“What’s for dinner mom?”
“Sambar and rice.”
“Not again!”
This was a typical dinner for a good portion of my childhood. Sambar is a lentil-vegetable stew, cooked with tamarind broth and spices. From that description it’s not hard to imagine why six year old me was pouting at the dinner table when this was served.
This was my mothers version of fast food. Easy to make, cheap and delicious (to her at least). I, on the other hand, hated it. It always had the worst vegetables, the lentils had a weird texture and I would accidentally bite into a piece of star anise that wandered its way into my plate. In short, this is something I would never eat by choice, or so I thought.
During the COVID lockdown we were all stuck at home with nothing to do. So, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn some family recipes. I learnt how to make rendang (braised beef in coconut milk), a variety of other curries, desserts and of course the dreaded sambar.
As my mother guided me through the process, I realized why she made it all the time. After a long day of work, chop up any vegetables you have on hand together with lentils into a pot, add some tamarind broth, a dash of spice and voila dinner! The last step was to taste it.
“Do I actually have to taste it?”
“Yes, if you don’t taste it, how will you know what’s missing from the dish? Half of cooking is tasting. If you don’t know how to taste, you won’t know how to cook.”
I reluctantly gave it a taste for the first time in years and it was…good? I was shocked to say the least. The dish had an umami sort of flavor that was quite delicious and the chunky vegetables and lentils didn’t bother me as much as it did when I was younger.
Now, I make sambar for myself when I miss home. Is it my favorite food in the world? No. Yet, I have grown to appreciate the dish for all its chunkiness and textures and eating it with a side of hot rice is my version of comfort food.
In conclusion, if you have a dish that you’ve hated since childhood maybe it’s time to give it a second try.