Sambar Recipe | Homemade Sambar

I share our favorite Sambar Recipe which I have perfected over the years.
Make this flavorsome, hearty and nutritious South Indian vegetable-lentil
stew with this easy method. Enjoy the sambar with South Indian snacks
like idli, dosa, uttapam, medu vada or simply pair it with rice for a
comforting, healthy and filling meal.

Prep Time Cook Time Total Time

4.87 from 100 votes
15 mins 30 mins 45 mins

Course: Main Course Cuisine: South Indian, Tamil Nadu Diet: Vegan
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Servings: 12
Calories: 265kcal
Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For tamarind pulp

3 tablespoon tamarind
1 cup hot water

For cooking dal

1.5 cup tur dal or arhar dal (pigeon pea lentils) - 100 grams
0.75 teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
4.5 to 5.25 cups water or add as required

For cooking vegetables

3 to 4.5 cups chopped vegetables like okra, french beans, potatoes, small round brinjals,
pumpkin
3 to 6 drumsticks - scraped and chopped in 3 to 4 inches sticks.
18 to 21 pearl onions (sambar onions) or 1 small to medium onion, thickly sliced
3 tomato - small to medium, quartered or diced
0.75 teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
1.5 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder - optional
salt as required
4.5 to 6 cups water or add as required

Important ingredient
3 to 4.5 tablespoons Sambar Powder

For tempering
6 tablespoons sesame oil (gingelly oil), can also use coconut oil or sunflower oil or ghee
1.5 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 to 6 dry red chillies - halved and seeds removed
30 to 36 curry leaves
6 pinch asafoetida (hing)
15 to 18 fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) - optional
For garnish
3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) - optional

Instructions

Making tamarind pulp

1. Soak the tamarind in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Once the tamarind gets soft, then squeeze the tamarind in the water itself. Discard the
strained tamarind and keep the tamarind pulp aside.

Cooking lentils
1. Rinse tuvar dal a couple of times in water.
2. Drain all the water and add the dal in a 2 litre pressure cooker. Also add ¼ teaspoon turmeric
powder.
3. Add 1.5 to 1.75 cups water and mix. Cover and pressure cook dal for 7 to 8 whistles or 9 to
10 minutes on medium heat.
4. When the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid and check the dal. The dal should be
completely cooked and mushy.
5. Mash the dal with a spoon or wired whisk. Cover and keep aside. You can see the
consistency of dal in the pic below.

Cooking vegetables
1. When the dal is pressure cooking – rinse, peel and chop the vegetables.
2. Take the chopped vegetables in a pan or pot. Also add 6 to 7 pearl onions or 1 small to
medium onion (thickly sliced) and 1 small to medium tomato (quartered).
3. Sprinkle turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder and salt as per taste. Adding kashmiri
red chili powder is optional and can be skipped. 
4. Add 1.5 to 2 cups water and stir.
5. Keep the pan on a stove top and begin to cook vegetables on a medium-low to medium
flame. In between do check when the vegetables are cooking.
6. Cook till the vegetables are almost done. Ensure that you don’t over cook the vegetables.

Making sambar
1. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, then add the tamarind pulp and 1 to 1.5 tablespoons
sambar powder. Mix well.
2. Add the mashed dal. Mix again very well.
3. Simmer on a medium-low heat till the sambar comes to a boil. 
4. You will see a frothy layer on top when the sambar begins boiling. At this step switch off the
heat. Cover and set aside.

Tempering
1. In a small pan or tadka pan, heat 2 tablespoons gingelly oil. Add ½ tsp mustard seeds.
2. Let the mustard seeds crackle.
3. Then add 1 to 2 dry red chillies (halved and seeds removed).
 4. Immediately add 10 to 12 curry leaves, 5 to 6 methi seeds and 2 pinches of asafoetida (hing).
Be careful as the oil splutters while adding curry leaves.
5. Fry them till the red chilies change color and curry leaves become crisp.
6. Immediately add this tempering mixture in the hot sambar.
7. Cover the pan with its lid for 4 to 5 minutes, so that the aroma and flavors from the tempering
mixture gets infused with the sambar.
8. Serve sambar hot. You can garnish it with a few coriander leaves if you prefer. It can also be
served with steamed rice, idli, dosa, medu vada or uttapam. 

Serving Suggestions
1. Serve sambar with steamed rice, idli, dosa or medu vadai or uttapam.
2. Vary the consistency of sambar keeping in mind the dish you want to serve it with. Example -
a medium to slightly thin sambar is served with idli, dosa and medu vada. Sambar with a
medium to thick consistency is served with steamed rice.

Storage and Leftovers

1. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for a day only. Note that the consistency will thicken
after refrigeration. Add some water and mix to get your desired consistency while reheating
in a pan.

Notes
Sambar Powder: The sambar powder can make or break your sambar. Use the best sambar
powder. It can be homemade or from your favorite brand. Sambar powder is easily available
online.
Vegetables: The mix of various vegetables add plenty of their unique flavor and taste to
sambar. Thus depending on the type of vegetables used, your sambar recipe will taste
different every time. I prefer to add a mix of drumsticks, brinjals, pumpkin or ash gourd, pearl
onions (shallots), carrots and okra. Feel free to mix and match the veggies from the list
mentioned in the post. 
Lentils: Try to use fresh and preferably unpolished tuvar dal for best flavor and health
reasons. The fresher the dal is the better it tastes and cooks faster. For faster cooking, you
can opt to soak the lentils in water for 30 to 60 minutes.
Cooking Lentils: The lentils can be cooked in an Instant Pot or pan on the stove top. Add
water as needed. The lentils should be softened and mushy. 
Tamarind: I suggest to use fresh tamarind. If you use aged tamarind, then it will be darker in
color and more sour. So add a bit less of the dark tamarind than what is mentioned in this
recipe.
Cooking Vegetables: Always cook the vegetables till they are done but whole. They should
not break or become a mush in the sambar. So when cooking, add vegetables which cook
slower first and cook them for some minutes. Then add vegetables which cook faster. Note
that The vegetables can also be steamed in a steamer or pressure cooker or Instant pot. 
Oils: Both gingelly oil (raw sesame oil) and edible coconut oil give a really good taste in
sambar. If you do not have these oils, then you can use sunflower oil or peanut oil or even
ghee
 Frying spices: While doing the tempering or tadka, always fry on a low heat and stir regularly.
The spices and herbs cook fast, so you have to be attentive. If they get burned, then discard
them and make a new tempering. Never add a burnt tempering in sambar as it will ruin the
taste.
Consistency: Change the consistency of your sambar by adding less or more water. However,
do not add too much water and make it thin as then the flavors get diluted. For serving with
rice you can make a thick sambhar and for serving with idli or dosa, you can make a medium
consistency sambar.
Balancing sourness: In case if you find the taste of sambar more sour, then you can always
balance the sour taste by adding a bit of jaggery.
Variations: A few crushed garlic cloves can also be added to the tempering. This imparts a
different flavor in sambar. A bit of jaggery can also be added to give a slight sweeter taste.

Nutrition
Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 60mg |
Potassium: 700mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 4125IU | Vitamin C: 108.7mg | Calcium: 81mg
| Iron: 4.1mg

Sambar Recipe | Homemade Sambar - https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/sambhar-recipe-a-method-made-easy/