Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 30 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1. 2 big potato or alugadde
2. 2 big onion
3. 1 small tomato (optional)
4. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
5. Small gooseberry sized tamarind
6. Salt as per your taste

Ingredients for masala: (measuring cup used = 240ml)

1. 1/2 - 3/4 cup grated coconut (depending on the thickness required)
2. 2 - 4 red chili
3. 1 tsp urad dal
4. 2 tsp coriander seeds
5. 1/4 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
6. 1/4 tsp asafoetida
7. 1 tsp cooking oil

Ingredients for tempering:

1. 1 red chili
2. 5 - 6 curry leaves
3. 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
4. 2 tsp cooking oil

Instruction for making potato onion sambar:

1. Wash, peel and chop the potatoes. Peel and chop the onions. Generally for this sambar onions are chopped length wise. Transfer the chopped vegetables into a pressure cooker. Add in turmeric powder, little salt and water. Close the lid and cook by making 1 or 2 whistles. Optionally you can add a small tomato.
2. Take red chilies, urad dal, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a frying pan. Start roasting them under medium flame using a tsp of oil. Take care not to burn the ingredients.
3. When the dals are brown, add in asafoetida, mix well and switch off the stove.
4. Add in grated coconut and wait until fried ingredients are cool. No need to fry the coconut. Adding coconut will avoid the burning of ingredients after switching off the stove.
5. Grind roasted spices and coconut using a mixer grinder by adding required water.
6. Then add this ground paste into the cooker, which has cooked vegetables. Adjust the salt. Please remember we have already added little salt while cooking the vegetables.
7. Add in tamarind juice extracted by a small gooseberry sized tamarind.
8. Add in required water, mix well and bring it to boil.
9. Temper it with oil, red chili, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Serve tasty potato onion sambar with hot rice or idlies.

Dear reader, We have a Kannada version of this recipe. Click here to read this recipe in Kannada.