Kadambam (Iyengar special)

I tasted this in our village temple, and told the cook it tasted very nice.  He answered
 " Bhagawanukku preetiyaa avar amaichundu irukkar. En kaila enna irukku?" And after asking for the ingredients, he told them and I tried as told by him. This is a  popular iyengar recipe, a famous prasadam in Perumal temples at Tamil Nadu & Karnataka. It is a traditional iyengar recipe in which onion and garlic are taboo  and often made at home too.  Generally, people misunderstand this rice with the kadamba sadham, as  mixed vegetables are used. This DIFFERS from the regular kadamba sadham and sambhar sadham. Onion, garlic, tomatoes, coriander leaves, english veggies like beans, carrot, potatoes, whole spices such as  cinnamon, cloves etc. are AVOIDED in this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice - 1 cup
Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - a lemon sized ball
Mixed vegetables - 3 cups (Ash gourd,Broad beans,Pumpkin,Cluster beans, Raw banana)
Paruppu urundais - few
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp.

Kondaikadalai black (kala chenna)- 1 tablespoon

Dry Sundakkai - 1 tablespoon
Gingelly oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt

To powder:
Coriander seeds - 3 tablespoons
Bengal gram - 2 tsp.
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp.
Urad dhal - 2 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 2 (or more as needed)
Pepper - 1/2 tsp.
Grated coconut - 2 tablespoon
Hing

To temper:
Ghee - 1 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 2

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.
Curry leaves - a sprig

For the paruppu urundais (balls):
Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Dry red chillies - 2
Salt - as per taste

Oil - 2 tablespoons

METHOD:

Soak  kondakadalai in water  overnight.

Pressure cook rice and toor dhal with turmeric, mash well and keep aside. Cook kondakadalai in a separate vessel alongwith little salt while cooking rice and dhal. Keep aside.

Extract pulp from the tamarind. Cut vegetables into big pieces.

Soak toor dhal and red chillies in water for 1 hour. Drain the water completely and grind to a coarse paste alongwith salt. Heat oil, add this paste and saute well till the colour changes , shape into amla-sized balls and steam cook till done. Keep aside.

Heat a spoon of ghee and  fry sundakkais till dark brown. Keep aside.

In a pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and add the items (given in the list" To Powder"(except coconut) until golden brown. Finally add grated coconut or dessicated coconut, fry till the coconut changes light brown. When cool, powder coarsely in a mixie. Keep aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining oil , add all the vegetables, a pinch of turmeric powder and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add little salt, pour in 1/4 cup of water and cover it with a lid. When half done add the tamarind extract and let it boil till the raw smell of the tamarind goes. Now add the mashed rice and dhal, cooked kondakadalai, paruppu urundais, sundakkais,  the ground powder,  remaining salt and mix well without any lumps.  Add enough water to get the desired consistency and cook for 3-4 more minutes stirring frequently. Temper with the ingredients (given in the list "to temper") . Finally add a spoon of raw gingelly oil. Serve hot with any vadaam or poricha appalam.
VARIATION: With or without cooked tur dhal.