Sambar - How to make Kerala Style Sambar Recipe

 

Hey Folks,

Sambar is a very popular South Indian Dish which is a gravy of vegetables and lentils. Apart from South India, people all over the world love Sambar with Idli, Dosa, or Vada. It is one of the main dishes in vegetarian meals. Today let's see a quick and easy recipe for Sambar.

Sambar - The Perfect Cook Book

INGREDIENTS:

1. Toor Daal - 1 cup
2. Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
3. Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
4. Dried Red Chilli - 3
5. Curry Leaves - as needed
6. Shallots - 3 tbsp
7. Onion - 2 medium-sized
8. Tomatoes - 4 medium-sized
9. Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp
10. Green Chilli - 2
11. Vegetables (any of your choice) - 2 cups
12. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
13. Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
14. Salt - to taste
15. Sugar - 1/4 tsp
16. Sambhar Powder - 2 tbsp
17. Asafoetida Powder - 1 tsp
18. Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
19. Water - as needed 

PREPARATION:

 

Soak Toor Daal and Fenugreek seeds in water for about 15 - 20 minutes. 

You can use any vegetables of your choice for the sambhar. I usually use carrots, potatoes, drumsticks, brinjal(vazhuthananga), Cucumber(vellarikka), Okra(vendakka), and Snake Gourd (padavalanga). If anything else is available that also will be added. My style of preparing Sambar does not include using tamarind pulp instead I use tomatoes for the sourness. I soak all the vegetables in water for about 10 minutes to remove all the impurities from their skin. Cut the vegetables to bite sizes.

To the onions, tomatoes, carrots, brinjal, potatoes, vellarikka, and padavalanga, add turmeric powder, salt, kashmiri chilli powder, sugar, and curry leaves for about 10 minutes.

Into a pressure cooked add the soaked dal and fenugreek seeds. Then add the marinated vegetables to it and cook well. 

 

To a Cheenachatty, add some coconut oil and saute the vendakka ( okra/ ladysfinger) until it is cooked well. To another pan, add some water and cook the drumsticks or muringakka. Once everything is cooked well, release the pressure of the pressure cooker and add the vendakka to it. To the boiling water of muringakka, add 2 tbsp of Sambar powder and pour it into the pressure cooker and let it boil well.

The last step is tempering. For that, to a pan add coconut oil. Add mustard seeds and let them pop off. To this add dried red chilli, shallots, and curry leaves. Fry under shallots are golden brown in color. Add the tempering to the sambar in the pressure cooker. Add soem asafoetida powder also.

Pour into a serving bowl and top off with some freshly chopped coriander leaves. Have it with some hot dosa, idli, vada or with some rice and serve it your loved ones.

Hope you all find my recipe for Sambar useful. Try it out and feed in your valuable suggestions in the comment box below.

See you all with some other good food recipes in my next cooking blog!