Basic Sambar
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Category
Meals
Cuisine
South Indian
Servings
4
Cook Time
30 minutes
Basic sambar recipe - a staple at South Indian homes. You can add any veggie you like.
Ingredients
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Mylapore KitchensnSambar podi
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Veggies - your choice - any single or mixed
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Tamarind - lemon sized
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Salt to taste
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Mustard seeds
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Curry leaves
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Fresh coriander leaves
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Asafoetida
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Fenugreek seeds
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Dry red chillies
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Extra Virgin Coconut oil
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Toor dal - ¾ cup uncooked. Pressure cook this with turmeric powder and set aside.
Directions
Soak a lemon sized tamarind with rock salt (to taste). Boil this for a few minutes. Let it cool and extract tamarind juice.
In a vessel, add veggies ( some may need to be sautéed (onions, bhindi, brinjal etc. ) some may need to be pressure cooked ( carrots, radish, kohl rabies, beetroots etc.,) and some can be cooked directly ( pumpkin, sweet potato, drum sticks, tomato etc.,) you can be the judge of what works.
Add 3 to 3.5 tbsp of @mylaporekitchens sambar podi. Add the extracted tamarind water. Add a medium piece of jaggery. Cook on high to medium flame till raw smell goes. Usually takes 15 minutes or so.
Tadka / tempering can be done now or at the end. Tadka - coconut oil, mustard seeds, methi seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida.
Pressure cook 3/4 cup of toor dal. I prefer pre soaking it and cooking it to 2 Whistles so that the dal is well cooked, but not a mushy, lumpy mass. Add dal to sambar. Add water to get desired consistency. Again, not too watery. Not too thick. It thickens further on cooling. Keep that in mind. Cook gently for a few minutes. Switch off and top with chopped coriander. Serve hot with rice, idli, dosa etc.
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
Tamarind, Salt and spices can be modified to suit your palette.
Any single veggie or mixed veggies can be used.
Most popular would be pumpkin, drum sticks etc.
I personally love adding 1-2 bajji molaga ( the long, light green big chillies that we make bhajjis with) to sambar, it really adds a lovely flavour and is not spicy at all. Capsicums taste great too.
Small onion sambar is a classic and much loved by all !