. We normally add Ghee/ Clarified butter. Then add the ingredients kept aside for seasoning. Saute well.

Then gently pour the mixed dal and tomatoes on this. Be very careful at this stage as it might splutter.On top of the rasam, chop in fine coriander

Allow to start boiling. Rule of thumb is never to disturb the cooking process.

It is coming up...

spilled over..well I don't' normally allow it spill over, but all for a photo!

When you have all the other ingredients on hand, this hardly takes only 5 minutes. Since most of the ingredients are pre-cooked, this rasam will not taste raw or  uncooked or some thing.

Do try this at home and let me know. Happy Weekend!

365 days of Microwave Cooking!

Do I see many heads shaking in disbelief at the sheer audacity in announcing something like this? Well you can rest your poor head for a while and read what draft I got to say.

Before that let me tell you all a story. We had a regular oven, which served us true for many years and dished out some lip smacking pizzas, grilled chickens, melt in your mouth biscuits and what not. Then one fine day it died, without any signs or clues, it simply refused to start again.

Given that we were so used to its assistance in the kitchen, Amma said we should buy another one. This time smart pants that I am, suggested we buy an oven. Almost a decade ago, Microwave ovens costed a lot. Still promising Dad that we would surely make the fullest use, bought one and kept it home. Kept is the right word, because we hardly used.

The one time I tried making Chicken Korma, the insulator burst. The second time I tried making a Veg Gravy, the glass plate cracked. The pizza base which normally used to come so soft and crusty came out hard. Then we silently agreed that we were not going to tax it much. And so it was part of my kitchen and it so dutifully remained so.

Until one fine day, read after I started blogging, I announced a wish to start an event. I actually wanted it to be on Lunch Box, some suggested one such event already existed. So why not on Microwave Cooking. Thus came into existence Microwave Easy Cooking Event. This event is soon going to celebrate its 3rd year too.

Coming to the point of this post. Because I was the initiator of this event, I can't be seen without having an entry myself right. So after many years, the oven found day light. I started cooking in it. But more than regular cooking, we used it so much for reheating purpose.

When my oven gave up on us, Athamma was so dejected at not having this handy. Though we used the microwave oven to the fullest, hubby dear didn't believe I did justification to that. And after so much persuasion, meaning to say I will make Chicken Tikka for him, he finally bought us a new microwave oven.

Whether my old oven had all these features or not, I am not sure. But I have been using the new one quite efficiently. The possibilities are mind blowing and fantastic. Right from par boiling, to making a complete dish, I am simply enjoying my cooking. Of course one has to get used to the cooking mode.

So coming back to 365 days of Microwave Cooking is simply that. It will be a page to showcase 365 recipes and more.

Update: By the title I meant that I will be cooking and collecting recipes from other bloggers to meet the 365 days. I will not be cooking everyday in Microwave...:)

If you are interested to be part of this project, you are most welcome. 

• Simply link back to this post and send me the details to cooking4allseasons@gmail.com
• End of the month I will update all the recipes that were made during the month. This is not theme based, so you can actually cook whatever you want.

A small clarification, this has nothing to do with MEC, which will continue to be hosted by my dear blogging friends. And it naturally will be on a theme. Each month it will be hosted by other bloggers who are interested. And whose interested to send according to theme can send to the hostess. This project can also have those entries and other non theme based dishes that you many make during a month.

Looking forward to 365 days of Microwave Cooking!