Sambhar as you all know is a typical South Indian dish and is a everyday staple food in every household in South India.Sambhar is mixture of lentils and vegetables cooked with spices and tamarind.Each state in the South prepares it with a typical variation, adapted to its taste and environment.There are so many variations and methods to prepare sambhar,but I find this method very easy ,quick and tasty...You can use any veggies of your choice or you can prepare only any one or two vegetables together like doodhi,ridgegourd,drumstick,Snakegourd,potatoes with onions to name a few. You can use as much as veggies you like.
Ingredients:
Toor Dal/Tuvar/Togari bele-1cup
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Green Chilles-2,slited
Sambhar powder-1 1/2tsp( any brand, I use Mtr sambhar powder)
Tamarind-small lemon sized
Tomato-1 big
Onion-1,sliced
Few Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Fresh or desicated coconut-1tbsp
Jaggery-1tsp(optional)
Oil-1tsp
Drumstick-1,peeled and chopped into 3inch pieces
Carrot-1,cut into roundels
Indian Brinjal-2,cut into lenthwise pieces
Okra-2(optional)
Potato-1medium sized
Beans-5-6,cot into 2halves
For tempering:
Oil/Ghee-2tsp
Dry red chillies-2
Hing-1/4tsp
Methi seeds-4-5 seeds
Mustard-1/2tsp
Curry leaves-few
Method:
1.Chop all the vegetables into chunky size pieces.Wash and rinse tamarind in warm water for 15minutes,squeeze the juice from pulp and keep it aside.Wash toordal and rinse for 15-20minutes in water.
2.Boil 2/1/2cup -3cups of water in a pressure cooker pan,when it begin to boil add rinsed toordal,turmeric and all the above ingredients including vegetables,tamarind juice and sambhar powder,close the lid and whistle,pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.Wait for pressure to release.Open the lid and add jaggery and boil for
few minutes.
3.Heat oil or ghee in a small tadka pan,add mustard,wait until it splutters then add methi,hing,dry chillies and curry leaves fry for second and add this to sambhar.
This sambhar goes well with steaming rice,dosa,idli or vada.
