Bell Pepper Sambhar (served with beetroot vadai and rice)

No, silly! Not the Brazilian dance! Sambhar is a lentil based cooking style from the South of India, particularly Tamil Nadu.

It's vegan and cheap as chips so let's get cracking right away!

It's the kind of thing you wouldn't just have on its own but rather accompanied by, for example, some vadai (Indian falafels) or other vegetarian dishes. This time I'm pairing the sambhar with the beetroot vadai of the previous posting, served with rice.

There are some odd ingredients in this.

Toor dal - it's the kind of lentil they use for sambhars. However, if you can't get it you could substitute for red lentils (masoor dal).

Urad dal - again, a kind of lentil that's used almost like a spice. Asian shops in the UK or speciality shops in Poland such as Kuchnia Świata will sell this.

Cost of this meal per person: 2.68 zl (51 UK pence, 0.62 Euro, 87 Yen)
Cost of the sambhar itself: 1.25 zl per person (24 UK pence, 0.30 Euro, 42 Yen)

Ingredients:

- 1 tsp urad dal
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 dried red chillies
- 1/8 tsp asaphoetida
- 1-2 tomatoes (peeled and really finely chopped)
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 1 bell pepper cut into 1 cm cubes
- 1 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in warm water
- 2 tsp sambhar powder
- 1/2 cup of toor dal soaked for 2 hours then boiled for 1 hour-ish
- salt to taste
- veg oil to cook in

On with the show!

1. Soak the toor dal for 2 hours then boil for 1 hour

2. In the meantime, prep the tomatoes, onions, pepper, tamarind etc.

3. Get the whole spices ready for tempering.

4. Heat up some oil in a pan. When it's hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the other tempering ingredients shown above (urad dal, asapheotida, fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies) and fry for 30 seconds.

5. Add the onion and a little salt. Cook down for around 15 minutes until starting to go golden.

6. Add the sambhar powder.

7. Tomatoes in and cover. Cook down for around 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.

8. The toor dal should be ready now. It looks like this (yeah, I know it doesn't look mega appetising, but ...)

9. Mix this toor dal into the sambhar.

10. Tamarind in

11. Peppers in

12. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Don't overcook the peppers - you want them to retain a nice crunch. You're ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Cost breakdown:

- tomatoes: 4 zl
- bell pepper: 2.50 zl
- toor dal: 0.50 zl
- the rest: 0.50 zl

Total: 7.50 zl
Serves: 6
Per person: 1.25 zl

The sample meal above would cost:

- sambhar: 1.25 zl
- 3 vadai: 0.75 zl
- rice: 0.60

Total for the meal per person: 2.60 zl