Recipe for Mixed Vegetable Sambar

The surprise find of moringa leaves some days back in an Indian store near me inspired me to make Adai, a South Indian breakfast made with lentils and rice. Since I had a big bunch of moringa leaves still in the fridge, Sambar was the next dish I made with it. In addition to moringa leaves, I had a few more vegetables like carrots, zucchini, etc. Therefore, I decided to make Mixed Vegetable Sambar.

What is Sambar?

Sambar is a stew in which Toor Dal (pigeon peas) is combined with vegetables and cooked in a tamarind base. The common vegetables used in Sambar are pumpkin, bottle gourd, brinjal, okra, and reddish. It is commonly eaten in the southern states of India, namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Nowadays, it has found popularity in other parts of the country too.

What is Sambar usually eaten with?

Sambar goes best with hot steamed rice and ghee. It can also be combined with many South Indian breakfasts. I have already shared many South Indian breakfast recipes. Check out these 8 Idli Recipes, 11 Dosa Recipes and other south Indian recipes such as Pongal and Medu Vada, which taste great with sambar.

There are many more tried and tested breakfast recipes from my kitchen, which you can find here.

What distinguishes Sambar from other lentil-based stews?

A unique spice called Sambar Powder is added, which gives Sambar its characteristic taste. This powder combines many individually roasted spices, which are ground and combined. These include red chillies, coriander seeds, black pepper, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, chana dal, urad dal etc. The ratios in which these ingredients are combined vary from home to home.

Sambar powder has been traditionally made in homes, with each home’s recipe passed down through generations. However, these days, many big brands sell Sambar Powder. Therefore, prepackaged sambar powder is easily available in supermarkets in India and Indian stores in other countries. Due to the lack of time and the ease and convenience it offers, people prefer buying the prepackaged powder instead of making it at home. Each brand has a slightly different taste, and people buy the one closest to their preferred taste. 

Each of the South Indian states has its recipe for Sambar, and there are different recipes followed based on whether Sambar is made for breakfast ( to be eaten in Dosa, Idly, Vada, etc.) or lunch/dinner ( to be eaten with rice). 

The sambar recipe I am sharing today pairs best with steamed rice. Since I live in Germany, I have used local vegetables like carrots and zucchini along with, as I mentioned before, Moringa leaves that are found in an Indian store. You can make it with any of the vegetables mentioned earlier in this article.

You can also check out the recipe for Bangalore Style Instant Sambar, which you can pair with South Indian breakfasts and Raddish and Shallots Sambar, which you can pair with steamed rice.

Now, let’s start with the recipe for Mixed Vegetable Sambar.

Ingredients needed for Mixed Vegetable Sambar:

1. Tur dal (Pigeon Peas): 1 cup
2. Turmeric Powder: 1 -1 1/2 teaspoon
3. Kashmiri red Chili Powder: 2 teaspoons
4. Sambar Powder: 1 tablespoon
5. Salt: to taste
6. Oil: 2 tablespoons for cooking the veggies and optionally one teaspoon for tadka
7. Mustard Seeds/Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
8. Asafoetida: 1/2 teaspoon
9. Curry leaves: 8-10
10. Green Chilies: 3-4
11. Dry red chillies: 3-4
12. Onion: 1 big, diced
13. Tomato: 1 big, roughly chopped
14. Tamarind Juice: 1 cup ( extracted from about one tablespoon of tamarind pulp)
15. Powdered Jaggery: 1 teaspoon
16. Vegetables of your choice ( Pumpkin, ladysfinger, Moringa, Brinjal, Raddish are the common vegetables used in Sambar: diced, about 2 cups
17. Water: Enough to soak the lentils, cook the lentils, and then later add extra to get the right consistency
18. Fresh Coriander leaves: For garnishing 

Method to make Mixed Vegetable Sambar:

1. Wash and then soak the pigeon peas in water for about 30 minutes.
   
   
   
2. Add the soaked pigeon peas, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, roughly chopped tomato, and 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker and cook till the pigeon peas are soft and mushy. 
   
