Yeh Dil Maange Moru!!

What has to be one of the most popular catch phrases in the early 90’s, it is no secret the ad gurus created the punch line after the famous bollywood actor had come down to my place and was treated to a nice oonu with lots of curries…And usually the last curry for a typical naadan meal would be our humble moru curry…Shah Rukh was so impressed that day that he told me...

’Yeh Dil Maange Moru’

Poor guy I thought… and I kept serving the moru until he was so full that after 4 rounds of chooru moru and kadumaanga pickle, he got all sentimental:-

‘Bade Bade Deshon Mein, Aisi Choti Choti..uh..sorry..“

Shahrukh suddenly looked so distraught and tears welled in his eyes like in Devdas.....his voice quivered like in Darr...

“kk.kkk.kk..kya boolu .what I really want to say is….. this curry is so awesome ...“

Later as well all know some ad guy who was there for lunch sold the line to Pepsi and raked in all the money. But the history of Moru dates back to a village in US called Baltimoru where once a caveman invented this classic dish by twist of fate. ..There is a intriguing story that links the past and the present.

Based on studies conducted on the cave paintings archaeologist have found the origin of the curry. It had happened that a Caveman by the name Sasi Kazhakuttom did not manage a kill one particular night. The furious wife and cavewoman Mrs. Gloria Fernandez (she was half Mexican) scolded the poor hunting skills of her hubby and hollered how they are going to feed their 32 kids that night. Sasi was heartbroken and timidly walked out of the cave…He went to the hilltop nearby and shouted at the sun god..

‘thilothomia thilothomia…why on earth did you do this to me!!’

But the sun just kept shining like as usual and Sasi trotted back home…but he knew it would not be glorious to meet Gloria under current circumstances. Back in those times it was legally possible in the state of Baltimooru for the wife to file for divorce if the husband did not bring atleast one wild boar for dinner every night. Sasi was heartbroken and could not imagine a life without his wife and 32 kids (20 of which he could remember by name).

Desperately Sasi decided to visit the chief priest S.R. Kattabomman and ask him for a solution to maintain harmony in the family. S.R.K was a very wise man…a man of knowledge…a man who was known to have magic powers from years of meditation.

When Sasi told SRK his sad tale he felt sympathetic towards him. He wanted to help him by giving the secret formula which would keep Gloria happy ever after. But there was the curse of the pagan gods that would kill SRK if he ever disclosed the formula to anyone. And thus SRK did the supreme sacrifice by sharing the recipe of Moru curry to Sasi for the greater good. In a dramatic heart wrenching moment while SRK was losing consciousness ,Sasi promised that he would never forget this noble deed and he swore to pray for his return to life. SRK passed away peacefully due to the curse of the then powerful god Coca Cola.

Sasi ran to his home in slow motion and made the moru curry using the secret formula which was passed on to him. In honour of SRK he immediately spread the word of Mooru curry to make it popular and even uploaded the recipe in Pachakam.com from where this author got the recipe.

The lip smacking Moru curry with rice and pickle was served that night at the Cave instead of the usual steak. Gloria and the 32 kids were content and Sasi was finally smiling ….A family disaster averted and peace restored.

Several several centuries later.

Moru curry was by now popular throughout the world….it had spread wide across to places as far as Kerala, Tamil Nadu...etc….And one day when a Sasi Junior had gone to the movies the karma of what happened several 1000 years ago unfolded in front of him in a dramatic climax. As the movie Karan Arjun moved to the final scenes and SK and SRK met face to face...there was a drop of tear in Sasi’s eyes…..it was sign of a prophesy that came true….

*Salman Khan is supposed to have a uncanny resemblance to Sasi Kazhakuttom.
*SRK is believed to be a direct descendant of S.R Kattabomman and Pepsi had adopted the line Yeh Dil Maange Moru in honour of the legend from Baltimooru.

April showers bring Cauliflowers!

Its spring time and you can see flowers every where…..The city looks now at its beautiful best…blue skies…long sunshine hours….green promenades….gardens with myriad colors…..And the only blemish on an otherwise great day was our landlady who was coming down to say that she is not happy with our gardening skills in the humble balcony of ours…..So that day she told me…

“Mathew….it is high time you remove the weed out and plant some flowers!”

