It is eaten with plain cooked rice, rice cakes or thin pancakes called dosas . This recipe is also from Mahadevan Ramesh. Once again, I have chosen to leave it in his characteristic style. Over the months, I have evolved my own recipe for onion sambhar, borrowing ideas from these stalwarts. Let me share it with you all.
Small onions are available frozen in grocery stores.
Thaw them well in advance. If you can't find small onions, then slice about six or seven usual onions into long strips. Add about a table spoon of tamarind concentrate and about 4 oz. of tomato paste. Let it boil in medium heat. When fried enough to a pleasant smelling brown, add about 6 to 10 dry red chillies, depending on how wimpy you are.