Curries | Sambar

This recipe serves upto 4 people

Introduction to the Sambar

Sambar is a typical South Indian lentil soup, normally taken with Indian pancakes and rice cakes. Which both are easy to make. However sambar, because of it's amazing quality of not just being a soup but also a spiced vegetable curry it is much preferred by vegetarians, and taken with rice.

Sambar does not have a set of things that can go in, almost all vegetables can be used. As the English saying goes "Don't over egg the pudding" similarly "Don't over veggie your Sambar". A combination of two or more vegetable will suffice or just one vegetable can be just amazing.

Things needed

• Toor dal - 1 cup (~250 g)
• 3-4 medium sized onions
• 3-4 medium sized tomatoes
• Mango and shallot onions (or) Two vegetables of your choice
• Oil
• Mustard seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Green chillies - 2 nos.
• Chilli powder
• Coriander powder
• Turmeric
• Curry leaves
• Whole red chillies
• Tamarind juice
• Salt

Pre cooking

You need a pressure cooker to make things easier, but if you do not have one follow the steps mentioned below. But if you do have a pressure cooker follow the steps and wait for 4 whistles.

1. Just add the cup of toor dal (washed) add water (just about 3 cups).
2. Add to it, the two green chillies (slit in the middle), one onion (cut into quarters), one tomato (cut into quarters).
3. A little bit of turmeric, cumin seeds and a table spoon of oil.
4. Close the container, if you are not using a pressure cooker let it boil for about 45 mins.
5. Periodically check for the dal, if you take a dal and squash it, it should literally be a paste. If not let it boil for a little longer.

Tamarind juice

1. Take a small ball of tamarind.
2. Add a little bit of salt
3. To the mixture, add boiling water and let it cool down.

Steps

1. Take about 2 table spoons of oil (optional - Ghee can be used instead of oil) when it is heated up add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, whole red chillies.
2. Once they are a bit fired up, add the diced onions, add a little bit of salt.
3. Once the onions are golden brown, add the chopped tomatoes.
4. Fry the tomatoes, until it looses it water content.
5. Add to this chilli powder, coriander powder, a pinch of turmeric, about 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
6. Fry the masala a bit, until the raw smell of the spices go away. NOTE : Check for the spices now, if it is perfect add a little bit more. You need the spices and the salt to be a little bit more higher than normal, as when you add the dal, it will loose some spice kick.
7. Add to this masala base, the mango slices and peels and cleaned shallot onions.
8. Fry the mixture for about a minute or two.
9. Then add some boiling water not much, just above the line where the veggies are submerged.
10. Let the veggies cook in the mixture.
11. Check occasionally if they have been cooked, by putting a knife through the hardest veggie, it it goes straight through then it's over cooked. So try to catch the moment. This will come with practice.
12. Now the dal, which had been cooked before, should be mashed a bit, since it's boiled to a paste it should not be a problem.
13. Add the squashed dal into the boiling soup.
14. Give it a good stir, so that the dal is mixed properly.
15. Let this mixture boil again for about 2-3 mins.
16. Add the tamarind juice, and then again boil for 2 mins.
17. Taste for salt, if you need it. Add a bit more.

There you go, a very good lentil soup for your rice cakes or rice !

My recommendation : 

Sambar is almost spicy, so a little bit milder vegetable or meat should be amazing combination. Oh papads, they just go well with sambar !