Killi pota sambar – A sambar without sambar podi

Its a long while I posted any recipes in my blog. The work front is taking up most of my time and the rest was eaten by my kids 🙂 Atlast I am posting a simple recipe (will be posting a series of them regularly) thats easy to make and will soon turn to be a comfort food. This sambar is named so becase its not-so-hot as the split red chillies alone are added to make it so. Since the splitting is called as “killi podaradhu” in tamil this should have got its name! From my experince this is a “kids favorite” as everyday morning I make this to feed my elder one with idlis.
And now coming to the recipe…
Ingredients:
Toor dal – 1/2 cup
A medium lemon sized ball of tamarind soaked in 1 cup of water
Red chillies – split into 2 to three pieces each – 2 nos.
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Onions (sliced thinly) – 1 Big Onion
Tomato (chopped) – 2
Garlic – 1 pod
Peanut oil – 2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

How to make it?
Cook toor dal with 4 cups of water, asafoetida, garlic and turmeric until mushy. Squeeze the tamarind and get the extract (it would be around 1 cup). Add it to the cooked dal. Heat a wide skillet and pour the peanut oil. Once hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the split chillies. Once the mustard seeds splutter add the onions and saute in high flame just for about 10 secs. The onions should still be crisp. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute further for 10-15 seconds. Add the toor dal + tamarind mix. Add required salt. Boil for another 5-7 minutes till the raw smell of tamarind goes off. Switch off the stove and enjoy with hot idlis or with rice. A spicy pickle will go well with this sambar and rice. This is our all time comfort food.