Festive Sambar !

Ingredients - serves 3-4 :
1. Dhal(toor) – half cup
2. Tamrind – small lemon size
3. Coconut – grated 3 to 8 spoons (depending on taste and preference of thickness of sambar)
4. Fenugreek seeds – 1 spoon
5. Small jeera – ½ spoon
6. Mustard – ½ spoon
7. Urud dal (broken preferable) – ½ spoon
8. Small sambar onions – 8 to 12 or 1 ½ big onions, cut into wedges
9. Tomatoes – 3 big or 4 small
10. Preferred vegetable – 250 grams, cut into 1 ½ inch sized pieces ( i suggest black brinjals 250 gms plus 1 drumstick)
11. Sambar powder – 3 heapy spoons
12. Asafoedita powder – less than a quarter spoon
13. Curry leaves – 2-3 twigs
14. Coriander leaves – chopped or cut with scissors 2 spoons

Direction
· Cook the toor dal with 2 cups of water till its over cooked and soft. Set it aside.
· Boil the tamarind in ¾ cup of water for a minute and set it aside.
· Take the biggest round bottom kadai you have and heat two spoons of oil, add fenugreek seeds, jeera, mustard and urud dal.
· After the seeds sizzle and splutter, add small onions whole, sauté till golden.
· Add tomatoes finely chopped and your preferred vegetables and sauté till all the water leaves the tomatoes and its nothing more than just skin.
· Add water till all the vegetables are immersed and add sambar powder and asafoedita.
· When the veggies are 80% cooked, add the tamarind water extract and salt to taste and curry leaves.
· Wait for the raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder to go and add the toor dal along with the water( if the dal is not over cooked, beat it before adding to sambar)
· After it starts to boil again, add grated coconut. Add water to set the consistency right if you want or let it boil more to make it thicker.
· After you remove from flame, add coriander.

Serve with steamed rice and ghee or idlies or dosas.