Sambar

This is a very very basic recipe, and I’m sure most people know it. Anyway, a quick recap:-

Ingredients: Cooked thoor dal (2-3 cups), Vegetables (eg, any one of the foll. and not all together!: ladiesfinger, capsicum, drumstick. butternut squash, small onion, or even potato or cooked kabuli chana, etc.), Chopped tomato (1.5 or 2), Hing (asefoetida), Mustard, Haldi pdr, Sambar pdr, Tamarind paste (1 level tablespoon or less), Curry leaves (karvepilai), water, jaggery/sugar.

Method:

Sputter mustard & curry leaves in a teaspoon of oil, add a pinch of hing. Dump in the vegetables, cook for a minute. Then add 2-3 cups of water, and all the above ingredients, except the dhal.

Boil on high flame, until the veggies are cooked. Then stir in the dhal. If you want it thicker, add in some rice-flour paste, and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Add in a pinch of jaggery/sugar for extra taste.

Serve with rice/idli/dosai/pongal/etc.

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