Drumstick, Brinjal sambar

Sambar is a delicious recipe, that goes well with rice, idli, dosa, pongal, and vada.  Here let us see how to prepare a basic sambar that goes well with rice. 

Sambar can be made with a variety of vegetables. But some of the combinations are extremely good, like Potato+Onion, Drumstick+Brinjal, and  Drumstick+Mango. 

Here we go with Drumstick+Brinjal sambar. This sambar goes extremely well with rice.

I have a small vegetable garden at home, where I get Brinjal, Ladies finger, Pumpkin, Ridge gourd, Bitter gourd, Flat beans (Avaraikkai) etc.

Ingredients :

Drumstick - 1 or 2, medium sized

Brinjal 3 nos, medium sized

Curry leaves

Toor dal - 1/3 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Sambar powder - 1.5 or 2 tsp 
Asafoetida - 2 pinches

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Tamarind - big gooseberry size

Oil - 2 teaspoons 

(Gingely oil or Coconut oil)

Salt - as needed

I have detailed Sambar powder preparation in cooking basics.

Preparation:

Soak Toor dal in water for 15 minutes.  When soaked, it cooks softly. Also, we can save a little time for cooking. Pressure cook Toor dal for 6 to 8 whistles. 

Soak tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes. Extract the tamarind juice by using 3 cups of water.

In a kadai, add 2 teaspoons of gingelly oil or coconut oil. I prefer coconut oil. Splutter mustard seeds, then add the vegetables, tamarind water, turmeric powder, salt, sambar powder, asafoetida. Cover it with a lid and cook in a medium flame. Let the vegetables cook softly. You can notice the reduction in the volume of tamarind water. 

Now add cooked and mashed toor dal. If needed, add some water and let it boil well. For rice, the consistency should be thicker.

Add curry leaves. Sambar is ready now. While serving, a teaspoon of ghee can be added to rice along with this sambar.