Sambar -- How to make Sambar -- Sambar Recipe

Sambar is a popular South Indian dish, taken with rice, idli, dosa and vada. It is lentil based vegetable stew made with tamarind.  It is a regular preparation in most of South Indian households. I normally prepare it with store bought powder only. 

In my brother's marriage, the catering people made a sambar, the powder is prepared differently. I got the recipe then itself from them and prepares it once in a while. It is liked by every one of my family. It goes very well with hot piping rice. 

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Tamarind Pulp - 1/2 cup

Carrot - 1

Tomato - 1

Onion - 1 

Drum Stick - 1

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Sambar Powder - 2 tbsp

For Tadka:

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Red Chillies - 1 

Coriander Leaves - fist ful

Curry Leaves - 5 to 7

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Ingredients for Sambar Powder:

Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp

Black Gram - 1/2 tbsp

Bengal Gram - 1/2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Poppy Seeds/Khus Khus - 1 tsp

Cinnamon Stick - 2" inches

Kapok Bud - 3 

Red Chillies - 4 

Coriander Leaves - fist ful

Procedure:

Roast all the above ingredients separately.

Grind them into a fine powder. 

We can store it for future use also.

Procedure:

Soak tamarind and take juice out of it. 

Pressure cook toor dal for three whistles. Once cooled mash it and keep it aside. 

Cut carrots in circular shape, chop onions, cut drumstick into 3 inches long, cut tomatoes. 

Put all the vegetables in the pressure cooker, add salt and turmeric powder. Pressure cook them for two whistles.

Once cooled add tamarind juice and mashed toor dal. 

Allow this to boil for 5 minutes. 

Add the sambar powder in water and mix it with the above broth.

Boil it for five more minutes. 

Heat oil in a small wok, add all the ingredients under 'For Tadka', when they start spluttering add it to the sambar.

Serve sambar with hot piping rice.