Sambhar

Ingredients

Any one of these vegetables – Baby onion (2 cups), drumstick (2 sticks), brinjal/egg plant (small – 4 nos), radish (2 nos), capsicum (2 nos)
Toor Dal – 4 handfuls (cooked well in the pressure cooker & mashed to form a paste)
Tamarind paste of the size of a small lemon
Turmeric pwd – 1 tsp
Sambhar pwd – 4 tbsps
Jaggery – 1 tsp
Water – 1 glass (for boiling the vegetables)
Salt – As required

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 2 tsps
Methi seeds / Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
Curry Leaves – few
Asaphoetida – 2 tsps (diluted in 1 tsp water)
Refined oil – 1 tsp


Preparation Method
Cook toor dal well in the pressure cooker and mash to form a paste and keep aside. In a separate vessel boil any one of the vegetables mentioned in 1 glass of water. In case baby onions are being used, sauté them separately in a tsp of oil till they are pink in colour and then put it to boil. This way the onions will taste better. Add a little salt, just enough for the onions. After a minute add the tamarind paste and let it boil. Add the turmeric pwd. Once it starts boiling and the raw smell of tamarind disappears, add the sambhar powder little by little so as not to form lumps. After a minute or two, add the mashed toor dal. Add salt as required and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Finally add 1 tsp of jaggery and turn off the gas. In a separate kadai, heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add curry leaves and methi seeds. Turn off the gas and add this to the sambhar. Finally add the asaphoetida mixture and the sambhar is ready. This can be had with rice, idli, dosa and vada.