25 March, 2019
ONION HULI/SAARU/SAMBAR
Yet another onion curry/sambar recipe made in my own way, which we all like to relish with any kind of South Indian, made in our style dishes.
The specialty in this huli/saaru recipe is that the onions are cut in 3 different shapes are being used, just a kind of creativity to enjoy while cooking …that’s it ! An accompaniment to go with Idly, dosa/dosay, akki rotti, rice etc, which is prepared using only onion.
This is made little more spicy and has got all the tastes/flavours like hot (chilies), sweet (jaggery), sour (tamarind), bitter (fenugreek seeds powder) and salty. Since this is one of my most favorite huli/saaru, I often make this huli/sambar to go with steaming hot rice, akki rotti and once in a while with idly, rather than making the other regular type of sambar/darshini style sambar which is always served along with Idly.
Ingredients : measuring cup used – 250 ml
- Pigeon peas/arahar dal/togaribele – 1/2 cup
- Water – 3 cups
- Ghee – 1/2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Fenugreek seeds/methi powder – 3/4 tsp –
- Curry leaves – 2 string
- Onion – 3 medium sized
- Tomato – 1 big
- Thick tamarind juice – 3 tbsp
- Jaggery – 1 tbsp
- Salt to taste
Spice powders :
- Huli pudi – 1 tbsp (heaped)
- Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tsp
- Red chili powder (for color)- 1 tsp
- Red chili powder (hot/spicy) – 1 tsp
For tempering :
- Ghee – 2 tsp
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
- Hing – 1/4 tsp
PROCEDURE :
- To begin with boil 3 cups of water and cook 1/2 cup of dal for up to 3 whistles in a pressure cooker
- Cut the onions in 3 different ways (check the below pic) and chop and grind the tomato coarsely
- Heat ghee, add in mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, let it splutter, add in onion and saute till it turns translucent
- Separate about 1/2 a cup of sauteed onion mixture, allow it to cool, then grind into smooth paste and add it back to the sauteed onion mixture, also add in tomato paste and cooked lentil and stir well
- Now add in all the spice powder listed above, jaggery, tamarind juice and salt, stir well and allow it to boil well
- Add water to get the needed consistency and check for salt
- Prepare the tempering using the ingredients listed below the heading ‘for tempering’ and pour on the prepared huli/sambar
