Ingredients:

• 4 – Carrots
• 1 cup – Red gram
• Peanuts – a handful
• 1 – Small lime-size Tamarind
• 2 tsp – Sambar powder
• 1/2 tsp – Salt
• 1/4 tsp – Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp – Rice flour
• 1 tsp – Cooking oil
• Asafoetida – 1 pinch
• 1/4 tsp – Fenugreek seeds
• 2 – Dry Red Chillies
• 6 – Curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

Method:

1. Soak peanuts in hot water and keep aside.
2. Wash the red gram well. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 3 cups of water and keep it in one of the stackable containers of a pressure cooker.
3. Peel, slice, and arrange carrot slices in another container.
4. Don’t add water, as the steam in the cooker is enough to cook the carrots.
5. Take a small cup of water, add the tamarind and sambar powder to it, and place it with the carrots.
6. Add an inch of water at the bottom of the cooker.
7. Now stack the containers in the pressure cooker – with the one with the dal at the bottom, topped by the one with the carrots. Close the lid.
8. Pressure cook for 3 whistles on a high flame and then switch off the flame.
9. Do not open the cooker now, as the cooking process continues until it cools down.
10. Once the cooker has cooled down (takes about 10 minutes), it’s ready to open.
11. Now heat 1 tsp oil in a vessel, and add asafoetida and mustard seeds.
12. When the mustard splutters, add the fenugreek seeds and roast till it becomes red in colour.
13. Next, add the broken red chillies and fry till crisp. Add curry leaves.
14. Now remove the carrots and dal mixture from the cooker and add to this seasoning.
15. Drain the peanuts and add it to the dal as well.
16. The tamarind and sambar powder should have dissolved in the cup of water.
17. Squeeze out the tamarind seeds and fibre and discard.
18. What you will have left is a thick mixture of tamarind juice and sambar powder.
19. Add this to the dal as well.
20. Stir all the ingredients till well blended, and boil for a few minutes with some salt.
21. Make a paste with rice flour and a little water, and add it to the sambar; boil for another 2 or 3 minutes. This step is optional, and can be done if you want to thicken the consistency of sambar.
22. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve it.
23. Recipe and image courtesy: Chitra Amma’s Kitchen
24. http://chitra-ammas-kitchen.blogspot.com