   
   
3. While the pigeon peas are cooking, take a pan and heat the oil. Add mustard seeds/cumin seeds( whatever is your preference) and asafoetida.
   
   
   
4. Once the seeds crackle, add green chillies and red chillies.
   
   
   
5. Then add curry leaves and onions and fry till the onions become translucent.
   
   
   
6. Add vegetables of your choice. I had some zucchini, carrots, and moringa leaves in my home, so I used those.
   
   
   
7. Add salt, cover with a lid and let the vegetables cook to about 80%.
   
   
   
8. Add the vegetables to the pressure cooker where pigeon peas have been cooked.
   
   
   
9. Add Tamarind juice, sambar powder, and jaggery. Taste and adjust salt.
   
   
   
10. Close the lid and let everything cook together for 5 minutes more.
    
    
    
11. Remove from heat. Garnish with Coriander and serve with steamed rice.
    
    

Some additional notes:

1. Although pigeon peas can be cooked in an open pot, it is best to cook them in a pressure cooker. For soft-cooked dal, a pressure cooker works best.
2. The most commonly used vegetables in Sambar are Moringa, brinjal, reddish, okra, pumpkin, and bottle gourd. However, if you don’t have access to these vegetables, you can add zucchini, carrots, etc., just like I did.
3. To extract the juice from the tamarind pulp, soak the tamarind pulp in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Then, squeeze them with your hands and discard the seeds and fibre. You can replace tamarind with lime juice if you don’t have tamarind.
4. If you don’t have jaggery, you can replace it with sugar.
5. In the traditional recipe, one last step of adding Tadka is done after cooking the sambar. For this, take a pan with one teaspoon of oil. Heat it. Add one teaspoon of mustard seeds. When they crackle, add asafoetida and curry leaves. Put this into the cooked sambar. In this recipe, I have skipped that step. You can do it to enhance the taste of sambar further.
6. Sambar powder can be easily purchased from any Indian shop. I prefer the following brands-24 Mantra, Shakti, and MTR. However, you can try different brands and decide what suits your palette more.
7. This sambar can be had with rice or idly/dosa.
8. The taste of sambar always becomes better the next day. So, if some of it is left, keep it in the fridge. The next day, heat it in a saucepan before eating. Add water if it has thickened.

About Ingredient sourcing in Germany:

While you can get some of the ingredients needed for this recipe from a German Supermarket, you can get all of these ingredients from any Indian shop near you. Alternatively, you can check the online store for Spicelands. They are a big store in Frankfurt, delivering all across Germany.

Alternatively, you can even buy these ingredients from amazon.de. Links are given below:
Curry Leaves:  https://amzn.to/3WvOSg3
Salt: https://amzn.to/3ACstDM
Sesame Oil: https://amzn.to/3qbrqsF
Toor Dal: https://amzn.to/45EvG48
Red Onions: https://amzn.to/43vhtof
Turmeric Powder: https://amzn.to/3M6pCrX
Cumin Seeds: https://amzn.to/41EPjWD
Coriander Leaves: https://amzn.to/3AZWU76
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder: https://amzn.to/3Vgt9s0
Sambar Powder: https://amzn.to/3N5eb5Q
Asafoetida: https://amzn.to/42B0Oj6
Tomatoes: https://amzn.to/41Ofn26
Tamarind: https://amzn.to/3ONsCwu
Jaggery: https://amzn.to/43AsuEE

Equipment needed for the recipe:

Cutting Board: https://amzn.to/3n9IXjM
Knife Set (includes a bread knife): https://amzn.to/3Lg64Bj
Pan: https://amzn.to/3BSRIT9
Pressure cooker: https://amzn.to/3I2PAM1

Here is the recipe in printable format:

Check out other recipes from my kitchen here.

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