Traditional cooking: sambhar

One of my favourite dishes to cook is the Sambhar which is a south Indian lentil dish. I make this on days when I want to have something tangy and comforting while vegetating in front of the telly. This is a pass it down recipe from my mother which I have simplified to a great extent. I am dividing the ingredients into two To make this dish you need:

Basics
Toor or Arhar dal (available in all supermarket stores)
Vegetables of your choice
Cooking oil

Spices/eastern goodies
Asafoetida
Coriander seeds (whole)
Dry chillies (whole)
Fenugreek seeds (whole)
Curry leaves (you can get fresh leaves at most indian stores. In a crux you can use the dried leaves)
Tamarind (I soak just a bit more than a quarter of tamarind in 1/2 cup of water for about 20 minutes. I take out the seeds before using it. If you want to be more fancy then you can strain the liquid and get rid of all the roughage.)

For starters I soak a cup of Toor Dal for a good 2 hours, this softens the lentils and washes away artificial colouring and other impurities. I then wash it once and bung the lot into a pressure cooker. Its of course a known fact that every Indian owns a pressure cooker. Mine is on its last leg, but there's no denying the fact that it halves the cooking time for most Indian dishes. If you don't own a pressure, then just use your normal pan. Now then, back to the recipe. For every cup of dal, I add about 21/2 cups of veggies. You can use whatever vegetables you want, but if you want a bit of exotic going on then I would recommends adding okra (found in larger Tescos/ indian stores), and drumstick (found only in Indian stores).

My favourite vegetable combo for this dish are tomatoes, aubergines, okra, drumstick, onions and carrots. I roughly chop the veggies, add it to the cooker along with 2 cups of water, put the lid on and two whistles later your dal is done.

Now comes the fun part. In a hot pan, roast the coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and dry chillies for about a minute. Alternatively, you can use the microwave for this. Just be careful with the time otherwise you will end up with burnt instead of aromatic spices. I roughly grind the roasted spices in a mortar and pestle (you can use a dry grinder) and put aside for later. In the same pan, I add about a tablespoon of cooking oil and when the oil heats up I add half a teaspoon of Asafoetida. The Asafoetida does a fizzing thing, don't be alarmed by it, its supposed to happen. I add a generous handful of curry leaves, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder for colour and sometimes a few fresh chillies to make it extra hot.

I then carefully pour the tarka onto the cooked dal and veggie mix, add the tamarind water (sans the seeds), the roasted spices and salt. Have a taste and if you are happy with it, then its good to go. Sometimes if I find it too tangy, I add a pinch of sugar just to balance it out. Before serving I garnish the dish with some more of my roasted spice mixture.

Best served with a bowl of rice or if are a whiz, then dosa. Happy eating.