Puducherry- the famous tourist destination of India having beautiful beaches and many other things that are amazing. It’s a Union Territory of East Coast India and formerly, known as Pondicherry. You all now understand very well that why we are talking about this place, as the recipe, which we have chosen for today is from Puducherry. A special and unique “Pondicherry Sambhar”, which is a bit different from the regular one. We all know very well that, Sambhar is the staple food of South India and there are so many varieties in it. Albeit, the preparation varies go from one another, but they all are named the same.

This new version of Sambhar definitely stands out distinct from all other and it goes very well with Idlis and other South Indian dishes. It’s delicious, easy to make and consume very less time in cooking. Therefore, whenever you want to prepare Idli or Dosa, then try this Sambhar instead of a regular one, which we often make. For the preparation, we are providing you the simple and easy steps and the ingredients, which are used to prepare it are easily available in your kitchen pantry.

To Cook “Pondicherry Sambhar”, follow these steps:

Serves: 4 to 6 people

Ingredients

• ¾ cup of Toor Dal
• 2 cups of Water
• ½ tsp of Turmeric Powder
• 1 tbsp of Oil
• 2 Tomato (chopped)
• 1 large sized Onion (thinly sliced)
• 2 cups of yellow pumpkin (chopped into large pieces)
• 3 Garlic Cloves (crushed)
• ½ tbsp of Tamarind Pulp (imli)
• 1 tsp of Jaggery (gud)
• A few curry leaves (kari patta)
• ½ tbsp of Cumin Powder (jeera)
• ½ tbsp of Peppercorns (kali mirch)
• 1 tsp of Mustard Seeds (rai)
• ¼ tsp of Asafoetida (hing)
• 1 tsp of Urad Dal
• 4 to 5 Red Chilies (broken)
• A few Coriander Leaves (finely chopped)
• Salt according to taste

Procedure

• In a pressure cooker, cook the Toor Dal in about 2 cups of water along with turmeric powder and oil, until it becomes soft and mushy.

• Drain out the cooked Dal water into a bowl and keep aside.

• Heat the oil in a pan or a wok (kadai). Add mustard seeds, Urad Dal and asafoetida.

• When start to crackle, add curry leaves and broken red chilies.

• Now, add chopped onions and crushed garlic.

• Stir for a bit and add chopped pumpkin (you can add more vegetables as per your choice).

• Add the tomato and the water that is used to cook Dal.

• Now, add salt, cover it and cook until, the vegetables done.

• After that, add tamarind pulp, cumin powder and peppercorn powder, cook for another 2-3 minutes.

• Finally, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and serves with hot Dosa and Idlis.