Easy Sambar Recipe
The South Indian Sambar is one of the most popular dishes in India and is healthy, nutritious and relatively easy to make.
Equipment
- 3 L Pressure cooker
- Small kadai / pan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup toor dal
- 1 tsp castor oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 cups + 1 ½ cups of water
- 2 medium sized tomatoes
- 15 shallots
- 2 dried red chillies
- 2 green chilli
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- 1 drumstick
- 1 cup any chopped vegetable of your choice.
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste / tamarind water from lemon sized tamarind
- Coriander leaves for garnishing
- To temper
- ¼ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp split urad dal
- ½ tsp chana dal
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp of asafoetida
- 1 ½ tbsp sambar powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Wash dal several times in running water.
- Soak the dal for at least 10 minutes.
- In a pressure cooker add soaked toor dal, 2 cups water, garlic cloves and castor oil.
- Pressure cook on high flame for 3 whistles and simmer for 10 mins. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Meanwhile in a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add chana dal, urad dal and cumin seeds. Add asafoetida.
- Once the dals are roasted, add chopped shallots, red chillies, green chillies and curry leaves.
- Once the shallots turn translucent, add chopped tomatoes.
- Saute till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Now add sambar powder, turmeric powder, mix well and switch off the flame.
- In the same pressure cooker, mash the dal slightly, add the chopped vegetables and 1 ½ cups of water and bring it to a boil. You can adjust the quantity of water as per your need. This yields a thick sambar. If you need a slightly runny one add half a cup of extra water.
- Now add the tempered mixture and mix well.
- Add tamarind water or tamarind paste.
- Add required salt.
- Pressure cook on high flame for just 1 whistle and release the pressure manually since we have used drumsticks. If you are not using drumsticks you can allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot !!!
Notes
- Cook the dal well till it is soft and mash it thoroughly. This yields a thick sambar.
- Sambar powder plays a major role in the taste and aroma of the sambar. Use homemade sambar powder whenever possible.
- I have used homemade tamarind paste here. If using store bought one, add carefully as salt is usually added in the store bought tamarind paste.
- Reduce the amount of tamarind while using raw mango in the sambar as it can become too tangy.