Sambar is one of the identities of my home state in India, Tamil Nadu, along with Kaanchipuram silks, Temples and Bharatanatyam ( Do tell me if I had missed anything in the comments section below 🙂 ). Sambar is a very common south Indian dish which can be had in your breakfast, lunch or even dinner. It is a staple dish in almost all marriage feasts where there is a vegetarian menu.
Sambar is a go to dish for most south Indian moms since it goes well with idli, dosa, ven pongal and white rice and also could be made in a jiffy.
There are so many varieties of sambar like araithuvitta sambar, sambar using tamarind juice, avasara sambar and I will try to give you the recipes of these in the near future. (updated here)
Here I have given the recipe for puli ootriya sambar which i have learned from my best friend.
- Toor dal - ¼th cup
- Green chillies – 3
- Shallots - 1 (Cut horizontally into thin round slices - like how you cut for onion bajjis).
- Tomato - 1
- Sambar powder - 1 tbs
- Sakthi sambar powder - 2 tbs
- Coriander leaves - for garnishing
- Oil - 1 tbs
- Onion vadahams ( Thaalippu vadaham)- for seasoning
- Salt - as per taste
- Hing - a pinch
- Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
- Raddish – 1
- Tamarind – big gooseberry size
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Urad dal – 1 tsp
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Onion – 1 tbs
- Curry leaves – few
- Soak tamarind in a glass of water for 15 minutes and extract the juice.
- Pressure cook the dal with pinch of turmeric powder, hing and few drops of sesame oil for 5 whistles.
- Heat a tbs of oil in a kadai, add onions and sauté until they turn translucent.
- When onions turns golden brown or transparent add tomato and sauté until tomato gets cooked well.
- Now add in the vegetables, sambar powders, salt, two cups of water, mix well and bring it to boil.
- Mash the cooked dal and add to the sambar bring it to boil and wait until the sambar gets slightly thicker.
- Now add the extracted tamarind juice to the sambar, bring it to boil and switch off the flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Season onion vadaham in a tsp of oil and add to sambar. Serve it hot with white rice (don’t forget to drizzle a tsp of ghee on top before serving).
