Kovaikka Sambhar/ Tindora sambhar

I love south Indian cuisine a lot so i try all south indian cuisines at home even my H loves south indian poriyals rasam , sambhar . Sambhar rice is one of  our favorite and for today i wanted to share this delicious sambhar which my neighbor used to make often in chennai and i just loved the aroma of it . 

This an delicious lentil soup from Tamil nadu  with Ivy gourd in it makes it more flavorful and tasty . Any sambhar when made with different veggies in it taste different so i tried my hand with tindora / kovaikkai in tamil . Lets move on to this delicious  and our family fav  recipe 🙂 

Ingredients

Toor dal – 1 cup
Kovakkai (tindora/Ivy gourd,cut lengthwise) –  
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander/ dhania powder – 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
Sambhar pd – 2 tsp (adjust according to your taste)
Cumin seeds – 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
Tomato (medium,chopped) – 1
Dry Red chilli – 2-3 Nos
Shallots- 6
Tamarind – size of a gooseberry (soaked in warm water and squeeze out the tamrind extract)
Curry leaves – 2 sprig
salt to taste
oil – 2 tbsp
Dry red chilly –2 nos
Coriander leaves (chopped ) – For garinsh

Method

• Pressure cook dal with turmeric powder and chopped tomatoes.
• Once dal is cooked well, open the lid  and mash them nicely.
• Add some water to the dal about 1/2 cup or so to make them thin and also add tamarind extract and mix them.
• In pan heat oil , add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Dry red chilli, curry leaves after the splutter add shallots and saute till transparent 
•  Then comes Kovaikka/Tindora, add and   saute for a while add the red chilli , turmeric , dhania,sambhar  pd , salt and mix them well  sprinkle some water .
• Now add the sauteed veggie to dal and mix them .
• Now boil the sambhar in medium heat till kovaikka / tindora gets cooked and are mashable.
• Add  sufficient amount of water to make the sambhar thiner if you want don’t make it too thin  .
• Once the Kovaikai are done switch off the flame, Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves  and serve this piping hot sambhar with steamed rice and cabbage poriyal .

Sending to Potluck party JCO and Nivedhanam

Tamizhar samayal Tuesday whose brain child is +nalini suresh . Am so happy make this sambhar for first tuesday of this new event where we have to share tamil nadu cuisines every 2nd and 4 th tuesday in a month.