Flowers….and me…haa…

Now that she was insisting I took out the cauliflowers from the refrigerator and adorned our balcony with it…It’s a pretty sight for onlookers walking by and the neighbors are jealous coz everyone is looking at my cauliflowers instead of Tulips and Dahlia’s which they meticulously had grown for springtime…Art enthusiasts drop by and stare from the streets towards my balcony trying to identify the hidden meanings in the piece of modern symbolic art as they see it as…

Cauliflower in the midst of tulips….very eclectic design…

It did not take much time for me to realize that people don’t appreciate cauliflower in flowerpots…people these days don’t have any sense of taste!!

Talking of taste I was informed by my roomie that this idea may invite the wrath of Neo-Nazi’s and the Ku Klux Klan who may not have any clue about my artistic intents…And rather his all day kvetching forced me to take them to where it belongs…to the kitchen.

Cauliflower is not a typical south Indian vegetable…infact it’s not even Asian and is more caucasian in nature…white and tastes bland…But it was not until discovered by Gopi in 1623 the vegetable became a hit in Indian cuisine…Things have come a long way since then….Gobi Masala is like naan and butter for every Punjabi now…

So this recipe which I got from YouTube is as follows...

*Boil the cauliflower florets in water for 10 min after slicing them into small pieces..
*Meanwhile in 3-4 tsp of oil crack mustards and jeera…
*And then sauté 3 thinly sliced onions 3 green chilies and few curry leaves
*Once they are transparent add 2 sliced tomatoes to it and keep sautéing the mix.
*After a few min add 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste and keep sautéing.
*And once the tomatoes are cooked add 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp chilly powder and salt to taste…
*Once the raw smell is gone add the semi-cooked cauliflowers minus the water to it…
*Allow the Masala to coat well over the florets and after a few min add 1.5 tsp of coriander powder, mix well and cover the lid for a few min…
*Now open and add to it half a cup of water and mix well again…
*Allow it to cook for 10 min or until the cauliflower is sufficiently cooked while stirring it occasionally..
*Garnish it with coriander leaves in the end before serving it with piping hot chapattis... ;-D

And though as a consequence today when I look at my balcony I feel sorry for myself….it now sports tulips and dahlia’s... far from the once glorious veggie garden I had… and no necks turn as passerby's walk by…what a shame!! :(

Rajma aur Sherry!!

Few years ago I was completely ignorant about north Indian cuisine…Even during college time, the only north Indian dish I knew was Butter chicken which is now quite pan-Indian. Its so popular at restaurants in Trivandrum that this sardar I know says, a few minutes at Kalavara restaurant reminds of his paaji in Jalandhar. Even the cook out there is called Cherian Singh!

And after getting acquainted with many friends from north, I became familiar with things like Paratha…palak paneer…dahi vada….gajar ka halwa….The problem with this kind of naming is that they wouldn’t possibly be able to name something like Avial !!

Though I enjoyed these delicacies, I never really ventured into cooking any of em myself.. So last week I decided to make a typical north Indian dish called Rajma masala…Talking of Rajma, I was not familiar with this dish either…Imagine a few years ago, if someone actually quipped from the kitchen..

’Do you know where is Rajma’

I would have said...’I have no idea…I don’t even know her!!’

Rajma was simply a girl’s name for me …like in Rajma Chowdhary or something.

So it was with much apprehension when I saw Rajma for the first time at Dostana supermarket in Hamburg...Popular know as kidney beans this is supposedly be very healthy which made me extra cautious coz I have strange medical condition of being allergic to such food…But on that instance, I didn’t care much and ‘transplanted’ the kidney beans to my shopping cart. I reaching home carrying approximately 500 such kidney beans that evening. The racket was soon busted when my roommate saw the 500 kidney beans hidden behind the shelves and he asked me the dreaded question that a man would fear most at such times.

‘Do you have any idea what to do with this stuff?’

You know, there are the times when you simply wish that a meteor would pass by so that you could divert the topic. But that day I couldn’t count on my luck for such possibilities and had to rely on the life saver of our times, the internet.

I searched in youtube and found a beautiful Pakistani lady making Rajma masala. After watching that for approx 10 min, I saw another Pakistani girl doing the same…and then another……Since I found it very interesting I began searching in youtube for “Pakistani girls making Rajma masala”…Finally I realized that youtube is the wrong place for searching recipes and decided on regular websites…Again I ended up mixing several recipes to suite my taste. So this a mix all recipe.

