Ingredients for cooking the dal and the vegetables

• 4 ozs (115 g) split peas (dal harhar)
• 1 carrot (gajjar)
• 1 teaspoonful turmeric (huldi)
• ¾ pt (480 mils) water
• 1 potato
• 2 brinjals of long variety (baingan)
• 1½ teaspoonfuls salt

Ingredients to be added after the dal is cooked

• 1 oz (30 g) tamarind pulp (imli)
• 1 teaspoonful coriander seeds (sukha dhania)
• ¼ oz (7 g) coconut
• A grain of asafoetida (hing) of the size of a peppercorn (kali mirch)
• ½ teaspoonful white cumin seeds (zeera sufaid)

Ingredients for seasoning the dal

• 1 oz ghee
• 8 to 10 small curry leaves (mithi neem)
• ½ teaspoonful red pepper (degi mirch)
• A few bits of red chillies (lal mirch)
• 1 tablespoonful mustard (sarson)
• 2 finely-cut green chillies (sabz mirch)
• 1 teaspoonful sambar masala

Boil the split peas (dal harhar), carrot, potato, brinjal, salt, turmeric and the water together till the split peas become tender. Discard the carrot and the potato. Cut the brinjal into dice and put it back into the pan. If other vegetables like marrow or lady’s finger are used in place of the brinjals cut them also into dice. Squeeze out the tamarind pulp and add to the boiled dal. Heat the ghee and fry cumin seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida and the coconut. Remove these from the ghee and grind into a fine paste. In the remaining ghee fry mustard seeds, finely-cut green chillies and curry leaves or 2 bay leaves and bits of red chillies. Add the ground paste and cook for 5 minutes. Season the dal prepared above with the fried masala and the sambar powder. If it is thick add a little boiling water and repeat all to boiling point.

Serve hot with dosa or boiled rice.