Sambhar

I had some frozen dosa and mendu wada from the Indian store and realized it would make a perfect dinner with some hot spicy sambhar. Sambhar is made with yellow lentils, called tuar or arhar daal. Set the daal to pressure cook for 2 whistles, approximately 10mins. And get the seasonings ready - 1 large tomato, half a yellow onion, red dried whole chillies, curry leaves, mustard and fenugreek seeds. You will find curry leaves at an Indian store, also fenugreek seeds, but if you can skip the seeds if you want. Drumsticks and small round yellow squash goes well too.


In a pot, add 2-3 tbsp of oil, add the mustard, after it splutters, add a pinch of asafoetida, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp red chilly pwd, 3 tsp sambhar pwd (you can get it at the indian store, I get mine home made from mom) and the vegetables. Sautee for 5-7 mins and add 2 cups of water and let the mixture boil for another 5 minutes. With a hand blender, smooth out the boiled daal and add to the broth. Add salt to taste, 1/2 cup of tamarind juice (I boil tamarind with water, drain the juice and store extra in the freezer for whenever I need tamarind juice) and a squirt of lemon juice. Let everything simmer for another 15minutes.



I served it with crispy masala dosa and hot mendu wada dunked in sambhar with coconut chutney. Quick and satisfying meal..