Mission Sambar.....

Brought up in Kerala I love South indian food but i never asked my mom to make it at home cause i know its not gonna taste the way it does in Rema's, Nithya's, Divya's, Neeraja's, Remya's house... or as in Akhila's tiffin box.

If i remember correctly it was in 5th std that i first started sharing food with Akhila and by the end of 1st term we used to just exchange our lunchboxes completely. Her food was sooooooooooooooo tasty n she loved paratha that i used to bring.. :).... There started my craze for sambar... aviyal, thoran, pickles, dosa, idli, iddiappam etc etc....Amongst all this Sambar is my favorite... n i just love it!

25 yrs i've loved that food and grown up with it. The very smell of it brings good old memories. In hyderabad i never cud find the same food.... once Syam (my batch mate from NITC who joined Oracle with me) did a great favour and brought be wonderful kerala food from somewhere in Secundrabad... wow! Can't forget that day cause i was hoggin on it.... but my roomies loved it too!

After coming to US I miss the sambar I used to eat in India. There anytime I needed to have it I went to Divya's house in hyd/blore. Coming to US I had not eaten sambar for sooooooo........... many months that when i went to NJ recently i requested Sambar to Rema and it was mindblowing the food she cooked. Nithya cud say it tooo, we had 3 rounds each. I just cudnt stop..... even if it was 2 in the night..... :P...... again next weekend... i had tummy full of sambar.... because i knew i'll miss it from then on.... :(. Who'll cook the wonderful dishes in Kansas! i dont even have an Indian Restaurant here :((((((((((

I never knew to cook sambar or even if i tried i knew i'll never get that wonderful taste that i wanted. I've never been able to get that taste whenever my mom tried to make it at home... somehow.. that particular tinge never came in! :((((((((((

Finally recently i decided to move into cooking south indian food and learn to make things i've never made before. i started with the simplest of all i.e. with Thyir sadam (curd rice) on wednesday.[you might be wondering what is there to make in that! but one small step at a time.... :)] went pretty well... thanks for nithya, rema and neeraja's input..... i was doing it live with neeraja online! ya! i needed that support... hehehheeeeee.....

After seeing the sucess of it i took a step forward into rasam unfortunately that plan had to be abandoned because of lack of "rasam" powder... :(((((((((((

ok so finally today idecided to have sambar for lunch. Thanks to rema's explanation on phone... neerajas reciepie.. and aunty online with me on skype.. i managed to get sambar right!...heheheheeee... i was over joyed... when i first got the smell for my sambar... ha! it was heaven.... hmmmmm....... extreme JOY! It also looked right! huh! Eureka....!!!!!!!!

Carried away by enthu i made cabbage curry.. i.e. "thoran" and raytha... and papadam n had a wholesum lunch. well thanks to everyone i can now atleast eat sambar once in a while :). I no more need to depend on anyone... :) n i can eat it here in this very stupid n god forsaken place called Kansas!

" I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation...." hehehehehheeeee.....

Next on cookin list - Aviyal!!!!!!!