Sambar Recipe (How to Make Sambar Recipe)

Sambar is a south Indian popular and authentic recipe which is served for all the meals including breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a stew kind of consistency curry which made from yellow lentils, vegetables and sambar masala. You can add eggplant, pumpkin, gourd, potato, radish, carrot, drumsticks, shallots and more vegetables in sambar. This sambar dish is served along with rice, idli, vada, uttapam, dosai and more.

Sambar is usually served with steamed rice as one of the main courses of both formal and everyday south Indian cuisine. A two-course meal of sambar mixed with rice and eaten with some sort of vegetable side dish, followed by yoghurt mixed with rice, is a southern Indian staple.

Vada sambar and idli sambar are popular for breakfast or an evening snack in the south Indian states. Roadside restaurants often offer free refills of sambar for idli and vadas.

What is Sambar Powder?

Sambhar powder is a spice blend used throughout India, especially the southern states. As the name suggests it is used to make Sambhar, a broth made with vegetables and cooked lentils flavoured with tamarind pulp and sambhar powder. It is eaten with rice or snacks like dosa, idli and vada.

What do you eat with sambar?

Sambar is served traditionally with idli, dosa, vada, rice. But honestly you can eat it with anything you like. I like to eat with idli and rice.

When was sambar invented?

Achaya, the earliest extant mention of sambar in literature can be dated to the 17th century. Legend states that sambar was first made accidentally by the Maratha ruler Sambhaji, when he tried to make dal curry in absence of his chef.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Arhar dal/ Yellow Pigeon Peas

Salt to taste

1/2 Tsp. Turmeric Powder

2 Cups Vegetables (Shallots, Eggplants, Drumsticks, Pumpkins, carrot)

1/2 Cup Onion, Chopped

1/2 Cup Tomato, Chopped

2 Tbsp. Tamarind Pulp

1 1/2 Tbsp. MDH Sambhar Masala

4-5 Whole Red Chilies, Dried

Few Curry Leaves

1/2 Tsp. Mustard Seeds

1/4 Tsp. Asafoetida (Hing)

2 Tbsps. Oil

Instructions:

Wash and Soak the dal in 2 cup water for 15-20 minutes. Add dal in pressure cooker with salt, turmeric powder and water. Cook till to two whistles. Mash till to smooth texture.

Now add chopped vegetables in separate pan with salt and turmeric powder. Cover the pan and cook till to soften. Keep aside.

Now add 2 tbsps oil in separate pan, add mustard seeds, red chilies, curry leaves and asafoetida. Cook till to splutter. Add chopped onion and cook till to translucent. Add chopped tomatoes and cook till to mashy. Add sambar masala and tamarind paste. Mix well. Now add cooked dal and vegetables and mix well. Add water if required. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes.  Serve hot sambar with dosai or idli.

Notes: You can add 1 tbsp grated coconut also.

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