Sambar
What you need
- Toor
daal : ½ cup
- Tamarind paste
: ¼ teaspoon
- Sambar powder - 1 teaspoon
(heapful)
- Salt
: ¾ teaspoon (add to taste)
- Asafetida (heeng in Hindi)
powder - 3-4 "pinches"
- Mustard seed
: ½ teaspoon
- Fenugreek (mehti) seed
: 1/4 teaspoon
- Vegetable (canola)
oil : ½ teaspoon
- Crushed tomatoes - 3
tablespoons
- Green pepper/Capsicum
(cubed) : 1 cup (you can also use
"shallots" or "cubed onions"
instead of capsicum)
- Coriander leaves
- 1 tablespoon (plucked and washed)
- Curry leaves - 8-10 "plucked"
leaves
This recipe will
yield 2-3 servings.
Now get to work
- Step 1: Cook Toor
daal in about 1 cup water and set aside (the daal should be cooked until
real soft)
- Step 2: Dissolve
1/4 teaspoon tamarind paste (recommend "Tamcon") in 2.5 cups of
water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add 1 heapful teaspoon
of Sambar powder, curry leaves, salt, capsicum, and heeng. Boil
for about 8-10 minutes until you get the aroma of sambar powder cooking.
Add crushed tomatoes; cook for a minute.
- Step 3: Make a paste
out of the cooked toor daal (from Step 1) by adding some water and mashing
with a spoon. Add this paste to the boiling sambar. Stir
till sambar comes to a boil. (IMPORTANT: make sure the daal does
not get stuck to the bottom of the sauce pan by stirring the pan fairly
often). Boil for 2-3 minutes. "Sambar" is
almost ready...
- Step 4: In a little
saucepan, heat up 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil add mustard
seeds, fenugreek seeds, and asafetida to the hot oil, and cover with a lid; the mustard
seeds will pop; as soon as you hear the mustard seeds to pop in a rhythm
remove the saucepan from the stove.
- Step 5: Add the seasoning
from Step 4 to the boiling sambar (Step 3). Add the washed coriander
leaves to the sambar. Mix it a little and remove the sambar from
the stove.
Sambar is ready to be served!
Best to mix sambar with rice and eat. Some hot pickle (such as
mango "avakkai") on the side goes well with this mix.
Bon
appetite!