The problem here is that if you want to make this curry today, you have to start thinking of it yesterday and keep the beans soaked in water overnight…In other words you should be a far-sighted person to make this curry…and you need a vision and immaculate planning!! Such remarkable qualities enable you to make this wonderful dish…I did it!! hic...hic….;-D

Pressure cook the beans(abt 300 gms) along with 2 tbsp of toor dal for around 5-6 whistles…

Heat oil in a pan and do the usual thing with mustards and jeera….add 1-2 red chilies as well.
Sauté the onions(sliced thin 3 nos) along with 2 green chilies until sufficiently fried and add the ginger-garlic paste(3 tsp)...Now add 2 cardamoms, 3 cloves and 1” piece of cinnamon…Once the raw smell goes, add a paste of 3 tsp of coriander powder, 1tsp turmeric, 1tsp pepper powder and half tsp red chilly powder with 2 tbsp of water to avoid the masala’s getting burned. After 2 min add the sliced tomatoes(2 nos) and allow it to cook…When the oil starts separating out and the mixture of onion and tomatoes are smashed properly. Add salt to taste and a pinch of garam masala…Now reduce the flame and add 2 tbsp of curd to it….Finally add the cooked Rajma along with water remaining in the pressure cooker and cover the lid for 5-10 min or until the masala mix has blended well with the Rajma…Check the spice and salt level and adjust maadi accordingly!!

I thought the curry came out decently well...infact way beyond my expectations...in other words this time I haven’t accumulated miles unlike the last time when the kadala curry created a record of sorts by earning me 10000 miles in a span of few days….and a frequent flier card to the loo!!

P.S. The chappatti is ready made...

Vol-Au-Vents a la Crème Fraîche and a tag...

I was tagged by two wonderful bloggers…Divs and Varsha where I have to write 25 random things about myself…The first question I asked myself was whether there were 25 things about myself to even tell about! But as I started writing it was quite easy to make this list however uninteresting the facts are…So here goes that tag…


1. I am a movie buff…though am quite selective about it …I love Padmarajan and Sreenivasan movies…apart from that I love classics...and any movies of Benigni...Spielberg...Tarantino...or Polanski

2.I never enjoyed cooking when I was at home in Trivandrum…its was more of cooking due to forced circumstances….though had lots of fun with bro trying out things in the kitchen like putting kudampuli for the sambhar or spoiling the mixie 4-5 times in a month trying to make idli maavu…. my first food blogpost is quite silly..;-D



3. I find a lot of connect with many bloggers than people whom I know in daily life….sometimes I feel they think so much alike and are of similar wavelength making me comfortable communicating with them…many are almost like family for me.

4. I love cold weather or rather moderate weather by European standards...20-25 deg…I get irritated at plus 35…I don’t mind shivering in the cold but I hate to sweat in the sun…But I now appreciate the beauty of sun when it occasionally shows up in winter.

5. I love travelling...I have been to several countries in past 2-3 years and considering myself lucky for being able to do so... Norway is next in my wish list..:)

6. I don’t think I was proud of myself as a kid or as a college guy…but I somehow feel happy for myself that I managed to hold on to some principles inspite of temptations to break it after I finished studies. Integrity in action is a much under-appreciated value these days.

7. I love peach juice and I don’t like sugar in coffee.

8. I would like to copy a line here from yumworld...i am a Cancerian as well…infact most of my blogger friends are cancerians…

9. I envy people who can sing…that’s something I wish god gave me…and I do have an eclectic taste for music…

10. Some of the nicest people I know are not necessarily the richest or most well endowed physically or financially. I learned that there is goodness even in sections of society we disregard as second fiddle or unworthy of attention...

11. One of the proudest moments in my life was when I got my parents to Germany and later took them to Paris and Rome…and they send a mail after reaching home about how happy they were…I am highly uncomfortable expressing love or gratitude in person and they know it, it seems…

12. I am very instinctive in nature…at times I believe that I have psychic powers too. 4 years ago along with a friend while munching on a home delivered pizza, we were worried about roomies coming soon sharing the already small pizza we had..5 min after we finished the pizza we got a call..4 of them were stuck somewhere in the lift of our flat…;-D

13. My all-time favorite TV show is Frasier. I am so much a fan that I would love to visit Seattle if I ever go to USA…

14. I love being a travel guide. and I love doing the planning…and I do it in extreme detailing starting from when exactly should I wake up on the day of travel..;-P

15. I sometimes wish if I had a sister…just a weird wish...

16. You rarely would see me emotional in person…it’s a trait I got from dad which I know is not necessarily good...But I am my own “agony uncle” if there is any..;-P

17. I love doing pencil sketching, jigsaw puzzles and watching history related television programs…esp... if it has something to do with world war’s…and besides that I like car and bike shows. I also used to closely follow the Indian election scene when I was a kid. I remember when I was like in 8th or 9th standard and it was exam time and I was forcibly confined to the study room. But my mind was always in the pie chart showing the seats won by Congress, BJP and other parties...

