Sambar

Ingredients

For 4 portions

• 🫘 200g toor dal (dry)
• 🥤 1,000ml tap water
• 🍆 150g aubergine
• 🥕 1 medium carrots
• 🫛 2 pods moringa (drumstick)
• 🍅 100g tomato
• 🫛 20g tamarind
• 🏺 15ml sunflower oil
• 🌿 1 Tsp mustard seeds
• 🌿 10 leaves curry leaves
• 🌶️ 1 small red chilli peppers
• 🪴 0.5 Tsp turmeric
• 🌿 2 Tsp curry powder
• 🧂 1 Tsp salt

Method

1. Rinse the toor dal and cook it with 600 ml of the water and the turmeric for 25–30 minutes (or 3–4 whistles in a pressure cooker) until very soft. Mash lightly with a whisk.
2. Soak the tamarind in 100 ml warm water for 10 minutes, squeeze it with your fingers and strain the liquid, discarding the fibres and seeds.
3. Cut the carrot, aubergine and drumsticks into 5 cm pieces and chop the tomato.
4. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and, when they start to pop (about 30 seconds), add the curry leaves and the broken red chilli. Stand back – they spit.
5. Add the vegetables and tomato and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes.
6. Add the cooked dal, tamarind water, sambar powder (or curry powder), salt and the remaining 300 ml water.
7. Simmer for 12–15 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the sambar is the thickness of single cream. Add more water if needed.
8. Serve hot with rice, idli or dosa.