Vada-Sambar

Ingredients:

For Vada:

2cups Urad dal
1/4 tsp Pepper powder
1 tsp Ginger, crushed
6-8 Green chillies, crushed
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
1 tbsp Onion, finely chopped (optional)

Method:

Wash and soak urad dal for 2-4hrs.
Drain and Grind coarsely with very less water.
Add salt, pepper, green chillies , ginger and mix well.
slightly wet a zip lock cover and take small lemon size batter and press them slightly using your palm, make a small hole in the center.
Deep fry in hot oil till they turn into lovely golden brown color remove and place it on a tissue paper.
Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

For Sambar:

1 cup Toor dal
1 onion ,roughly chopped
2 tomatoes,cubed
4-6 Sambar onions
Salt to taste
A large pinch Turmeric powder
3 tbsp Sambar powder
3 tsp tamarind pulp
Few Curry leaves
4 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

For seasoning:

1tsp mustard seeds
2 whole red chillies
A pinch hing
1 tsp jeera


Method:

Pressure cook dal and blend it smoothly.
Heat oil in a pan and fry roughly chopped onion till they r soft, fry the tomatoes also the similar way.Make a smooth paste of these onions and tomatoes and add to the toor dal paste.
In a large pan add the toor dal paste and add little water and bring to a boil, add salt,tamarind paste, turmeric powder, sambar powder and cook on a low flame.
In another pan heat oil and fry the sambar onions, when these onions are soft add 1 tsp of sambar powder and some salt and fry for a couple of minutes.(tip by sanjeev kapoor)
When the onions are soft and cooked add them to the sambar.
for the seasoning heat oil in pan and add mustard seeds, when they start crackling add jeera, hing , red chillies ,curry leaves and pour it in the sambar.
Finally add the chopped cilantro and serve hot.