Along with Dosa, sambhar also didn't make it into our house when I was growing up. Now that I am all grown up (I think:-)) I have to say this is a pretty easy way to get all that veggie goodness into one's body. Of course the resident veggie exponent who loves sambhar had a good part in this realization. Together we have arrived at a pretty good sambhar recipe that pleases us.
In The Mix
toor dal - 1 cup (this lentil is available in all indian grocery stores)
water 4 - cups
potato - 1 large, cut into medium sized pieces
carrots - 2 peeled and quartered into 3/4 " pieces
tindora - 1 cup worth of fresh or frozen sliced (use any other veggie of your choice)
beans - 1 cup diced 3/4" pieces
pearl onion - 15-18 fresh or frozen ( can substitute with any onion of your choice. we just love the little white balls bubbling up and down in the finished sambhar)
green chilies - 3 sliced slanted lengthwise and once across. (this is a good way to slice chilies for any preparation as it looks good and will bring out more of the chili into the recipe.)
okra - 1 cup diced fresh or frozen
tomato - 1 diced
water - 8 cups
tamarind paste - 1 1/2 to 2 tsp
sambhar powder - 5 tsp (brands may have some effect. not sure. have heard the homemade ones are unbeatable, but then i have no access to this particular abundance)
to season
mustard - 1 tsp
thinly sliced shallots - 1 pinch or 2 (optional, i love it)
curry leaves - as many sprigs as you want. 1 or 2 should do
long dry red chilies - 4 or 5 torn into reasonable pieces
sambhar powder - 1/2 tsp ( HMom's tip)
oil - 2 tsp
salt to taste
How To Do
Boil 4 cups of water, cover and cook the dal till soft. Mash really well. No need to add salt. Check and stir occasionally to make sure that nothing sticks to the bottom. My daughter used to love eating cooked dal with a little salt but is slacking these days. Hopefully she will pick it up again some day.
While the dal is cooking away, start boiling the 8 cups of water in a large pan. Add onions and all aforementioned veggies except okra and tomato to the boiling water. Wait for the water to boil again after adding the veggies. Now turn the heat down medium to low, cover and cook.
After 5 minutes, add tomato and okra. (These two can be added earlier too but might really dissolve away with too much cooking. Depends on how you like the end result to be.) Add salt to taste, boil once, cover and cook for another 10 minutes on medium to low heat.
Add the mashed dal, sambhar powder and tamarind paste and stir well slowly and gently. For those who only like a subtle taste of tamarind like me and my husband (who will do away with tamarind altogether if he could), it is a good idea to add the tamarind in steps. Add the first 1 tsp without hesitation. After that add every 1/2 tsp based on your personal preference. We have discovered 1 1/2 tsp of the paste aligns our tastebuds well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or less on low for the flavors to blend.
Seasoning: Break mustards in oil, saute onions & curry leaves. Add the torn chilies and sambhar powder. Saute some more till fried sambhar aroma fills the air. Add this to the prepared sambhar. Stir together or let stay on top till serving with Dosa or Rice.
Rule of thumb from HMom : If sourness is at the top when tasting, add salt. Conversely, if you put too much salt by mistake and the recipe calls for tamarind, then you are saved! Just add more tamarind as these two balance each other out. I have discovered this to be quite true. You do know the other way to balance salt esp for a non-tamarind recipe is to add potatoes provided the recipe can sustain it. Right? If none of these apply and you still added more salt, I am sorry, but there is nothing more to do other than dumping it out and starting again! Of course I am sure there might be ways but I have just no clue at the moment:-)
6 comments:
Nice Pic!!!!!!!!!
But u simply have to add drumsticks in a sambhar otherwise its not a sambhar according to my MIL;-o.
And somepeople dont like okra in their sambhar coz it makes the sambhar all 'kuzhannga'...but others prefer it precisely for the same reason.
My sambhar method is also same as urs except I add more tamarind concentrate & would u believe, I havent ever bot sambhar pwdr till today...I just make a mixture then & there with all the ingredients available....I was taught like tht:-P
And guess what I've been married 10 yrs but learnt how to make sambhar just 3 yrs back:-P.
My husband will fully agree with your MIL on the drumsticks. We do put drumsticks when we have them. Guess you can add any veggie you like to substitute. I agree about the okra but my husband love it in sambhar. I have heard that if you sun dry or fry the okra before use, the 'vazhukku' will not be there. Haven't tried it. Here is a secret. I have no clue what goes in the sambhar powder. How do you make it? Why the 7 year wait?:-)
Sambhar pwdr.....a mix of coriander pwdr, chilli pwdr, tumeric pwdr, uluvapwdr, kayam powdered....is wht makes my sambhar pwdr[the last 3 items very less ofcourse, like 1/4tsp]....i'm not giving u any proportion bcoz even I'm not exactly sure;-P.
Its not like I never had sambhar for 7 yrs. In the beginning, we never made it regularly......so first 2 yrs my FIL made it, then next 3 yrs my MIL made it, then next 2 yrs the maid made it.....when the maid used to make it, she wd come & ask me if the proportions of masala were right....thts how I found out what goes into making sambhar:-D.
U knw even theeyal was learnt the same way...thru the maid[luckily she used to cook well] tho she never had an inkling I didnt knw;-D.
Can u put up a recipe on theeyal....I'd like to know if I'm doing it the right way.
nancy, thanks a bunch for that note! now, if we don't have sambhar powder at home i can come back to this for a substitute. isn't wonderful to eat when someone else do the cooking? i love cooking but not everyday:-) i think you have mastered the sambhar. i don't know if the sambhar i make has any authenticity as we never had it growing up. as for theeyal i have never made this and never felt the urge. now that you ask, i remember that one of my friends make 'theeyal' and 'olan' pretty authentic. i'll check with her to see how she makes it and will pass it on.
Yummy sambar..Dh is not too fond of it so i end up eating it as a soup!! just one tip.. try sauteing the pearl onions and okra to get rid of the kuzha kuzha feeling.
mallugirl, i knew about okra frying but hadn't thought of doing the same for pearl onions. that sounds like a yum solution for the problem. i try to tell the kids that it is a soup so they'd be open to having it more. works sometimes:-)
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