Vegan MoFo: A South Indian Feast

Clockwise, starting at the white blob front and center (it was dark and we were hungry by the time we ate, so we didn't spend too much time setting up the shot): Pacchadi (a South Indian-style yogurt with banana from World Vegetarian), Eggplant Tomato Chutney, Green Mango Pickle, Coconut Rice, Bean Dal Poriyal (dry curry), and Vegetable Medley (salad), all from Dakshin, a vegetarian South Indian cookbook that we love.

Last month, our friends invited us to a South Indian meal at their house. It was a dreamy, late summer night and we drank tea, ate curries and sweet desserts, and biked off full and giddy with spice. We knew then that we had something wonderful, and we would have to return the favor and invite them over sometime soon.

Last night these friends came over for a South Indian meal at our house, and we were very excited to try out some new recipes with them. The night before we made a trip to our corner ethnic food market, picking up toor dal and a big bag of coriander seeds before we walked to the coop to pick up some vegetables, rice, yogurt, and other ingredients we needed for our feast. When we got home, we made Mysore Rasam Powder for our first stab at a homemade rasam, and we went to bed with the spell of coriander, cumin, fenugreek, mustard seeds, fennel, and ground chiles wafting throughout the house.

When I got home, AA was already soaking toor dal for a Bean Dal Poriyal and tamarind and coconut for the soupy spicy melange that is Mysore Rasam. Rasams are soupy like Sambars, but thinner. And while they're often considered more mild than sambars, in this case that was not so, as Mysore Rasam is substantial and strong. Poriyals are "dry curries," whereas more saucy curries are called Kootus. We've made Poriyals before, and while they never were very saucy, they never seemed quite dry either, so the distinction confused me. Not so with this poriyal: we were to cook the dal until it was dry and crispy like breadcrumbs. When AA first started, it seemed impossible that the sticky dal would ever undergo such a transformation, but sure enough, it broke up and became the most delightfully fragrant crumb.

I took charge of the dessert, making a Coconut Cashew Payasam (not pictured), a pudding-like dessert made with soymilk (substituted for "regular") with lots of fresh-grated carrots and seasoned with crushed black cardamom. It looked more like a creamy soup going into the freezer (I bypassed the fridge as it was already getting late) but it firmed up into a pudding by dessert time. We probably didn't even need dessert, because the yogurt we made (a pacchadi) had banana added right before serving, a sweet counterpoint to all of the spice and chile of the meal. And besides, we were deathly full by dessert, but during the meal, the cooling yogurt was most welcome.

Right before they came, we cooked up some jasmine brown rice and added coconut, cashew, and all kinds of tempered spices to make the richest coconut rice I've ever had. It was good, but really, a plain rice would have been just as good for such a thick meal. But oh, coconut! How can you resist!

The easiest to prepare were the pappadums: the ones we ate come already made in a package to just heat one by one in the pan, flip when they start to bubble and crisp, heat the other side, and that's it. Once the pan is hot, it's about one pappadum per minute.

Our friends brought awesome food to go with: eggplant tomato "chutney" (they referred to it as a "goop" -- neither soupy nor thick, it was an accurate description for something so incredibly delicious), salty green mango pickle, and Vegetable Medley, a South Indian salad of all kinds of vegetables and tempered spices. Everything worked so well together, and I knew from the first bite of eggplant goop that our love affair with eggplant was far from over.

It was good to see them and to enjoy our shared excitement about South Indian food with them again. There's a lot that makes South Indian food particularly special, and I have so many ideas for future dinners: vadai (lentil donut) and sambar nights, dosa nights, big buffet potluck nights. We had to stay up till forever to wait for our stomachs to die down, but it was worth it.


And here, Mysore Rasam, Bean Dal Poriyal, and Coconut Rice leftovers in my lunch tiffin. Best work lunch ever.