Sambar Vadai with Coconut Chutney

Vadai - Just grind Urad Dhal that has been soaked in water for 2 -3 hrs. Add cut onions, coriander leaves and salt. You can also add whole black pepper, shredded cabbage and carrot. Make one vadai with just this mixture. If it comes out too oily, then add rice flour, mix them up and make the vadais.

Sambar - Pressure cook moong dhal along with the vegetables for the sambar. In a pan add mustard seeds. Once it pops, add lots of sliced onions, green chillies and diced tomatoes. After a couple of minutes, add the tamarind water, sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt. After it boils for 10 mins, add the dhal + vegetables. After 5 mins add the special sambar powder(Gosthu podi). Usually you need to add ground coconut also, but I skip it.

Coconut Chutney - Grind coconut + Dalia + green chillis + salt. Once it is ground add mustard seeds + urad dhal that have been fried.

Tomato Side Dish - 2 different ways

Tomato With Spring Onions- This is the diet version. Tomato and spring onions go so well together that it hardly needs anything else to flavor it. In a hot pan, add oil and then add sliced spring onion. Fry it for a couple of minutes and then add finely diced tomatoes, masala powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Let it cook together for 10 mins and dish is ready to be served.
Tomato Kurma -  Grind tomatoes with ginger and garlic. In a hot pan, add oil, then add sliced onions. Once it is cooked, add the ground tomatoes, chilli powder, masala powder, tumeric powder and salt. Once it cooks, add ground coconut + cashewnuts(soaked in water for 10 mins). Let it cook for 10 mins and then add some cilantro leaves. The dish is ready to be served.