Sambhar

Any South Indian cuisine probably isn’t complete without Sambhar. 

Although to know how to make a perfect sambhar might not add stars to your shoulders and features to your cap, but if in case you do not make a good sambhar, it is disappointing for sure! 

   So, here’s a quick recipe for you. Make sure you prepare the sambhar and the chutneys before you start making dosa/Idli.

Quickly Grab
Tamarind
1 cup Toor Dal (also known as Arhar)
1/2 teaspoon haldi
2 teaspoons oil
5 dry red chilies
8 Curry Leaves
1 onion
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
2 tablespoons sambhar masala
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1 cup of a vegetables of your choice like green beans, chopped carrots, brinjal, lady finger, pumpkin etc etc etc…

How to go about it:
Soak tamarind in 1 cup water for 20 minutes. Squeeze it out, adding water gradually to prepare 1 cup tamarind juice.

Choose a heavy cooking pot. Wash and clean the daal. Heat 2 cups of water and add the daal, haldi and 1 teaspoon oil. As the daal boils, skim off the froth and discard. Boil until the daal is soft and then mash it roughly. If required, add some more water as it is boiling but do not let it get too watery. If you use a pressure cooker it will take about 5 minutes.

In a heated sauce pan, pour in the remaining oil. Once the oil is hot, add dried chilies, mustard seeds and curry leaves and stir fry for 2 minutes. Put in the onion and brown lightly. Add tamarind juice and let it boil lightly until the onions are cooked. Add this mixture to the daal with asafoetida, vegetables and sambhar powder. 

Remove from the heat, garnish with coriander leaves.