Sambar

"Sambar" is the most popular dish of South India which actually helped the South Indian cuisine gain its recognition & popularity within the North Indian belt. Sambar is a vegetarian chowder, cooked almost daily in every household of South India. A great accompaniment to have with rice, idlis, dosas, vadas and other South Indian tiffin items.

The main ingredients of Sambar are the lentil & vegetables. Carrots, potato, shallots, okras, drumsticks are used with different combinations. I however like Sambar with shallots & okras. This vegetable-lentil chowder can be made with or without coconut. I being a Keralite, use & prefer coconut in it. And it's tasty too. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toor dal (red lentils / pigeon pea)
• 10 shallots (halved) or 1 medium onion (roughly diced)
• 1 medium tomato (roughly diced)
• 200 gm okra/lady finger (cut into 1 inch slices)
• 3 tbsp shredded coconut
• 3 tbsp sambar powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp heeng (asafoetida)
• 1/2 lemon sized tamarind
• salt to taste

For Tempering:

• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze and remove the pulp and retain the extract. Keep aside.
2. Boil the dal in the cooker adding 2 cups of water to it. Keep aside.
3. In a separate pan, add a tsp of oil and saute the okras until they become slightly brown in colour. Remove from pan and keep aside.
4. In the same pan, slightly roast the coconut along with heeng and Sambar powder for 3-4 minutes. Allow it to cool and grind it into a wet paste. Keep aside.
5. Heat the boiled dal again, add half cup water to it. Put the sauted okras, chopped onion, chopped tomato, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt to it and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Now add the wet coconut paste to it along with the tamarind juice to the dal. Let it simmer away again for 10-12 minutes. Add water if you want your Sambar a little runny.
7. To temper the Sambar, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a small pan and add the curry leaves, dried red chillies and mustard to it. Let the mustard splutter. Add them to the cooked Sambar.
8. Sambar is hot & ready to be served.

Sambar Powder:

- Sambar powder is readily available at any Indian grocery store but if not available, you can always prepare instant at home.

• 5-6 fenugreek seeds
• 3 dried red chillies
• 1 tsp chana dal (bengal gram)
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 sprigs curry leaves

- When you come to step number 4, fry the above mentioned items along with the coconut and asafoetida and grind to a fine paste. Follow the rest of the steps as it is.