Bitter gourd pittlai/ sambar

Bitter gourd pitllai is a traditional sambar genre which is accompanied with rice.

Serves: 4 Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
2 bitter gourd , chopped
1/2 cup of cooked, mashed toor dhal
lemon sized tamarind ,juice extracted
few sprigs of coriander , curry leaves

 DRY ROAST:
1 tbsp of urud dhal
1/2 tbsp of  yellow split lentil ( channa dhal )
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of  methi seeds(fenugreek seeds)
1 tsp of hing
4-5 red chiili

1 tbsp of grated coconut

Tempering:

1tbsp of oil
1 tsp of mustard
1 tsp of coriander seeds
pinch of hing

Method:

• Pressure cook the lentil and mash it.
•  Dry roast the ingredients (ururd dhal, channa dhal, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, chilli, coconut,hing) and grind it to a paste.
  
• 

Soak the tamarind for 3 minutes  then Squeeze the tamarind and extract the juice. 

• Add the chopped bitter gourd to the tamarind juice and boil it with salt, 1 tsp of turmeric powder for a minute.
• Now add the grinded paste and boil till the veggies are cooked and raw smell of the paste disappears, approximately 3-4 minutes.
• Now add the mashed lentil and cook it in simmer for 6-7 minutes or till it becomes to get thicker, stirring occasionaly
  

•  After switching off the sambar, add the tempering and garnish with chopped coriander, curry leaves.