Sambar or Sambhar is a lentil based stew loaded with vegetables that comes from South India. It’s wed for life to Idlis, Dosas, Vadas and Uttappams, sometimes even to rice. ( Yeah, that’s some polygamy goin’ on here). Actually, sambhar can be slurped by itself, and it is the Indian low carb one pot meal that South Beachers probably don’t know about.
With the temps going down, Sambar is perfect for Fall evenings, along with a little bit of rice.
Sambar is made with a mix of vegetables, or sometimes with a particular vegetable as star. The veggies that you add go a long way to deciding the taste of the sambar. And of course, the sambar powder or sambhar spice mix is at the heart of it. If you’re up to speed, you know I blogged about the best sambar powder recipe. I totally recommend that you use that mix for making this sambhar. Or you can use store bought sambar powder like MTR, Everest, MDH etc. I might like you less, but I will still like you ;).
IMO, certain vegetables are essential to get the authentic sambhar taste. Lauki or bottle gourd is one of them. You can use red pumpkin or butternut squash instead. Eggplants and okra are next. And drumsticks, those ugly looking green sticks, will take your sambhar over the top. Onions and tomatoes are easy enough to procure.
A sneaky shortcut I have used many a times – If you live in the US, just grab one of those ‘Sambhar Mix’ frozen veggies bags you get in the Indian grocery stores. They have all veggies in the right proportion and I always have one or two of these bags on hand.
As far as herbs go, curry leaves are a must!! Absolutely! You cannot have real South Indian food unless it has fresh curry leaves in them. And tamarind is next. Using tamarind is somewhat easier. You can do away with the whole soak-juice routine needed for dry tamarind by using a tamarind paste like Tamicon. Tamicon is easily available in Asian grocery stores or online.
Tur Dal or pigeon peas form the base of the stew. If you don’t like tur daal, you can use red masoor dal. Any other daal won’t really be the thing here.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:83]
This recipe makes about 4 quarts or 16 cups of thick sambar. It can be thinned out a bit more based on your preference. Try it out on a breezy Fall evening and let me know how you like it!