18. I am late riser…Its hard for me to wake up without seeing the sun...

19. I don’t follow sports religiously…and cricket is not a religion for me….though am a fan of St.Pauli and Arsenal football club…

20. I hate liars, hypocrisy and pretentious people…And I love people who don’t have any air about themselves…If you have qualities that is adorable or causing envy in others, don’t allow arrogance to get over you…I have seen a flamboyant ex-banker having had to rely on food from charity...there could be a fall for anyone of us!!

21. I love wines…and though am not anyway a serious aficionado at it, I love trying different wines…and my colleagues here know it and that what they usually gift me when the occasion demands… :)

22. Three woman I consider as most beautiful are Princess Diana, Konkona Sen and Madhubala…

23. I like the money in my job, though I harbor a desire to do something creative at work place…and the farthest I can do now is colorful fonted mails to colleagues...

24. I love the smell of cake ovens.

25. Three of my favorite books are Curious incident of a Dog in the night time, Diary of Anne Frank and Catcher in the rye.

And well a little quick fix for folks who are in a super hurry mode for dinner, I presenta “Vol-Au-Vents a la Crème Fraîche” …ok….that was just to pretend it was a cool French thing!! ;-D

Well this is simplest non-veg dish ever known to mankind…fish burji…



There is this ready-to-eat mackerel fillets preserved in olive oil which you can buy from shops here…Just grab a couple of onions, few green chilies’ , curry leaves and fry em in the preservative oil. Once it’s suitably sautéed, add 1 teaspoon pepper, half teaspoon chili powder and salt to taste. Now add the fish fillets (which are already cooked) and blend them along with sautéed onions. This dish has a pleasant favour and overwhelmingly tastes of the fish and sauted onions unlike usual Indian dish where the masala is usually more prominent...Just like the short recipe it takes just 10 min to cook this up!!


Update: I just found out how the germans use it..they use it as a filling between two bread slices just like jam for their breakfast..;-P

Bachelor chicken curry Returns!!

If you remember, in my last post I had mentioned the apparent breaking up and extra-marital relations which I was pursuing with Begum Mutton …It was a short lived romance leading to nowhere and I guess someone got hold of our personal lives and even made a movie out of it…‘The Curious Case Of Begumji Mutton’…. The paparazzi never…aah!!

I was guilt struck and ruing over my deplorable behaviour and to mend broken hearts I planned to meet chicken again . It was a conscious decision when I finally realized that, just like Laila was to Anarkali…Sheela was to Prem Nazir…. someone was for me…This time I carried a beautiful bouquet of curry leaves!!

But no one couldn’t predict what I was about to witness…Chicken now an alcoholic, emotionally broke and frozen in some obscure corner, almost like a vegetable..…The sight was heart rendering and as we looked at each other, I couldn’t bear it anymore .I held her wings in passionate embrace and held back the Budweiser which was almost finished by the way…And then we sat down to talk…

As we shared our past, chicken mentioned that the excessive drinking did take a toll on her and she did not have any liver left which was indeed true when I looked carefully after lifting the neck …Infact she did not have most vital organs left inside…Nevertheless I was ready to accept her .. Due to precarious emotional state, she was in I thought of checking her into rehab. But she seemed more in a mood for a trip to Kentucky or Schezwan …Well it was recession time and I couldn’t afford such a long trip and I requested her to modify plans.…cost cutting was inevitable.. I said.

”shall we go Hyderabad or Malabar…dance in the onion meadows…throw tomatoes at each other….and apply masala on each other...and spice things up…whatsay? ”

And she ‘gingerly’ smiled at me and said…

“Yes…wherever you take me, my dear!!”

And then there was magic…a magical aroma which marked the culmination of an universal love story ….beyond borders of the chicken farms…cutting across race and colors ..there was a tear in the eyes of every single naadan kozhi…every single broiler chicken...and every single Slumdog chicken…

* The End *

That was the climax of the much awaited movie as we saw the audience searching frantically for tissues unable to bear the emotional outpour which was building up within them….

