Bitter Gourd Pitlay

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Toor dal
Lemon sized Tamarind pulp
3-4 Bittergourds chopped
1 big Tomato chopped
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Sambar powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tbsp Jaggery
7-8 Cashewnuts
Paste:
Oil
6 Red chilies
1 tbsp Coriender seeds
1/2 tsp Black peppercorns
1 tsp Bengal gram
1 tsp Black gram
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
1/2 cup Fresh coconut grated
Tempering:
2 tsp oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Few curry leaves

Pressure cook the dal with water and add 1 tsp oil. Meanwhile, In a medium pan, roast all ingredients from the Paste list above and grind to fine paste by adding water and keep aside.
(To remove the bitterness of bittergourd,add salt to chopped bittergourd and keep it for 30 mins and squeeze the juice out of it and then use it)
Soak the tamrind for 15 mins and extract the juice.
Heat a heavy sauce pan, add the tamrind juice,salt, jaggery,turmeric,sambar powder and finely chopped bitter gourd. On a medium flame cook the bittergourd.
Once the bittergourd is well cooked, add chopped tomato cooked dal and ground paste. lower the flame and bring it to boil(add water if required)
Lastly, Heat a 2 tsp oil add, mustard seeds and chopped cashews, when it splutters add curryleaves saute it and mix it to pitlay.
Relish it with white rice.