Pumpkin Sambar for Moviehouse @ 3rd Ward

A couple weeks ago me and my friend Ben made a pumpkin sambar to serve at a film screening event called Moviehouse at 3rd Ward.  Usually sambar is made with lentils, but since I saw all of these really awesome Japanese pumpkins at the farmer’s market, I thought they would make a really good base in place of lentils. The green pumpkins are called kabocha and they look like this and have a really nice creamy inside. Roksa  I also had some butternut squash so threw that in too.

The recipe is quite easy because you just have to roast the pumpkin, squash and potatoes, fry up some sweet potatoes with brown sugar and just cook it all down with water and the sambar powder for a while.  We topped it with some yogurt, boondi (fried chickpea flour balls) and cilantro.  Follow this recipe for sambar and just substitute in roasted and cooked squash for lentils.

Here are some more photos from the Moviehouse event (photo credit: Mark Sullivan Bernal/Moviehouse).  The documentary shown that night was called American Meat ( I served a vegetarian soup of course:) by director, Graham Meriwether.  The film explores the complexities embedded in the highly debated practices of the American meat industry.  It was a really fun event to be a part of.  Thanks Moviehouse!

serving Graham soup – I think he liked it!