Hotel Sambhar

Description

Hotel Sambhar

We all get excited, when we see king-sized paper roast dosas served with  piping hot hotel sambhar and coconut chutney at restaurants. Here is the recipe for that scrumptious restaurant style sambhar.

Ingredients
1 cup

Red gram (soak for atleast 1 hour)

10 nos

Sambhar onions/shallots (soak in warm water to peel off the skin)

15 nos

White pumpkin (1/4 of a whole pumpkin approx)

1 no

Onion (finely chopped)

5 nos

Ripe tomatoes (crushed or pureed)

1 no

Green chilli

3 clove

Garlic

3 tsp

Tamrind juice (or thick store bought pulp 1/4 tsp)

1 tsp

Jaggery (powdered)

2 tsp

Dry coconut flakes/ desicated / coparai thengai

3 tsp

Red chilli powder

2 tsp

Corrainder/dhania powder

¼ tsp

Turmeric powder

2 tsp

Sambhar powder (store bought gives good color)

2 tsp

Salt (or to taste)

1 tsp

Ghee

2 tbsp

Oil

½ tsp

Mustard

½ tsp

Cumin seeds

¼ tsp

Fenugreek seeds

2 nos

Dry red chilli

½ tsp

Asafoetida powder

7 nos

Curry leaves

1 stks

Corrainder leaves

Instructions

Wash and soak Toor/Red gram dhal (Thuvaram paruppu ) in water for atleast 1 hour.   Then pressure cook it with little salt until you get 3 to 4 whistles from your cooker.  Once done and when the pressure releases, open and mash it immediately with a flat spatula or blend well and keep aside. Pressure cook pumpkins seperately with a dash of turmeric powder , little salt and water (Maximum 2 whistles) and set aside.
Now take a regular deep sauce pan , heat the oil and add mustard, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, dry red chillies, curry leaves and asafetida, let them splutter, then add the chopped onion, sambhar onions, green chilli and garlic and saute them for a while.

When onions turn translucent add crushed tomatoes , tumeric powder, red chilli powder and dhania powder. Saute everything till the tomatoes become tender and juicy.  Now add  2 cups water, salt, tamrind pulp, cooked toor dhal or Thuvaram paruppu, cooked pumpkin pieces, jaggery, dry coconut flakes and sambhar powder. Let this soupy gravy come to a boil, add ghee at this stage, taste for salt and garnish with corriander leaves.