Kerala Sambar Recipe – Onam Sadya Sambar recipe

How to make Kerala style sambar recipe

Author: Chitra Ganapathy

Cuisine:South Indian
Category: Kerala recipes
Serves: 4-5
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients (1 cup – 250ml)

To Pressure Cook

• Toor dal – 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Cooking oil – 1/4 tsp
• Water – 2 cups
• Small onions/Big onion – 12 nos/1 no
• Green chilli – 1 no(slit)
• **Mixed vegetables – 1 cup (Refer method)
• Ripe tomato – 1 no (chop finely)

To Boil With Dal

• Tamarind – Big gooseberry size
• Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – few

To Temper

• Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli – 1 no(pinched into two)
• Curry leaves – few
• Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder- 1 tsp(I used Kashmiri chilli pwd)
• Dhania powder/coriander seeds powder – 1/2 tsp
• Methi seeds powder – 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Hing – 1/4 tsp
• Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp (to garnish)

How to make Kerala sambar

1. Wash and chop all the veggies into small cubes.Keep in a small box.
2. In a cooker base, take dal,small onion and chilli. Keep the veggies box inside cooker.
3. Pressure cook in low flame for 2 whistles. Remove the veggies bowl. Mash the dal.
4. Add tamarind extract, cooked vegetables, sambar powder, salt.
5. Boil for 5 minutes till nice smell arises.
6. Temper mustard, red chilli, spice powders in low flame.
7. Add to sambar, boil for a minute. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Kerala sambar recipe – Step by step photos

• Soak tamarind in 1 cup water and take the extract. Take 1/2 cup of toor dal, small onion and slit green chilli in a cooker base. Add 2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and 1/4 tsp cooking oil in water.
  

  

• Wash and chop the vegetables( I used yam, raw banana, carrot, ash gourd, broad beans, cluster beans, beans, lady’s finger, drumstick – 5 pieces each). Chop tomato finely. Transfer the vegetables and tomato to a small bowl that fit inside the cooker. Add 1/4 cup water to it.
  

  

• Place the bowl with vegetables inside the pressure cooker. Close and cook for 2 whistles in low flame.
  

  

• Open the lid after the steam is released. Dal and vegetables would be cooked soft. Remove the veggies bowl and mash the dal nicely.
• Add the cooked vegetables, tamarind extract, sambar powder, salt. Check for thickness and add 1/2 to 1 cup water if needed. Boil well for 5 minutes till nice aroma arises.
  

  

• Heat 2 tbsp coconut oil in a kadai. Temper mustard seeds, red chilli, curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, lower the flame completely. Add sambar powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder, methi powder and hing. Mix quickly without burning. Add to the boiling sambar. Boil for a minute and switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with plain rice adding ghee. You can also have with idli,dosa if you like.
  

  

Notes

• Adjust the quantity of chillies as per your taste.
• For variations, you can saute finely chopped onion, tomato and add to vegetables inside the cooker.
• Sambar powder gives nice aroma to this sambar. To replace it, you should use 1 tbsp dhania powder, 1/4 tsp methi powder and 1.5 tbsp red chilli powder.
• You can use any number of vegetables or you can make this sambar only with onions.