Arachuvita Sambar - Madurai Style

Sambar was not the go to food when I grew up. Please don't judge me for that. I had too many other varieties to be spoilt with. And just the habit of seeing and eating Sambar in every restaurant, wedding, feast, family visits, house warming ceremonies, made it not too special until I moved to Germany after getting married.

Guess what....The first item that i ever cooked in Germany or I ever cooked for my husband is 'The Legendary Sambar'. It tasted heavenly. May be it was not the best of the sambar's I had been exposed to in Madurai. But a spicy and flavorful sambar with all veggies in that cold, grey new place just made it taste heavenly. That is when i started loving sambar. My sambar should always have at least 5 veggies, the flavor of all veggies should blend in with the dal and the consistency has to be rich.

Here is a wonderful version of Madurai Hotel Style Sambar which takes a little extra bit of grinding than the regular quick version. Once you try this style, I can guarantee you that you will make some extra time to get the oomph factor from grinding some special ingredients.

Ingredients:

For Sambar:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Masoor Dal - 1/2 cup
Moon Dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 
Tomato - 1/2
Drumstick - 5 pieces
Green capsicum - 1/2 cut into cubes
Carrots - 1 medium size
Brinjal - 1 small
Bottle Gourd - 4 cubes (ignore if you dont have this)
Raw mango - 2 small pieces (highly recommend, i always have frozen ones if not in season)
Tamarind - berry size (soaked in warm water)
Green chilly - 2 pieces
Salt (for taste)
Coriander leaves (for garnish)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp

Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Sambar powder - 2 tbsp

For Grinding:

Onion - 1/2 (cut into cubes)
Tomato - 1/2 (cut into cubes)
Grated coconut - 1 handful

For tempering:

Hing - a small bit (Sambar cannot be done without this small yet powerful ingredient ;))
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urud Dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

How to Make Base Dal:

1. Cut all the veggies to cube sizes
2. Add all 3 Dals from Ingredients with 1:2 ratio of water for each Dal in a pressure cooker (I have used three 1/2 cups of Dal. So i will use 3 cups of water and a 1/2 cup more for veggies).
3. Add 1/2 cubed onions, 1/2 cubed tomatoes, all veggies except for carrot, capsicum and raw mango to the Dal
4. Add turmeric powder and hing.
5. Close the pressure cooker and cook the Dal with veggies for 3 whistles. Keep the cooker away from heat for it to cool down.

How to make the special paste:

• In a kadai, add 1/2 of cubes onions and sauté.
• Once translucent, add 1/2 tomato and sauté until tomato gets mushy.
• To the above, add a handful of grated coconut. Give it a nice stir until coconut aroma comes out. 

• Let the mixture cool and grind it with very little water into a thick paste.

How to make Sambar:

1. In a kadai, add 1 tbsp refined oil or ghee
2. once the oil heats up, add Capsicum and saute until half cooked
3. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and sambar powder
4. Saute until the raw smell of powder goes away
5. Add tamarind water and let it boil for 2 mins
6. Add the Dal-Veggie mixture from the pressure cooker.
7. Add a cup of water if the mixture is too thick
8. Give it all a good mix
9. Add raw mango pieces now
10. Add the special ground paste to the above mix (Add more water if you think the consistency is too thick)
11. Bring everything to a boil
12. Check for salt, tang and spice level. Adjust if you need to.
13. Finally garnish with Coriander leaves
14. In a small pan, add oil and all ingredients under tempering. Once the mustard splutters and the urud dal turns to golden brown, add the tempering to Sambar

Aromatic, flavorful, nutritious, protein packed amazing Sambar is ready to be served with Idli, Dosai, White rice, Ven pongal, Vadai - anything that you please to have it with. I had them with plain white rice, a big generous amount of ghee to enhance the aromas, Beans Poriyal and Appalam,. Heavenly!!!

Guten Apetit! And wish you all a happy sambar day that fills your tummy and mind with joy. May you party with Sambar just like the many ingredients come together to party as Sambar :)