Sambar (Tamil: [saːmbaːɾ] , romanized: Sāmbār) is a lentil-based vegetable stew, cooked with pigeon peaand tamarind broth. It is popular in South Indian, Sri Lankan and Maldivian cuisines. The stew has been adapted into Burmese cuisine as a popular accompaniment to Burmese curries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(dish)
Sambar is a South Indian lentil stew, made with dal, tamarind, and a special spice blend called sambar powder. It generally contains a variety of vegetables- usually just one or two varieties at a time, but we’ve gone all out and included all of them.
The most interesting thing about sambar powder, to my mind, is the fact that it actually uses toasted dal as a flavoring element, so this soup not only has lentils as its base ingredient but also as seasoning. To make the powder all the ingredients are dry roasted and then ground into a powder. I suspect that my version of the powder is probably significantly heavier on the coriander than usual. There was one recipe that I included in my calculations that was extremely coriander-heavy, to the extent that even when averaged out with the other recipes it still pushed my quantity up. But it’s tasty, so I’m going with it. In some regions the sambar powder includes coconut. I didn’t use any, but did use coconut oil for the final tempering before serving.
Tamarind is the sour pulp that surrounds the seeds in the pods of the tamarind tree. There are two ways you will find it sold outside of its growing range. Traditionally, it is sold as bricks of pulp, usually with seeds and bits of pod still in it. You take a small lump and soak it in hot water. Once the pulp softens you squeeze or strain it out and use the liquid as a souring agent. These days I more often find it sold as a ready-to-use “concentrate” that you just add to your dish without any preparation.
“Drumsticks” are the pods of the moringa tree. They are a very popular choice as the vegetable in sambar. I haven’t ever eaten them before so I was a little surprised to find that they are extremely fibrous, with only the pulp and seeds in the center being edible. At first, I wondered if the frozen product I bought was too mature, but a little research tells me that that is just how they are- they’re treated more like an artichoke, although there’s probably more edible flesh for the amount of fibrous waste in a drumstick. I looked for fresh pods online, but everywhere that listed them said out of stock. I did manage to find frozen ones from DeepFoods*. The product was only $3.19 for a 12 oz. bag, but they charge $25 for their smallest insulated shipping box, so I wound up putting a bunch of other frozen items in my cart to help fill that box and justify paying for that.
There are many different varieties of eggplant grown in South Asia. I think this dish is often made small, egg size or smaller, eggplants. Of course in November here in Duluth, the standard purple eggplant was my only option.
Plantains are, of course, a type of starchy banana that is generally used as a vegetable. I’ve used them in a couple of other recipes on this blog. In my feijoada sergipana, I cooked them with the peel on, which wasn’t entirely a pleasant experience (they weren’t that bad- it was mostly the mental aspect of my brain saying “You’re eating WHAT?” ). My sources for this recipe also called for cooking it with the peel but suggested using a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin. I’m not sure why this made such a difference, but I’m happily eating them, peel and all, this time around.
Feel free to adjust the variety and quantities of vegetables to suit your taste or what you have on hand. It did feel kind of silly cutting open even a very small pumpkin for the tiny wedge I used. In the future, I might skip that unless I have something else planned to use the rest of the pumpkin for.
Jaggery is a type of minimally refined sugar, popular in South Asia and Africa. It still contains most of the molasses, so it’s a dark sugar. You could probably use brown sugar in its place. Traditionally it came in lumps or cones that you had to break or grate. I bought a granulated version, so was able to skip that step.
To make the sambar, you start by cooking lentils, usually toor dal, on their own. While they are cooking, you cook the vegetables to make a flavorful broth. Some recipes simply call for boiling them all together, but most of the recipes I looked at said certain vegetables, such as Onions, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, taste better when sautéd in oil before they are boiled.
