Sambar

1 small lemon sized tamarind or 1 teaspoon concentrated tamarind
1/2 cup warm water to soak the tamarind if using fresh tamarind
1 teaspoon sambar powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon rice flour
3/4 to 1 cup cooked toor dhal (yellow split peas and masoor dhal can be substituted)
1 small tomato chopped (optional)
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 red chilly
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

For garnishing:

a spring or curry leaves
1 to 2 teaspoon of chopped coriander leaves

1 to 1 1/2 cup chopped in chunks vegetables of your choice: winter melon, miriliton, radish, eggplant, okra (needs to be sauteed), bell pepper, butternut squash, etc.

Soak the tamarind for one to two hours. While the tamarind is soaking cook the dhal in a pressure cooker. After the dhal is cooked, in a saucepan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, after the mustard seeds pop, add the red chilly broken into half, methi seeds, curry leaves, add chopped tomatoes. Saute the tomatoes for a minute or two, add 1/2 cup water and boil the tomatoes.

Add 1/2 a cup water at a time and squeeze the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind. You will probably be using a total of 1 1/2 cups of water. If you are using concentrated tamarind, add 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of concentrated tamarind, add the sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt. Let it boil once and add the vegetables. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the cooked dhal and rice flour. The flour has to be mixed with a tablespoon of water before you add it to the sambar. Let it boil once, turn of the stove and add the chopped coriander leaves.

Serves 4-6 people.