Sambar

3 or 4 Drum Sticks cut into long pieces
a Fistfull of sambar onions
Any desired vegetable cut into slightly big pieces (brinjal, okra, beetroot, carrot, tomato)
2-3 Green Chillies
½ cup Toor Dal
A small lemon size tamarind
2 tsp Udipi Sambhar powder (see recipe below)
1 tsp Jaggery (or more to suit your taste)
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
Small Bunch of Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
¼ cup Fresh Coconut scraped or dessicated coconut

For Sambar Powder:
1 tbsp Urad Dal
½ tbsp Channa Dal
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
½ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
4-6 Dry Red Chilli

Tempering:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Dry Red Chilli
¼ tsp Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves
1 tbsp Oil

Wash and pressure cook the toor dal and mash it. Soak tamarind in water for some time and extract the pulp. Peel sambhar onions. Heat some oil in a pan and add slit green chillies onions and turmeric powder. Saute on medium flame for about 3 minutes till the onions turn glossy and translucent. Microwave vegetables till they are cooked or pressure cook them and then add to the above. Pour the tamarind extract and let it boil for a while on medium heat. Add the salt and then jaggery. Allow cooking for few more minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the pan and dry roast all the ingredients for the sambhar powder, initially only the dry ingredients and later adding the coconut. Allow them to turn golden brown. Cool and grind to a smooth paste by adding very little water at time. Keep aside. When the tamarind pulp has boiled enough, add the cooked dhal to it. Then add the ground sambhar paste. Simmer on medium heat adding some water if required. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds first, when they crackle add the red chilli and then the curry leaves. Once the curry leaves shine, take off the fire and add the tempering to the sambhar. Add chopped coriander leaves keep sambhar covered.