What's Cooking at our House: Appam and Sambar

Unlike a regular wheat pancake, appam is covered and left to cook for 3-5 minutes before turning.

Those of us who don't have time to cook every night rely on stews, soups, chili and other one-pot meals that will last a few days. One standard in our house is sambar, a spicy lentil-vegetable stew from south India. This is a vegetarian dish that offers a spectrum of spiciness, and uses readily available ingredents: potatoes, tomatoes, onions and green beans. Some of the spices will likely only be available in specialty ethnic markets (fenugreek seeds, tamarind) or online.

We use the recipe in Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India (page 68), though there are many similar recipes online and in other cookbooks.

Curried Favors also has a classic recipe for Appam (page 34), a rice-flour pancake similar to hoppers in Sri Lanka.

The batter is left out to ferment (this is a yeast flat bread) for about 24 hours, and is poured into a well-oiled hot pan like a pancake. Unlike wheat-based yeast flatbreads, rice-flour batter becomes frothy rather than rising like a dough.



Unlike a regular wheat pancake, appam is covered and left to cook for 3-5 minutes before turning. This creates a lacy, crispy edge and a wonderful texture.



Here is a bowl of the sambar garnished with fresh cilantro and the warm appam.



Each of these dishes takes time to prep, but the sambar will feed the crew for a few days and the appam batter can also be refrigerated and cooked over several nights.

Both of these dishes happen to suit a gluten-free, meat-free diet, but the wealth of tastes and textures will appeal to a broad range of palates.

"A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts."

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The Nearly Free University and The Emerging Economy:
The Revolution in Higher Education

Reconnecting higher education, livelihoods and the economyWith the soaring cost of higher education, has the value a college degree been turned upside down? College tuition and fees are up 1000% since 1980. Half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, revealing a deep disconnect between higher education and the job market.

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Read Chapter 1/Table of Contents

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Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart:

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2. Crony capitalism
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Read the Introduction/Table of ContentsKindle: $9.95       print: $24 

Thank you, Robert B. ($72), for your magnificently generous contribution to this site -- I am greatly honored by your steadfast support and readership.

Thank you, Robert S. ($50), for your astonishingly generous contribution to this site -- I am greatly honored by your support and readership.