Kerala Sambar
This delectable Kerala Sambar offers a flavorful twist on the traditional dish, featuring a blend of mixed vegetables, lentils, and a paste made from roasted coconut and spices. It's the perfect complement to piping hot steamed rice, as well as Idli or Dosa.
Ingredients
For Cooking Lentils
- ½ cup tur dal (arhar dal, tuvar dal, pigeon pea lentils)
- 1 small onion – sliced or chopped (optional) or ¼ cup sliced onions
- 1 to 2 pinches asafoetida (hing)
- 1.5 to 2 cups water or add as required
Other Ingredients
- 10 to 12 pearl onions (sambar onions) or 1 to 2 shallots, thickly sliced
- 8 to 10 okra (bhindi or lady finger)
- 5 to 7 eggplants – small sized, (brinjal or baingan)
- 1 tomato – large or 2 medium-sized tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- salt as required
For Tamarind Pulp
- ¼ cup water – hot or warm
- 1 tablespoon tamarind – tightly packed or 1 lime-sized tamarind
For Tempering
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or any vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon urad dal (split and husked black gram)
- 1 sprig curry leaves or 12 to 15 curry leaves
- 2 to 3 dry kashmiri red chilies – you can also use small red bor chillies for the tadka
For The Kerala Sambar Masala
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil or any vegetable oil
- 3 to 4 pearl onions (sambar onions) or 1 to 2 shallots – chopped
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
- ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 to 4 dry red chilies – I used 4 kashmiri red chillies
- 12 to 15 curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
- 1 cup grated fresh coconut
- ½ cup water or add as needed, for grinding or blending
Instructions
Making Kerala Sambar Masala
- On a skillet, tava or a shallow frying pan, heat up 2 or 3 teaspoons of coconut oil. Add all the shallots and fry till they become translucent.Add the rest of the spices listed under "For the Kerala sambar masala" and fry till they are light brown on a low heat.
- Now add the grated coconut and roast it with the rest of the spices till everything is browned or golden and you get a fragrant aroma in your kitchen. Let this mixture cool.
- Once, cooled, grind this roasted spice mixture in the grinder with ½ cup water or as needed.
Making Tamarind Pulp
- Soak tamarind in ¼ cup hot water for 20 to 30 minutes.
- When warm or cooled, squeeze the soaked tamarind with your fingers and add it to the soaked water. Later use this tamarind pulp in the sambar.
Cook Lentils
- Rinse the lentils first 3 to 4 times in water. Drain the water and transfer the lentils to a 3 litre stovetop pressure cooker. Add the sliced or chopped onions and asafoetida to the lentils.
- Add 1.5 to 2 cups water and mix with a spoon.
- Pressure cook on medium heat for 4 to 5 whistles or until the lentils are softened and thoroughly cooked.
- Let the pressure fall naturally in the cooker. Then only open the lid.
- Check the lentils to see if they are cooked thoroughly. Mash the cooked dal slightly with a spoon when done.
Making Kerala Sambar
- Add the chopped brinjal, halved or whole pearl onions, chopped tomatoes to the mashed dal.
- Add water as needed to get medium to medium-thin consistency. Also add turmeric powder and mix again.
- Continue to cook the lentils with the vegetables until the veggies are half-cooked or half tender. This takes about 11 to 12 minutes on medium-low heat.Do check and stir a few times so that the lentils do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Now add the chopped okra, tamarind pulp, and the ground sambar masala. Add some more water if the sambar has become thick.
- Add salt and give the sambar a boil once and then simmer on medium-low heat till the veggies are cooked and tender. This will approximately take about 15 to 16 minutes.
- Turn off the heat when all the ingredients in the sambar have nicely infused with one another and you have a lovely sambar aroma pervading all around in your kitchen. Keep the sambar closed with a lid and move on to the next step of tempering the sambar.
Tempering
- In a pan or the tadka utensil, heat coconut oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.
- Then add all the other ingredients listed under "For tempering" and fry them till they become fragrant. Take care that the spices do not get burnt.
- Once the tadka is complete, directly pour the hot tadka on the hot sambar.
- Immediately, cover the sambar with a lid and let it stay closed for some 8 to 10 minutes. Later mix well.
- Serve the Kerala Sambar with boiled rice and pappadum, accompanied by a side vegetable dish and a bowl of yogurt or curd.
- If there is any leftover sambar, you could have it the next day with dosa, idli, medu vada or dal vada. But keep the leftover sambar in the fridge.
Notes
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- For a change, you can use yellow mung lentils instead of tur dal. An equal mix of masoor dal and tur dal also works fine.
- Make sure the coconut is toasted/roasted well to an even golden color so that the nutty aroma of the coconut comes through in the sambar.
- For authentic taste, try to use coconut oil.
- This recipe cannot be scaled as is due to its complex nature.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 7gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.5gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 173mgPotassium: 957mgFiber: 14gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 601IUVitamin C: 113mgCalcium: 101mgIron: 3mg
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