Authentic Sambhar Recipe

Sambar is an authentic South Indian vegetable curry that is served along with breakfast or meal as a side dish. Sambar is a perfect combination for Idli, Dosa, Vada, or plain rice. South Indian households will always have a sambar served as an everyday dish in their daily menu. When it comes to cooking, the sambar recipe is quite easy as well. With the mix of vegetables added, the dish is rich in protein, fibre and many other nutrients.

• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes
• Total time: 40 minutes
• Servings: 2-3 servings
• Course: Side dish
• Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients for making sambar recipe:

• ¾ cup toor dal
• 1 – 2 tbsp tamarind or tamarind water
• ¼ cup coriander leaves chopped
• 1 tbsp sambar powder
• ¼ tsp turmeric (skip if your sambar powder already has turmeric in it)
• 1 medium sliced onions
• 1-2 drumsticks
• 2-3 ladies finger
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 green chili slit
• 1 tbsp ghee
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp curry leaves
• ½ tsp cumin
• 2 pinches asafoetida or hing
• 1 red chili broken

Directions to make sambar recipe:

• Firstly, in a pressure cooker, add ½ cup of toor dal with 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 5 whistles.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, take small-sized tamarind (lemon-sized) and soak in water.
• Take a large Kadai and add tamarind water.
• To that add 1 tsp of jaggery along with slit green chili, salt, and turmeric powder
• Now add the chopped vegetables and mix well.
• Once the pressure is released, take the boiled toor dal and mash it nicely and add to the vegetables.
• Add 2 tsp of sambar powder
• Mix all the ingredients nicely and bring it to boil.
• Once the vegetables are boiled, prepare the tempering by heating mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves and red chilies in a pan.
• Once the mustard seeds are spluttered, and the raw smell of the curry leaves and hing goes away, add the sambar to it.
• Freshly prepared sambar is ready to serve with plain rice or idli/ dosa.

Variations of sambar recipe:

As India is known for its diverse culture and traditions, so is the cuisine as well. Sambar recipe is prepared in different ways in different states of the country.

• Udupi sambar – popular sambar recipe which is popularly seen in Udupi restaurants.
• Arachuvitta sambar – which is made using freshly roasted and ground sambar paste.
• Varutharacha sambar – another sambar recipe variation by roasting the coconut along with spices and grinding them to a fine paste in a mixer.
• Andhra sambar – this recipe uses veggies like yellow cucumber, bottle gourd and pumpkin.

It is up to you to decide which all veggies you want to add in your sambar recipe. It’s OK if you don’t have drumsticks. The curry tastes better when all these vegetables are included.