Ingredients:

3 medium sized Tomatos
1 medium sized onion
3 medium sized garlic pods
2 green chillies
a handful of curry leaves
a generous handful of cilantro (coriander leaves)

Spices:

1 tsp of methi (fenugreek)
2 tsp of mustard
2 tsp of urad dal
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
2 tbsp of chana dal (Bengal gram )
1/2 cup thick tamarind juice
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup of peanuts
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 cup cooking oil (sesame oil preferred)

Method

1. Finely chop onion, garlic, green chillies, cilantro, tomatos and curry leaves.
2. Set aside.
   Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Add jeera and when it crackles, add mustard, urad dal, methi seeds, chana dal and peanuts.
4. When the chana dal starts to turn golden, add the chilli powder and turmeric powder.
5. Add the chopped Onions, green chillies, garlic and curry leaves thereafter and saute' them till the onion pieces turn transparent, indicating they are soft.
6. At this point add the chopped tomatoes, tamarind juice and cilantro.
7. Once the mixture comes to boil, keep the heat at medium and let simmer for 10 minutes.
8. From time to time, however, turn this mixture and keep it covered. This will enable the vegetables and spices to cook and rid of the rawness of spices.
9. After around 10 minutes at medium heat, add the sugar and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
10. Let it cool.
11. At this point, you could either put the entire in a blender and blend it or leave it as it is.
12. If blended the texture of the peanuts and other dals will blend in and remove a little of the tanginess. This is a good accompaniment to dosas, chappathis etc. However, if left as it is, freshly cooked long grain rice could be mixed with it to make tomato rice. The nuts (peanuts, chana dal etc) would taste crispy and would stand out with their distinctive flavors.