Sambar

    Idli/ sambar breakfast combo, is a hot favorite of not only South Indians but also of people from other parts of India and even foreigners. My mother always made idli and chutney, sambar was made occasionally, mostly during festivals, birthdays (pirannals), if we had guests and all. So sambar was always special for us! I am always mesmerized by the aroma, especially the rich flavour of asafeotida that arises while making sambar. I used to sniff around my mother’s kitchen and for me, if it smells good, it would taste good too!
   The vegetables most commonly used for preparing sambar are potato, onion, carrot, cucumber, brinjal, snake gourd, drum stick, tomato and amara payar/hyacinth bean. You could even add vegetables like pumpkin, okra, elephant yam, raw banana, plantains, broccoli stems, tindora/kovakka, winter melon, beans etc, if you are short of other vegetables and to make your kids eat veggies. There are many different ways by which you can make sambar. The Trissur style sambar is made using roasted coconut paste (varutharacha sambar) and there are different kinds of sambar like ulli sambar, okra sambar, drumstick sambar, white radish sambar etc. There is variation even in adding masalas. Some people add masala while cooking the vegetables and some add it after the vegetables are cooked since they say that their aroma will be lost if you add it while cooking the vegetables. I usually add lots of vegetables to sambar but I have heard that sambar ought to have more of gravy than vegetables and that it should not be too concentrate. You can use the store-bought sambar powder for making sambar. The recipe for sambar varies region-wise and religion-wise like all other curries. Here is our recipe:

 

Ingredients

 

1. Toor dal/ thuvaraparippu - 1/2 cup
2. Mixed vegetables - 3 cups ( I used potato, carrot, snake gourd, drumsticks, onion, cucumber, tomato, brinjal,  and okra), cubed
3. Onion - 1 diced
4. Green chillies - 2 slit
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
7. Coriander powder - 2.5 tsp
8. Fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Asafoetida/hing - 2-3 pinches
10. Tomato - 2 small
11. Tamarind - Goose berry sized
12. Curry leaves - 1- 2 sprigs
13. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
14. Dry red chillies - 3
15. Pearl onion - 8-10 (It gives a special taste to the sambar.  You can use more of them if you are not using  large onion)
16. Salt - To taste

 

Method

 

1. Cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker adding turmeric powder,sufficient water and salt. Meanwhile soak the tamarind in warm water (around 1/4 cup) and extract its juice.

2. Now add the cut vegetables(except tomato and okra), 4-5 whole pearl onions, green chillies, curry leaves along with sufficient water(2 cups), turmeric powder and salt. Cook for 1 whistle.
3. In another pan saute the okra in oil until its almost cooked.The okra has to be cooked separately before adding to sambar otherwise it will make the whole thing slimy.
4. When the pressure releases, open the cooker and add the tamarind juice, tomatoes and okra.

5. Heat oil in pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Then add the dry red chillies, sliced pearl onions and brown them. Add some curry leaves, switch off and add the masala powders and mix well( just to remove the raw taste of the masala). Pour this tadka over the sambar. Bring it to a boil and switch off.  Mix well and serve it with steamed rice or idli/dosa after 15 - 20 mts.