Plant Based Recipes — The Last Island on the Stove

Amma's cognitive follow-up. January 2023. Eleven out of thirty. The drop continues. From thirteen to eleven. The moderate stage deepening. The line, that relentless line, drawing itself downward with the inevitability of gravity. Dr. Anand: "The medications are helping — the decline would be steeper without them. But the disease is progressing. We should begin planning for additional support." Additional support. Memory care. The conversation Arvind and I have been having in parking lots and on phone calls and in the specific, exhausting language of siblings managing a parent's decline. "Not yet," Arvind said again. But his voice was different this time. Less certain. More tired. "Arvind. She's at eleven. She put the kettle in the refrigerator last week." "She also made sambar last week." "Both things can be true." "I know. I know, Akka." Both things. The kettle in the refrigerator AND the sambar on the stove. The cooking AND the confusion. The woman who scored eleven AND the woman who made pongal that was right. Both things. The disease doesn't erase evenly. It leaves pockets of competence surrounded by fog, like islands in a rising sea. The cooking is an island. The biggest, last island. I started looking at memory care facilities. Not to place her — to know the options. To plan. To have the information before the crisis requires it. I visited one: a clean, well-run place in Edison, ten minutes from her house. The staff was kind. The rooms were bright. The dining room served meals that looked like hospital food dressed up for a date. I stood in the dining room and thought: my mother cannot eat this food. My mother cannot live in a place where the food is not hers. The food is the last thing. The food is the thing that brings her back. I went home and made her sambar and cried and wrote in the journal: "Eleven. January 2023. The kettle was in the refrigerator. The sambar was right." Both things. Always both things.

After I stood in that bright dining room in Edison and knew my mother could never eat that food, I came home and made her sambar. The same sambar she made the week the kettle ended up in the refrigerator. The same sambar that proved both things could be true — eleven out of thirty and still right at the stove. This is that recipe, the plant based one she never wrote down, the one I learned by standing next to her and watching her hands before watching her hands became something I did out of vigilance instead of love.

Plant Based Recipes

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas), rinsed
• 1 small lemon-sized ball of tamarind (or 2 tablespoons tamarind paste)
• 2 cups mixed vegetables (drumstick, eggplant, okra, carrots, tomatoes), chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons sambar powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chilies
• 10–12 fresh curry leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
• Fresh cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook the dal. Rinse the toor dal until water runs clear. Add dal, 3 cups of water, and turmeric to a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 25–30 minutes until dal is soft and mushy. Mash with the back of a ladle and set aside.
2. Prepare the tamarind. Soak tamarind in 1 cup of warm water for 15 minutes. Squeeze and strain to extract the pulp, discarding the fibers and seeds.
3. Cook the vegetables. In a large pot, combine chopped vegetables, tomatoes, onion, and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10–12 minutes until vegetables are tender.
4. Combine. Add the tamarind extract, sambar powder, and salt to the vegetables. Stir and simmer for 8–10 minutes until the raw smell of tamarind disappears and the broth thickens slightly.
5. Add the dal. Pour the mashed dal into the vegetable-tamarind mixture. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle boil. Adjust consistency with water if needed — sambar should be the thickness of a thin stew. Simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Temper. In a small pan, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add cumin seeds, dried red chilies, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Pour the tempering directly into the sambar.
7. Finish. Stir, taste for salt, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve hot over steamed rice or with idli and dosa.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 195 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 410mg