Walk into an Indian grocery store and you will find an entire wall dedicated to lentils and pulses — split and whole, skinned and unskinned, yellow and green and black and red. For the uninitiated, this variety can be bewildering. For the experienced Indian cook, it is one of the greatest advantages of the cuisine

Sambar is not just a dish — it is a philosophy. Every South Indian state, every district, and every grandmother has her version. The Thanjavur sambar is different from the Chettinad version; the Bangalore hotel sambar bears little resemblance to what is served in a Tamil Nadu home. But across all these variations, the principles