Once the vegetables are tender and the broth has picked up their flavors we add the seasonings. Don’t add the tamarind until the vegetables are nearly tender, as the acid can interfere with that process. The cooked lentils are usually mashed and then added to the vegetables and broth. They act to thicken the broth and bring it all together, before finishing, in true Indian fashion, with a tadka, whole spices bloomed in hot oil.
Sambar is served any time of day and is quite popular both in restaurants and at home. It can be served with rice, or, especially at breakfast, idli and dosa are popular choices, and of course, roti and naan also work. I served mine with idli, which are steamed cakes made from fermented black lentils and rice. I’m actually planning on creating a recipe for them in the not-too-distant future, but this time I used frozen ones that I added to my order from Deep Foods to help fill up my cart.
Sambar Powder
Yield: ~¾ cup
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 5-10 minutes
Total: 15-20 minutes, plus cooling time.
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1 Tablespoon channa dal
¾ Tablespoon urad dal
4 ¼ Tablespoons coriander seed
1 ¾ teaspoon fenugreek seed
1 heaping Tablespoon cumin seed
9 dried red chilies
Roast the channa and urad dal in a dry skillet over low heat, until fragrant. Add the coriander and fenugreek and toast for a few more minutes, until fragrant. Then add the cumin and dried chilies and toast until everything is fragrant and lightly browned. If anything burns, throw it out and start over. Transfer spices to a plate. Once the spices are cool, transfer them to a spice grinder or high-speed blender and grind to a powder. Store in a tightly lidded jar, in a dark place. (This will make more than you need for this recipe)
Mixed Vegetable Sambar.
Serves: 4
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes
Total: 1:15
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½ cup toor dal
1 ¾ cup water
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 Tablespoon tamarind paste dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water
OR
1/4 cup tamarind concentrate
1 Tablespoon oil
1 small onion, sliced
OR
9 pearl onions, peeled
9 curry leaves
1 large tomato, diced
1 large green chili, slit
1 medium carrot, ½ inch dice
4 okra pods, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 drumstick pods (moringa), scraped and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
¼ cup green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
⅔ cup potato, cut into 1-inch dice
⅓ cup pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1 small green plantain, sliced
½ teaspoon red chili powder
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons sambar powder
1 ½ teaspoons jaggery
¾ teaspoon salt
⅓ teaspoon turmeric
2 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 ¾ Tablespoons coconut oil
OR
1 ¾ Tablespoon ghee
⅔ teaspoon Mustard Seed
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal
1 pinch fenugreek seed
10-12 fresh curry leaves
³⁄₁₆ teaspoon asafoetida
2 dried red chilies
Optional:
2 Tablespoons gingelly oil (raw sesame oil), in place of coconut oil or ghee
1 small cucumber, 1” dice
¾ cup green mango, in 1” dice
Rinse dal several times, until water runs clear. Place in a pressure cooker with 1 ¾ cups water and ¼ teaspoon turmeric. Bring up to pressure and cook for about 9 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally. Open the cooker and mash the dal.
Meanwhile, make your sambar powder, if you haven’t yet. (See above)
Place tamarind paste in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Mash with a fork and set aside.
Heat oil in a large soup pot, and add onion and curry leaves. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomato and green chili and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add carrots, okra, drumsticks, and eggplant. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining vegetables and the chili powder. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are just tender.
Add the jaggery, salt, turmeric, and 2 Tablespoons of the sambar powder. Squeeze and strain the tamarind and pour 3-4 tablespoons of the liquid into the pot. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the mashed dal, along with any water left in the pressure cooker, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the cilantro, and taste for salt.
Heat the coconut oil or ghee in a small sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they sputter, about 30 seconds. Add the cumin, urad dal, fenugreek, and curry leaves. Cook until the curry leaves are crisp. Add the asafoetida and chilies and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pour over the sambar. Cover and allow the flavors to absorb for 5 minutes.
Serve with plain rice, idli, dosa, or your favorite accompaniment.
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Lorin cooks Legumes 
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