”The sight of them patching up was so beautiful and I don’t remember seeing such scenes in Kozhiwood for a long long time…..” said one cine-goer who wish not to be named.

Well lets hear from the director himself in the segment ‘Director’s cut’

Filmfare : ‘Sir….Behind the universal appeal of the movie, there is an experienced director visualizing it…what lessons would you like to share with new budding directors ’
Kubrick Chekku: ‘Well...having decent experience with Asian as well as Caucasian chickens I would like to tell first time Hannibal Lecter’s to never attempt this passion on a frozen chicken. One of the finest piece of german engineering, my vettukathi broke in two when I attempted on a particular ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger chicken’ straight from the freezer!! Those were my rookie days…’
Filmfare : ‘How do you conceptualize a movie…do you have trademarks of your own!!’
Kubrick Chekku: ‘I normally start preparing myself emotionally by slicing 3 big onions, 3 green chilies and keeping it aside…Since there is lot of physical effort involved I wash and clean up the chicken and remove the bullet proof vest which comes as a package these days...and then its brutal creativity’
Filmfare : ‘Err…sir...Could you elaborate’
Kubrick Chekku: ‘This is when the director reaches a tantric level ,wields his weapon and cuts the chicken into pieces…and he doesn’t calm down until the pieces are marinated with 5 tbsp of chicken masala, 1 tsp of chilly powder, half teaspoon of turmeric, 1tsp salt, 2 tbsp of curd and 1 tbsp of lime juice….’



Filmfare: ‘wow…I assume you take good care of the co-actors too…as you have mentioned in an earlier interview about the importance they play’
Kubrick Chekku (heh…heh…measured laugh): “You seem to have done quite some research on me…yes…I heat up the oil and add mustard to it once its warm...they are important for the comedy as they will start laughing after sometime…Then the movie slowly transits into serious mode when you put the sliced onions, curry leaves and green chilies along with 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste”
Kubrick Chekku : ‘Once the onions are sautéed and the raw smell goes, introduce the side actor tomato to the scene…He will gradually blend with the other characters paving way for the hero!! That’s when I introduce the marinated chicken pieces…I love this part of the movie…there is music...there is color…and there is aroma ’
Filmfare: ‘Sir…salute…salute…I am just eager to know the climax’
Kubrick Chekku : ‘After about 5-10 minutes all the characters in the movie must have blended well giving the hero a glorified status…But you must check occasionally if the characters do have shades of salt and add accordingly… Then you add a cup of water and close the lid…The inner turmoil within the khandaan would happen now….’
Kubrick Chekku : ‘And then after 10 min when the hero finally restores peace….you open the lid and take a good piece and taste it…If the director is smiling…you know for sure the movie is a hit!!’
Filmfare: ‘Thanks...for sparing your valuable time with us…and giving the movie buffs enough reason to skip your movies…”


Everyone underestimated the marvelous director ..but some years later...in every college…in every tea shop…there was a song everyone was humming…… ‘Aap jaise ‘Kozhi’ mere Zindagi Mein Aaye’..taantan....taaanttaaataan....................

adios... :-D

Mumtaz Mutton- Ek Prem kahani

For the last two years there was a song I kept close to my heart…a song that made my heart beat like “kokokoo...kokokoo…”

“Ho Ek Chicken Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga
Ek Chicken Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga
Jaise Kentucky Roast
Jaise Reshmi Ka Kabab
Jaise Ujli Kadai
Jaise Schezwan ki Raat
Jaise Tandoor Mein Ho Ek Jalta aag
Ho Ek Chicken Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga”

It was not just a song but a romance that had stood the test of time and it still does…But being the foodie casanova I am, I found someone new and it has caught my attention ever since…I told my spiritual guru about this dilemma… and he asked…

S.G: “What do you think?? How will chicken react to this news?”
Me: “I really donno guru… we have always been for each other and Chicki has never left me down…”
S.G: “When did you last meet?”
Me: “At Burger King…last Friday …and as always it was memorable, though it was kinda awkward when Ketchup was lurking us”
S.G: “hmm…a classic case of mid-life crisis. Have you tried something exciting like going out or doing something Tikka?”
Me: “Yeah...we did the Tikka recently and that’s when I saw Mumtaz Mutton at the nearby table…We just couldn’t take our eyes of each other”
S.G: “understandable…it has happened to me once as well”

Me:"And then"

S.G:"I was given the "Chicken soup for the soul"
Me: “But I wonder if all this sounds like being unfaithful?”
S.G: “No my son… don’t be chicken-hearted…mutton up man!!”

