Sambar
One
large onion, chopped into big pieces.
Other
vegetables, like carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin,
chayote, cubed
(do
not use any vegetables that belong to the cabbage
and caulflower families.)
Some
curry leaves (if available, don't worry about
it otherwise)
Coriander
leaves chopped 1tbsp
Juice
of tamarind size of perhaps half a lime
Cooked
thur dal, approx ½ - ¾ cup uncooked
measure.
Note:
This is a hard-to-cook dal, so use a presssure
cooker if available.
Salt
to taste
¾
tsp turmeric powder
For
reaction with oil:
Mustard
seeds ¾ tsp
Fenugreek
seeds ½ tsp
Oil
1tbsp
To
Fry:
2
tbsp coriander seeds
Some
asafoetida 1/8 tsp
2
tbsp channa dal
10-15
whole red chilis, to taste (use lesser amounts
if required and grind with 3-6 tbsp coconut, use
shredded dried if too lazy to deal with fresh.
The quantity of coconut varies according to taste.
Method
Fry
the onion for about 5 minutes in a little oil
with the turmeric powder. Add the vegetables and
some water and cook. I would add hard to cook
veggies like carrot and chatyote first and cook
for a while before adding sweet potatoes and pumpkin.
(Can make this also with a single vegetable, no
need to use all of them.) Don't overcook veggies,
but when just cooked, add the tamarind juice,
curry leaves and salt to taste. Soon after adding
the tamarind juice, take a separate frying pan
and heat up the 1tbsp oil. When hot enough so
that the mustard seeds will crackle when thrown
in, put the mustard seeds in, once the crackling
has stopped add the fenugreek seeds and stir until
they turn a dark brown color (don't burn). Then
add this to the boiling mixture.
Boil
all together for another 5 minutes until the raw
tamarind smell has left the solution. Now add
the paste of masala and coconut and add the dal.
Bring to a boil and switch off. Add chopped coriander
leaves. Takes 2-3 hours for the flavour to settle
down, but can be eaten right away also.
Note: while frying ingradients for the paste,
throw in the coriander seeds first and fry awhile
before putting in the others, otherwise the coriander
seeds won't fry properly and will taste pretty
awful.
.:
GO BACK TO RECIPES
:.
INDIAN FOOD ZONE