How to make onion sambar/onion sambar recipe/ Onion / shallot sambar/ sambar/Dal/Sambar rice

INGREDIENTS

Shallots /small sambar onions – 150 or 200 grms
Tuvar dal – ½ cup
Tomato – 1
Turmeric pwdr – ¼ tsp
Freshly grated coconut – 2 or 3 tbsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Sambar pwdr – 2 tbsp
Chilli pwdr – if required
Asafoetida – a generous pinch
Tamarind – gooseberry size
Curry leaves – few
Coriander leaves for garnish
Salt to taste
PREPARATION

Clean ,wash ,rinse and soak the dal for sometime. Pressure cook it with little salt + little turmeric + tomato + 2 cup of water till soft .Mash it and keep aside .
Peel the shallots .Chop it onto 2 or 3 slices if big in size .[ soak the onion in water for sometimes to ease peeling ]
Soak tamarind in 1 cup hot water for sometime ,squeeze and extract the juice.

onion sambar
METHOD

Heat oil in a pan ,add mustard seeds + fenugreek seeds and let it splutter . [fenugreek seeds should not burn else it will give a bitter taste]

Add onion / shallots  + curry leaves and fry for few mins till translucent .

Add coconut and fry for few seconds.

Lower the flame and add asafoetida + ¼ tsp turmeric pwdr + sambar masala pwdr + salt and fry it [ don’t burn ]

Add tamarind extract and mix well , raise the flame to medium and cook for a minute.

Add the cooked dal + water and mix well .[add water as per the consistency you want – the sambar thickens on cooling ]

Adjust salt if required .

Simmer on low flame for 2 – 3 minutes .

Garnish with coriander leaves .

Serve with rice or any SouthIndian breakfast.

NOTE

You can prepare this recipe using freshly ground sambar masala – refer here – Sambar made with freshly grounded masala
If you don’t have shallots you can use sliced onions .
For strong flavour of sambar add 3 tbsp of sambar pwdr.
Sambar pwdr already has chilli ,if required add chilli pwdr .
You can add 1/2  tsp of grated jaggery.
Use coconut oil for more flavour.
Adjust water as per the consistency you want ,sambar thickens on cooling as the sambar masala also has dal in it which acts as thickening agent.