Mochai Kottai (Dry Beans) Kuzhambu

Mochai Kottai 1 cup Tamarind Lemon size Salt 2 teaspoon Sambar Powder 1 heaped tablespoon Turmeric powder teaspoon Coconut gratings 2 tablespoon Oil 2 tablespoon Mustard 1 teaspoon Sambar Onion 5 Curry leaves few

Method: Soak tamarind and salt in one cup of water. In a kadai put one teaspoon oil and fry the Mochai Kottai till it turns light brown. Put it in a pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water and pressure cook for three whistles. Cool it and drain the excess water. Squeeze out the tamarind and extract the juice. Add more water and again take out the remaining juice. The tamarind juice should be of 3 cups. Add sambar powder and turmeric powder to the tamarind juice. Add cooked mochai kottai also. Mix well and bring to boil. Grind the coconut to a fine paste. Add to the boiling kuzhambu. Stir well. Allow to boil in a low flame for few more minutes. Season it with mustard, curry leaves and chopped onion. Note: You can also make the above Kuzhambu using Karamani (cow gram) or Whole gram (Kondai kadalai) instead of Mochai Kottai.

Mullangi (Radish) Sambar

White Radish - 2 Tomato -1 Thuvar dhal Half cup Tamarind small lemon size Sambar powder 1 tablespoon Turmeric powder teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon For seasoning: 2 teaspoon oil Half teaspoon mustard A pinch of asafetida Few curry leaves Sambar onion 4 or 5 cut length wise

Method: Wash thuvar dhal and add two cups of water along with a pinch of turmeric powder and pressure cook till soft. Soak tamarind in water and squeeze out the juice. Cut tomato into medium size pieces. Remove the skin from radish and cut it into thin round pieces. Add water just to cover the radish pieces. Add tomato pieces, salt, sambar powder, turmeric powder and cook on medium flame till the radish is soft. Add tamarind juice and allow to boil. Now add the cooked thuvar dhal mashed well. In a kadai put the oil and when it is hot add the mustard. When it pops up, add asafotida, cut onions and curry leaves and fry for a while. Add this to the sambar. Mix well. Remove from stove.