Onion sambar

Hi everyone, 

Sundays are relaxing. When I was small we had special items on sundays or on special days. Nowadays we make everything as all the recipes are available or order things which we can't cook. Nothing is special anymore. Miss those days when i used to wait for my kunja Patti to make everything and serve us sitting in the middle. All of us sitting around her waiting to be served.

Continuing in line with sambar diaries, i am going to share one such recipe. Sambar can be made in 3 ways.

• One is the usual sambar which we make everyday with the premade sambar powder.
• Second method deals with freshly roasted and ground sambar powder with coconut
•  Third method is similar to second without coconut

This is the second method

I made araichu vitta sambar today. I made it with normal onions. But it's very tasty if it's made with pearl onions. Let's get into the recipe. 

INGREDIENTS:- 

To roast and grind:-

Red chillies           :- 6

Coriander seeds   :-1 ½ tbsp

Channa dal           :- 1 tbsp

Grated coconut     :-¼ cup

Roast all the given items in a kadai with a tsp of oil till dal turns golden color .Grind it into a smooth paste. 

For sambar:-

T.dal                        :- ½ cup

Mustard seeds        :-1 tsp

Methi seeds            :- 1 tsp

Curry leaves           :- few

Pearl onion             :- 15-20 

Tamarind                 :- lemon sized ball soaked

Turmeric powder    :- 1 tsp

Salt                         :- to taste

Heat a tbsp of oil in a kadai. Temper mustard seeds,methi seeds and curry leaves. Then add pearl onions and fry it in that oil till it becomes golden brown. After that add tamarind water ,turmeric powder and leave it to boil. Once it's free of raw smell add the ground mixture. Let it boil for 5 minutes.  Add the cooked tur dal and mix well. After 5 minutes remove the sambar from the gas. Add coriander leaves to garnish. Yummy sambar is ready.

 Some tips

In this method we can make sambar with any vegetable or combination of vegetables. Personally I prefer radish in this method.

No hing is added. 

Third method of sambar is made using the same ingredients except coconut.

 In this method, we just roast and grind chillies, dhaniya, and chana dal and cook the sambar in the same way. 

 On festival days  when we make our food without onion or garlic I make sambar in this method only. I don't use the premade sambar powder that day. I don't use coconut because mostly that day we make a good quantity of sambar and we can keep it as a side dish for dinner that night. Sambar made with coconut may go bad before dinner time. 

The vegetables that can be used in this method are drumstick, ladies finger, brinjal, avarakkai, poosanikkai, capsicum etc.

Wait for many more yummy kuzhambu recipes.