Winter melon sambar Pusanikai or vellai panrangekai sambar

I believe when ever we learn cooking the first thing we try will be sambar it is easy to cook still it is important ,because at least weekly once we make sambar for rice.We can use vegetables like Drumstick,Beans,Capsicum,carrot, potato,brinjal,radish,mango,bitter guard(paavakai),chow chow,green squash(zucchini),ladies finger.

If you making sambar with brinjal,ladies finger ,capsicum,radish,green squash,bitterguard(paavakai) your have to fry them in oil before boiling them.OK let us go to the method.

Ingredients:

Toor dhal(thuvaram parupu) - 1/2 cup

Winter melon /pusanikai/vellai parange kai - 3/4 cup of chopped(chop them to inch cubic pieces)

Tomato - 1/2 the medium sized one

Onion - 1/4 the medium sized one

Tamarind - 1/2 the lemon size

Sambar powder - 1 table spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - as needed

For seasoning:

Oil - 2 table spoon

Asafoetida- 2 pinches

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Urad dhal (ulundham parupu) - 1/4 teaspoon

Jeera - 1/4 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 5 nos

Red chilly - 1 no

Coriander leaves - few (optional)

Method:

1. Soak the toor dhal for 1/2 hr and boil it in pressure cooker for three whistle.Soak the tamarind and salt with water and take juice out of it.In a kadai add the cooked toor dhal(thuvaram parupu),turmeric powder, winter melon(pusanikai) ,onion and tomato. Cover it with the lid and cook it in the medium fire until the winter melon gets soft.
2. When the beans gets soft add the sambar powder and tamarind juice,allow it to boil until the raw smell of the sambar powder goes(it will take some 5 -7 minutes).
3. In a small kadai add the oil when it gets hot add asafoetida and mustard seeds when it splatters add urad dhal(ulundham parupu),jeera,red chilly and curry leaves,when uraddhal turns brown pour it in the samabar.You can garnish i will chopped coriander leaves.'

Sambar is ready to be served with rice now..

Note:

If you are going to make sambar with vegetables like brinjal,capsicum,bittergaurd(paavakai),green squash(zucchini),radish,ladies finger then fry them in oil before adding them to cooked toordhal because these vegetables will taste better when they are fried in oil before cooking...