Sambhar for Idly

This recipe is been asked by my many friends. Now I am posting it today.
This is a typical Bangalore darshini style udupi sambhar.
This recipe is from my friend's mom 'sudha aunty'.
Though I have great cooks in my family, to begin with my granny,(my dad's mom)no one can ever beat her food, and my dad, his sisters, his brother and my uncle(dad's brother-in-law).
My mom's mom was a fantastic cook.
In this generation my cousin sisters, all are very fantastic cooks.
But for me, I was very influenced by sudha aunty's cooking when I was just started to learn cooking.
I was amazed by her talent and interest, the way she used to cook, everything had a definite way of doing things.
Like measurement of ingredients, their roasting time, adding water, when, how much and so on....
The way she used to make sure that nothing goes to bin, or to make use of old clothes into foot mats and tea towels.
If I have to write about her, then I can write a whole of  3 to 4 posts.
Thanks sudha aunty for everything.
This is her recipe, she is from udupi.
I have made a bit of changes to suit our palate.

Ingredients:
Toor dal - 1 cup,
Tomatoes - 3-4(medium sized),
Onion - 1 large,
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon,
Tamarind - Small marble sized(soaked in warm water and juice extracted),
Salt,
Jaggery - 1 tablespoon.

For roasting and grinding:
Coconut Oil - 1 tablespoon,
Coriander seeds - 3 teaspoon,
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon,
Chana dal - 1 teaspoon,
Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon,
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon,
Raw Rice - 1 teaspoon,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig,
Red chillies - 8-10,
Kashmiri Red Whole Chillies - 5-6,
Coconut - 1 cup.

For tempering:
Oil - 1 teaspoon,
Mustard - 1 tablespoon,
Red Chillies - 3-4,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig.

For Garnishing:
Coriander chopped - 1/2 medium bunch.

Method:
In a pressure cooker,  cook toor dal, onion, tomatoes and turmeric with enough water upto 3 whistles.
Once cooled, blend everything from the back of the ladle and keep aside.
Fry the ingredients under the roasting and grinding table, in coconut oil, except coconut.
When dals turn  brown, add coconut and fry for minute and remove from flame.
Cool it and grind it to smooth paste with water.
In a broad sauce pan bring tamarind water, salt and jaggery to boil.
Boil until the you get a nice aroma of tamarind and jaggery(approximately 4-5 minutes).
Add ground paste and bring to boil.
Add cooked dal and veggies. Let it boil for less than a minute and remove from flame.
Temper with the ingredients under the tempering table and garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy!!!







OR
You can alternatively,
Cook dal with turmeric with enough water.
In a broad sauce pan temper with the ingredients under ingredients table.
Add chopped onion and fry until soft.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy.
Add tamarind juice, salt and jaggery.
Bring  it boil and boil for 4-5 minutes.
Add ground paste.
Boil it.
Add cooked dal and switch off the flame after just one boil.
Garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy!!!!!!!

Note:
Kashmiri Red chillies give nice colour, flavour and thickness to the dish.
Coconut oil gives exact udupi sambhar taste, but if you wish you can add normal vegetable oil.
Along with onion and tomatoes you can add any vegetable of your choice like, potato, brinjal, chow chow,  drumstick and so on.
This sambhar will be slightly sweetish.
After adding cooked dal never boil too much as the dish will lose its flavour and taste.