Prep Time: 08 Hours

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 

This is a recipe of oil-free ladies finger sambar. Legend states that sambar was first made accidentally by the Maratha ruler Sambhaji when he tried to make dal curry in absence of his chef. He added tamarind to the dal, resulting in the dish that later came to be known as legend states that.

Tip: Sambar can be made with any vegetable of your choice. Most of them do not need additional roasting except for onion, capsicum and brinjal. In such a case the vegetables can be steamed with the toor dal.

Ingredients

Sambar powder ingredients:

• Dhaniya or coriander seeds:350g
• Red chilli (I use byadagi variety):175g
• Channa dal (Can use 50:50 Channa: urad, but only Channa is tasty):200g
• Methi or fenugreek seeds:1 tbsp
• Round dry coconut grated: 1
• Cinnamon sticks medium size: 4-5
• Marathi moggu or kapok buds:5-6
• Turmeric or 1 dry turmeric root:1/2 tsp

Sambar ingredients:

• Unpolished toor dal: 1/2 cup
• Water: 1 cup
• Tamarind pulp:1 tbsp
• Rock salt: as per taste
• Chopped ladies finger not too small: as per number of people
• Sambar powder: 2 tbsp
• Curry leaves: a few
• Coriander: a few leaves
• Fresh grated coconut: little
• Cumin: 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
• Fenugreek: 1/2 tsp

Tadka ingredients:

• Mustard: 1 tsp
• Jeera: 1 tsp

Method

Sambar powder steps:

• To make the sambar powder, dry roast each ingredient until you get a good aroma and keep aside.
• Dry coconut can be mildly roasted.
• Grind all the roasted ingredients together in batches.
• Sambar powder is ready.

Ladies finger sambar steps:

• To make the sambar, soak whole unpolished toor dal overnight.
• Use the same water and pressure cook it with cumin, turmeric, fenugreek or if you are using a clay pot, cook it with more than 1 cup water as needed for 15-20mins.
• Roast the ladies finger on a dry iron vessel or clay pot with occasional stirring and closing a lid till its soft and cooked.
• Once cooked, Add the dal, ladies finger, tamarind paste, curry leaves, sambar powder, salt and let it boil for 2 mins.
• Add coconut,curry leaves and switch off.
• Alternatively, people grind sambar powder with fresh coconut and water and mix it to the boiling dal. Avoid boiling for a long time if this step is chosen to retain the freshness of the coconut. Since the sambar powder is already roasted, we don’t need a lot of cooking.
• Sambar has a thicker consistency that’s thinner than a North Indian gravy but thicker than a veg broth or rasam. It’s not watery.
• If the sambar becomes too watery, mix 1 tbsp of rice flour or gram flour in cold water without any lumps and add this while boiling. It will make it thicker.

Tadka steps:

• To make an oilfree tadka, take a steel rounded spoon and let it heat up, add mustard and cumin till it splutters. Keep stirring to avoid burning.
• Add this to the sambar and enjoy with millet rice/ragi balls.

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