I knew that chicken would forgive me for this little dalliance I was having…

like they say “Mard ka dil sirf ek murghi ko samajtha hein”

So this is how the new crush entered my life …

*Cook the kheema (minced lamb 500gm) with a pinch of turmeric and salt in a pressure cooker...Also cook a couple of potatoes and keep em mashed..
*Meanwhile sauté thin sliced onions (4), green chilies (3-4) and ginger-garlic paste (2 tsp).
*Add the following to the sautéed mix:-
2 tsp pepper powder, half teaspoon turmeric, 2 tsp meat masala, half teaspoon chilli powder, half teaspoon garam masala and salt to taste.
*Once the raw smell of masala’s are gone add the cooked kheema and mix em well until you the masala’s are evenly coated.. Cook this mix for a few minutes until excess water is drained out.
*Add mashed potatoes and crushed coriander leaves and blend the whole mix again..

Now get the puff pastry or anything of that sort…I found this thing called Blatterteig ( rechristened as german roti) which tastes similar to puff pastries after a few flips on a heated pan …

Once one side of this roti is cooked spread a layer of the mutton filling which has already been made…Roll em along the short edge and seal it up…Allow it to remain for a few minutes until you get a golden glow on the outside..

With a few sliced onions and a glass of wine I guess it’s not hard to fall in love…

P.S. i ll be back Chicken..dont worry!!

saare saare sambhar ee!!

In 2007 December during a trip to Spain, me and my friend checked in at an authentic spanish restaurant in Seville... We ordered a full fledged lunch which was on offer…The menu said ...wine…soup…starter…main course and dessert , the description though were written in spanish.

After making ourselves comfortable and with excellent wine to help, we were enjoying the ambience and looking forward to the siesta which we badly wanted after the long tourist walks. In a few minutes the waiter served us the soup which looked dark orangish in color. One sip and glancing at each other we knew what we were gonna say….

“dei...ithu nammalude sambhar alle”

The waiter was bewildered how both of us told exactly the same comment in the same tone on the so called exotic Spanish soup which he served with so much élan.…Well the Spanish sambhar was our naadan sambhar , a lil less spicy though…Later when the waiter had gone back to get us the main course, it did cross our mind that the Spanish amigo who ran the restaurant probably might be a malayalee who branded the sambhar along famous names like the Paella. So strikingly same was it that we even tried to figure out any resemblance the waiter had with Columbus or Vasco da Gama…

Well we actually enjoyed “drinking” the sambhar as a soup and infact under circumstances (that heavenly wine ;-P) we did not find it odd at all.



Sambhar is an easy quick fix curry for anyone and it will go with practically anything from rice, idli, dosa and even chapatti.(seriously its awesome).. Since my old roommate was a Tamilian I learned their style of cooking sambhar... The recipe has been written based on how I do it which means it may not be the easiest way coz in the kitchen am more a perfectionist planner. Anyways the ingredients would be:-


1 cup dal
3-4 cups of vegetables (I normally use potato, cauliflower carrot, beans and Brinjal)
1 big onion
2 small tomatoes
Curry leaves
2 red chilies
3 green chilies
Jeeera and mustard
Sambhar powder (2.5 tbsp)
Chilly powder
Salt to taste
Tamarind paste (1 tbsp)


1) Pressure cook the dal with sufficient water for 3-4 whistles.
2) Meanwhile peel and slice potatoes, rest of the veggies and cook em(60%) in a microwave with sufficient water.(6-8 min)
3) Slice onions, green chilies, tomatoes and keep em aside.

Once they are ready.

1) Sauté the onions and green chilies in oil until they are transparent, following which add sliced tomatoes.
2) After 3-4 minutes add the sambhar powder along with half teaspoon red chili powder and mix them in low flame.
3) Meanwhile transfer the partially cooked veggies and cook this mix in little water with sufficient salt.
4) Once the raw smell of masala goes, add the cooked dal and water if necessary and allow it to cook.
5) After 2-3 minutes add the tamarind water and mix well.
6) In a separate pan sauté the mustard...Jeera...red chilies and curry leaves and transfer the content to the sambhar.
7) Serve it with rice or idlis.

And guys offer it to Salma Hayek or any Spanish beauty around...]
She might actually like the “soup”. ;-P