Kadamba Saadham - Comfort Food on a Cold day

Kadamba Saadham - Country Food with Native Vegetables

Kadamba saadham(rice).. i was not familiar with this rice until few years back when i read the recipe in a cook book during Navarathri festival.

I used to make bisibelebhath quiet frequently. But this kadamba saadham sounded similar but slightly different in the fact that there is no garam masala in this preparation and more of native vegetables are used.

I do not want to compare bisibelebhath and kadamba saadham as they are unique in their own way. I love to have kadambha saadham when it is rainy and cold out. 

This kadamba saadham recipe calls for its unique spice powder which has to be made fresh. 

So.. are you all in the mood to make this aromatic-spicy-country style rice? Let's go to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• raw rice - 1 cup cooked with 2 and half cups of water
• thoor dhal - 3/4th cup dhal cooked with little turmeric and a pinch of hing
• sambar onions - 10
• tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
• vegetables - native ones preferably - like broad beans (avaraikkai), lima beans (pachchai mochai), drumstick, brinjal, snake guard (pudalankaai), ash guard (venn poosani), yellow pumpkin (parangikkai) - together 3 cups.
• tamarind extract - extracted from one big gooseberry size tamarind.
• turmeric powder
• salt
• jaggery - 1 teaspoon
• mustard, curry leaves, urad dhal and asafoetida for initial tempering
• Sundakkai vathal (Turkey berries/pea eggplant berries ) - for final tempering
• sesame oil - few tablespoons

For the spice powder: 

• oil - 1/2 teaspoon
• dry red chillies - 8
• coriander seeds - 2 tablespoons
• fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• channa dhal - 2 teaspoons
• pepper - 1 teaspoon
• coconut (grated) - 1 tablespoon

Procedure:

• cook the rice and thoor dhal (separately) and keep ready. 
• For the spice powder, heat the oil and roast the given ingredients under "for spice powder" and grind to powder.
• take a broad and thick bottom vessel (you can use a pressure cooker too if you do not have any thick bottom vessel).
• heat some oil and do the tempering with mustard, urad dhal, asafoetida and curry leaves.
• add the onion and tomato and saute for few minutes.
• add the vegetables and stir. saute for some time. 
• add the spice powder and give another stir.
• add a cup of water to the vegetables and let it come to a boil.
• add salt and turmeric powder. let it boil for 10 minutes. 
• add the tamarind extract. now let the veggies cook completely. 
• once cooked, add the mashed thoor dhal. now the whole dish will be like a thick gravy (kuzhambu) consistency.
• add little more water if you want the rice to be little runny. check salt. 
• add the cooked rice and stir well to make the dish homogeneous. 
• add 1 spoon of jaggery let it sit on stove in medium heat for another 5 to 10 minutes till all the flavours blend well. check salt.
• thats it. the awesome flavourful kadambha saadham is ready to be served.
• this kadamba saadham goes very well with appalam or any light pachadies.
• For an extra special touch you can temper the rice / saadham with manathakkai vathal or sundakkai vathal in sesame oil just before serving.

Tips:

For an extra special touch you can temper the rice / saadham with manathakkai vathal or sundakkai vathal in sesame oil just before serving.

Instead of cooking rice and dhal separately and adding one by one, you can cook them both together like you do for venn pongal and then add to the vegetable gravy with spice powder you have prepared.

Happy cooking !!