Poha

Ingredients

• poha
• tomatoes
• chili
• red onions
• cilantro
• cashews
• mustard seeds 
• turmeric powder
• salt

Preparation

Purchase poha (flat rice puffs) at an Indian store. The "thick" kind is better.

Rinse poha in a colander.

Chop tomatoes, onions, chilis and cilandro.

Fry mustard seeds on some olive oil.

Add red onion to the mustard seeds.

Chop cashews and leave on the side.

Add tomatoes and chilis.

Add the poha to the mix.

Add turmeric powder and salt.

Garnish with cilantro.

And, crushed cashews.

Serve and enjoy. You can add cilantro chutney as a side sauce.

Aloo - mustard + tomatoes

Cook some potatoes in the microwave (6-7mins) and peel and chop them.

Prepare the tomato curry by cooking some onion in olive oil until its brown. Then add some chopped tomatoes.

Prepare the potatoes by heating some olive oil and frying a  tablespoon of mustard seeds. Then add the potatoes and haldi and salt to taste.

Pour in the tomato curry, stir and ready to serve!

Sambar and Dosa

Sambar and dosa are popular south Indian dishes. To make the Sambar - which is a like dal (lentil soup), start with the dal and then add lauki - which is a zuccini/squash cousin.

Set it to pressure cook for 10mins or so. In the meantime prepare the sambar mix to add. You need some tamarind - either use the fresh one or you can use a paste. Mix with some water, add the sambar masala and let it sit for few minutes.

Fine chop some onion and tomatoes. In a pot add some olive oil and add mustard seeds in the oil for less than a minute. Then add the onions stir until golden brown. Add the tomatoes and let it simmer. Then add the tamarind and sambar masala mix to it.

For the last step to complete the sambar, mix in the cooked dal from the pressure cooker!

Dosa - mix rice flour in water to make a liquid dough. Spread out on a pan - make sure to cool it by sprinkling some water. If pan is hot then it cooks too fast and burns!

Finally serve with rice, dosa and some coconut chutney!