Lentils

Here is a short guide

Rajma  Red Kidney Beans. These take a while to cook.
urad (also mah) Black colored. The lentils are look like capsules. This dal takes a lot
longer to cook than most other dals.
masur Pink colored thin disks. Cooks very easily.
moong Green colored capsules. Sometimes used after it has been sprouted.
toor Hard yellow disks. Used in sambhar.
channa Also hard yellow disks- larger than toor dal.

Sambhar 

1 cup toor dal
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tsp channa dal
3 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida - optional
3 dried red chillies
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 green chilli chopped
1 onion chopped
1 chopped tomato

• Boil the toor dal with 3 cups of water.

• Fry the channa dal, coriander seeds, hing, red chillies for a few minutes and then fry it with
   grated coconut.
• Grind the above mixture with water in blender or food processor.
• Fry the green chilli in oil for a few minutes
• Boil the tamarind paste, water, salt, turmeric, tomato and vegetables. Cook for about 5 minutes.
• Add boiled dal and bring it to a boil.
• In the meanwhile fry mustard seeds & onion.
• Add the above ingredient leaves to the mixture and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

In Pittsburgh, there exist two schools of sambhar making, M. Rao school and Nattuos (the gentlemen in question are graduate students here) - both recipes produce wonderful end products and their sambhars really ought to be bottled and sold.Over the months, I have evolved my own recipe for onion sambhar, borrowing ideas from these stalwarts. Let me share it with you all.

TAKE A CUP OF TOOR DAL, ADD ABOUT TWO AND A HALF CUPS OF WATER, HALF A SPOON OF TURMERIC (HALDI) AND ABOUT A TABLESPOON OF OIL, MIX WELL AND PRESSURE COOK FOR ABOUT 4 MINUTES; IF YOU DONÕT HAVE A PRESSURE COOKER, COOK COVERED IN LOW MEDIUM HEAT, UNTIL THE DAL IS COOKED WELL [PROBABLY ABOUT 30-45 MINUTES. SS] SET ASIDE.

YOU CAN USE EITHER THE USUAL ONIONS OR SMALL (PEARL) ONIONS. SMALL ONIONS ARE AVAILABLE FROZEN IN GROCERY STORES. THAW THEM WELL IN ADVANCE. IF YOU CANOT IND SMALL ONIONS, THEN SLICE ABOUT SIX OR SEVEN USUAL ONIONS INTO LONG STRIPS. FRY THE ONIONS IN OIL IN MEDIUM HIGH HEAT (THE IDEA IS TO BROWN THEM WITHOUT LETTING THEM DISINTEGRATE) AND WHEN THEY ARE FRIED, ADD WATER TO COVER ABOUT A THIRD OF THE DUTCH OVEN. ADD ABOUT A TABLE SPOON OF TAMARIND CONCENTRATE AND ABOUT 4 OZ. OF TOMATO PASTE. (TOMATO PASTE IS AVAILABLE IN 6 OZ. CANS, IF YOU WANT YOUR SAMBHAR MORE TANGY, YOU CAN ADD THE FULL CAN. YOU CAN EXPERIMENT WITH THE AMOUNT OF TAMARIND ALSO) LET IT BOIL IN MEDIUM HEAT. 

GRATE ABOUT 1/3 OF A FULL COCONUT. IFYOU CANOT GRATE, SCOOP OUT ABOUT 1/3 OF A FULL COCONUT AND CUT INTO TINY PIECES. TAKE ANOTHER PAN, FRY ABOUT TWO TABLESPOONS OF CHANNA DAL,FOUR TABLESPOONS OF BLACK GRAM (URAD) DAL, FOUR TABLESPOONS OF CORIANDER (DHANIA) SEEDS, ABOUT HALF A TEASPOON OF FENUGREEK (METHI) AND SLOWLY FRY THEM IN MEDIUM LOW HEAT. WHEN FRIED ENOUGH TO A PLEASANT SMELLING BROWN, ADD ABOUT 6 TO 10 DRY RED CHILLIES, DEPENDING ON HOW WIMPY YOU ARE. THEN ÞNALLY ADD THE COCONUT PIECES AND FRY FOR AN EXTRA MINUTE OR TWO.

GRIND THE ABOVE INGREDIENTS TO A ÞNE PASTE IN A BLENDER WITH WATER AND ADD TO THE BOILING TAMARIND WATER. LET IT BOIL FOR A FEW MINUTES. MASH THE DAL (USING A BLENDER OR USING BRUTE FORCE) AND ADD TO THE BOILING LIQUID. ADD SALT TO TASTE. LET IT SIMMER IN SLOW MEDIUM HEAT FOR ÞFTEEN MINUTES.

HERE COMES THE FUN PART. CRACKLE MUSTARD SEEDS IN BUTTER. WHEN THE SEEDS CRACKLE, THROW IN SOME CURRY LEAVES (WELL WASHED AND DRIED) AND FRY FOR A FEW SECONDS AND ADD TO SAMBHAR.YOU CAN EVEN ADD SOME CILANTRO TO THE SAMBHAR.

LET YOUR ROOMMATE WASH ALL THEDISHES, ESPECIALLY THE BLENDER AND THE COOKER.IF IT DOESNOT GET CONSUMED ALL IN ONE SESSION, THIS SAMBHAR TASTES EVEN BETTER THE NEXT DAY. TO REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THIS SAMBHAR, YOU MUST FORCE SOMEONE TO MAKE STUFF LIKE IDLIS AND DOSAS TO GO ALONG. BON APPETIT! 

                 DOSAI FERMENTE DLENTIL CREPES

 3 cups of long grain rice
1 cup of hulled urad dal (the seeds arepale white) salt to taste (about 2 tsp)

• Soak the rice and the dal separately, for about 5-8 hours. Grind the rice using a blender or food processor in batches with sufficient water until it is a smooth paste. Start with a small amount of water and add until the paste is thin enough to flow smoothly.

• Now grind the dal in two batches. The dal needs to be ground while slowly adding more water from the top of the blender. When ground, the dal has the tendency to fluff up, this tendency must be encouraged by adding only a little water at a time while stirring and continuing to grind. The dal should double in quantity after grinding, while the quantity of rice would have remained unchanged.) Now mix both the pastes with the salt in a dish that is at least a third bigger in size, allowing space for the dough to rise.

• Leave for about 8 hours in a dark warm place like an oven that has been heated to 200 degrees and turned off.

• Use a heavy cast-iron griddle (a flat non-stick pan will do). Heat the griddle/pan until a few drops of water dropped on the surface sizzles. Take a deep ladle full of dough and drop the dough in the middle of the pan, quickly swirl the dough away from the middle until it is spread evenly in a circle around the pan. You must do this quickly because once the dough cooks, it is difficult to spread. Take a teaspoon full of oil and spread it around the edge of the dosai. Wait a minute or so, until you see the edges browning and insert a flat ladle that has sharp edges under and all around the dosai, until it is released completely.

• After releasing the dosai, flip it around on the other side and put another teaspoon of oil around the edges. Wait a minute or two until it is cooked and remove from the pan.

• Before making the next one, use a small piece of paper kitchen towel and rub any excess oil off the pan.

• Dosas can be stuffed with a spicy potato stuffing or eaten plain with coconut chutney and sambhar.