Today’s recipe is a meal that my mother often makes at home for dinner – Thosai with sambhar and sambal. This is a meal that can also be eaten at breakfast or lunch.

(a) Thosai

Cooking time: 30 mins + soaking and fermenting time: 12 hours

Makes 20

Ingredients:

• Raw rice – 1 cup
• Ulunthu/ urad dal – 1 cup
• Fenugreek – ¼ tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig
• Onion – small piece, chopped
• Cumin – 1 tsp
• Pepper – 1 tsp
• Turmeric – ½ tsp

Method:

1. Soak the rice, dal and fenugreek for 6 hours.
2. Drain the soaked mixture and wash it lightly.
3. Put the mix in the blender together with the curry leaves, chopped onion and cumin, pepper and turmeric. Blend until the thosai batter has a consistency similar to that of pancake batter consistency.
4. Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover and let it ferment for another 6 hours.
5. Add salt and mix before heating up the thosai pan or flat pan.
6. Pour a large spoonful of batter and spread it out. Flip to the other side after a minute or two so that both sides are cooked well and have brownish tinges.
7. Serve the thosai hot with sambhar and dried red chilli sambal.

(b) Sambhar

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 5 or 6

Ingredients:

• Mysore dal – ½ cup
• Brinjal – ½ cup, chopped
• Beans – ½ cup, chopped
• Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
• Potato – 1 medium-sized, chopped
• Pumpkin – ½ cup, chopped
• Murungai Kai – ½ cup, chopped (optional)
• Onion – ½, chopped
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig
• Tamarind extract – ¼ cup
• Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
• Cumin powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tsp
• Pepper – ½ tsp
• Garlic cloves – 2 or 3, crushed
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Coconut milk – ¼ cup
• Salt, to taste

Method:

1. Cook the vegetables, in a pan with 3 cups of water, for about 15 – 20 minutes on medium heat.
2. Reduce heat and if water had dried up, add another ½ cup water.  Add the tamarind juice, mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the crushed chillies, cumin, coriander and pepper powder, crushed garlic and turmeric powder to the pan. Mix well and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Towards the end, add ¼ cup coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes before removing from heat.
5. Serve sambhar with thosai or idli.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.