We absolutely love South Indian food, it’s healthy and packed with flavour and the best part is it’s so vegan friendly! We love pairing this sambhar with dosa, idlis, uttapam and medhu vada along with our coconut chutney recipe found here.
Yields 4 servings
METHOD
1 cup toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas)
4 cups water
2 tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (rye)
1/2 tsp urad daal (black gram)
1 pinch asofoetida (hing)
5-6 curry leaves
1 large tomato crushed
1tsp ginger/ chili paste
1 cup bottle gourd (dhoodhi) grated *
3 tsp sambhar masala
small handful fresh coriander chopped
1 tsp salt to taste
Optional: You can add potatoes/ onion/ drumstick if you like
*You can substitute the bottle gourd for courgette/ aubergine if necessary.
METHOD
Soak the daal for 15 minutes in warm water and then rinse with water several times. Use around 4 cups of water to cook the dal until extremely soft (in a pressure cooker, this will take around 4 whistles).
Whilst the daal is cooking you can prepare the tamarind water. Soak the tamarind pulp in boiling hot water until soft. Once soft, remove any pips and blend with roughly 3/4 cup of water so that you make up 1 cup of tamarind water, strain through a sieve to remove any large fibrous parts.
Add cooking oil to a large saucepan. When the oil is hot add the urad daal, mustard seeds, asofoetida, curry leaves, ginger chili paste, tomatoes, sambhar masala and doodhi (bottle gourd) (or any other vegetables of your choosing) and allow this to cook.
In the meantime blend the cooked daal and with any remaining water to a smooth consistency. Next, add this to the cooking pan. Add 1 cup of tamarind water. Add extra boiling water if the mixture is too thick. Bring to a boil and once boiling, turn off the heat and top with fresh coriander. Season with salt as necessary.
Enjoy!
ETHICAL EATS 