Thadianga Sambhar - White Pumpkin Sambhar

             We all know white pumpkin is very good for health in our home we usually use it in Aviyal, kootu etc. I was unaware that its called as "ven poosani" in most of the places. Once when I enquired to the vegetable vendor in Chennai "Anna thadianga epd velai?" ("Bro what is rate of thadiangai?") he smiled and asked me "sondha oor enna tirunelvelia?" 😉 ("R u native of tirunelveli?" ) . Whenever I buy white pumpkin this incident always strike in my memory ☺. I usually make sambhar with brinjal, ladies finger or drumstick but once when we visited my Sister in law's home I tasted this sambhar with crispy ladies finger fries and carrot salad . It tasted so yummy that i started making white pumpkin sambhar often 😃. One more thing I love about this sambhar is it goes well with almost all dishes like idly, dosa, upma even pongal ! I guess most of you will be expert in this sambhar anyway just sharing my method ☺Hope you like it..

White Pumpkin Sambhar

Cuisine: Indian Category: Main Course Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: 30 mins Cook time: 10 mins Servings: 3-4

Ingredients White pumpkin 250 gms Shallots 15 Green chili 2 small ones Thur dal 1/4 Cup Tamarind 1 small lemon sized Turmeric 1/4 teaspoon Rock Salt 1 heaped teaspoon Coriander leaves 1 spring To roast and grind Urad dal 1 teaspoon Channa dal 1 teaspoon Dry red chilies 6 -8 Coriander seeds 2 teaspoon Compound Asafoetida A small piece Methi seeds 1/4 teaspoon For Tempering Ghee 1 teaspoon Gingelly oil 4 teaspoon Mustard 1/2 teaspoon Methi seeds 1/2 teaspoon Powdered hing A generous pinch Curry leaves 1 spring Preparation      1.     Peel shallots, slit green chilies and chop coriander leaves. Peel skin of white         pumpkin, discard its seeds and cut the pulp into small squares.       2.     Pressure cook thur dal for 4-5 whistles and mash it well. Soak Tamarind in hot water for 10 mins and extract the juice. Assemble all ingredients.

Method     1.     Add 1 spoon oil in pan and roast red chilies, channa dal, urad dal , half of methi seeds, coriander seeds and compound asafoetida. Once the dals turn golden brown coll down the mixture and grind to a nice powder.     2.    In the same pan add another spoon oil and add green chilies along with shallots and saute for a minute. Add pumpkin cubes, turmeric , salt,1/2 cup water and bring it to boil.    3.     Once the pumpkin gets cooked and become soft add tamarind juice, some more turmeric and bring to boil. Once raw smell of tamarind goes off, simmer the flame, add the ground sambhar powder and mix without any lumps.     4.     Add mashed dhal and boil for a minute. Add ghee+ remaining gingelly oil and temper with mustard, methi seeds and curry leaves and powdered hing. Garnish with coriander leaves.     5.     Serve with steamed rice topped with ghee along with any vegetable stir fry of your choice. We had with Cabbage Poriyal and Applam :).

Notes The consistency of dhal plays major role in both texture and taste of sambhar. Usually I add water and dhal in 1:1 ratio. Instead of grinding fresh powder we can also add 2 teaspoon sambhar powder in case in a hurry. I usually prefer compound asafoetida (kootu perungayam) for roasting and grinding purpose as it gives nice flavour:) . (my MILs tip!) If it's not available use regular hing.  Similarly Rock salt works best for all liquid gravies. If you are using table salt add 1 teaspoon flat. Check and add more if required. You can use sunflower oil or any other oil of your choice but ghee + gingelly oil works best for sambhar :).