Tamilnadu Style Mixed Vegetable Sambar Recipe in Pressure cooker – Bachelors Recipes

• Toor dal – 1/3 cup
• Mixed vegetables – 1 cup ( Carrot 1 small, beans-5nos, Brinjal-2 nos, Lady’s finger-5 nos)
• Tamarind – Small lemon size ( 2 tbsp tamarind paste)
• Big onion or small onions – 1 no / 10 nos ( cubed)
• Ripe tomato – 1 no
• Sambar powder– 1 tsp
• Jaggery – 1/4 tsp ( Don’t add it if you use carrot)
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Dhania powder /coriander seeds powder – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
• Salt & water – as needed

To temper

• Cooking oil-1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Red chillies – 2 nos
• Cumin seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves – few
• Hing – 2 pinches
• Coriander leaves – to garnish
• Ghee-1 tbsp

• Wash and soak the toor dal in 2 cups of hot water, a pinch of turmeric powder. few curry leaves (optional) and a drop of oil till use. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup water. Wash and chop the vegetables into one inch pieces and keep them immersed in water. Cube cut onions if using big onions or just peel the sambar onions and use as whole ones.

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker base and splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds & curry leaves. Add the red chilli powder, dhania powder & turmeric powder. Saute quickly for a second in medium flame.

• Add all the vegetables, onions, tomato pieces & crushed garlic if  using. Saute for a minute till lady’s finger shrinks a bit.
  • If you are adding drumstick, do not cook with other vegetables. It will become mushy. So cook separately and add it.
• Add some raw curry leaves.Now add 1 to 1.5 cups of tamarind extract, jaggery and sambar powder. Add hing and the required salt.Add a tsp of ghee. Keep the flame very low and allow it to boil slowly.

• In the mean time,transfer the soaked toor dal into a small closed box along with soaked water. Make sure the size of box is double the quantity of dal else dal will spill & won’t cook properly. Keep it inside the cooker and close the lid. Increase the flame to high and as soon as the steam comes, put the weight valve and keep the flame very low.Allow it to cook in very low flame till one whistle. It takes approx. 5 minutes if using small cooker & 8 minutes for bigger one.

• Switch off the flame after one whistle and let the steam goes off completely. Now open the cooker and take out the box. Open and mash the dal well.

• Add the dal to the sambar and allow it to boil. Check for taste and add more salt and sambar powder if needed. Let the sambar roll boil in medium flame for 2 minutes. Lastly add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Add 2 tsp of ghee and close it with a lid till you serve. It tastes yum with hot rice and papad. Enjoy !

• If you are using drumstick, do not cook with other vegetables. It will become mushy. So cook separately and add it.
• Cooking the dal in the box inside the cooker makes the job easy, saves time & gas. If you don’t have a small container, you should pressure cook the dal till mushy, remove in a bowl and then make the sambar in the same cooker again. U can also cook the dal the previous day night and refrigerate it. The next morning, dilute it with little water and add to the cooked veggies. Boil and serve.
• Addition of vegetables is purely your choice. U can add either one or all the vegetables.
• Please don’t add jaggery if you are using carrot as carrot lends mild sweetness to the sambar.
• Use more chilli powder or sambar powder based on your spice level.