Sambhar Recipe

For a description of this South Indian stew, go to the end of the post.

For the sambhar powder:

Generally, I like recipes in terms of masses instead of volumes, so I might update this recipe with spice masses as well.

  • 25 dry red chillies. I use kashmiri chillies, because they’re not as hot as regular red chillies. If you use only regular red chillies, this is going to be very spicy – potentially too much so.
  • 1 Tbsp dried kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1/2 cup coriander seeds
  • 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
  • 1.5 Tbsp cumin seeds
  • 3 Tbsp black peppercorns
  • 1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 Tbsp black gram aka urad dal. This is the split, hulled variety, not they kind with which you make dal makhani.
  • 1 Tbsp channa dal
  • 1 Tbsp rice
  • 2 tsp asafoetida. In the past, whenever recipes have listed this, I’ve always sort of ignored it. In reality, it actually imparts a depth of flavour that is otherwise hard to achieve. In the supermarket, asafoetida usually comes in a small plastic container somwhere between a salt shaker and a bottle of medicine. Be careful with this stuff – it can quickly overpower your food, rendering it so voluminous and strong so as to be almost inedible.
  • 1 Tbsp turmeric powder
  • 3 Tbsp dried curry leaves. Much like asafoetida, I’ve always ignored curry leaves when they come up in recipes.
  • 1 Tbsp dried coconut.

In a pan, dry roast everything except for the powder ingredients and curry leaves over medium low heat. You’ll know everything is ready when the coriander and dals just start to get brown. Sticking your nose next to the roasting spices, you should be met with a delightful smell. The coriander contributes an almost citrus like smell to the mix, while the others are rich and nutty. This is one of my favourite stages of making any dish that incorporates a multi-ingredient spice mix. If things start to get blackened or smell burned, throw everything out and start over.

Place the roasted spices and curry leaves in a spice grinder, blending into a fine powder. At this point, the powder should start to smell like sambhar. For me, I’m thrust back into a brightly lit, tiny cafe in Abu Dhabi, where sambhar is served up with spongy, slightly sour idlis and a healthy scoop of coconut chutney. Put the powder in a storage container, adding the remaining powdered spices. Mix thoroughly.

For the sambhar:

  • 100g channa or toor dal
  • 250mL water
  • 1.5 tsp tamarind concentrate. I struggle to find the right amount of tamarind. Too much, and the soup is a little too tangy and sour. Too little, and the sambhar feels lacking, like sandals without socks.
  • 1 Tbsp salt. Depending on the type of salt you use, you may have to adjust. Luckily, lentils seem to soak up salt, so this measurement is pretty fault tolerant. If you neglect to add the salt when cooking the lentils, the resulting sambhar might end up tasting eternally bland.
  • 2 Tbsp sambhar powder
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 5-10 fresh curry leaves
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • Vegetables. I’ve eaten sambhar with a number of different vegetables, ranging from the simplest with just drumstick and pearl onions, to elaborate ones with potatoes, pumpkin, carrot, bhindi, eggplant, drumstick, tomatoes, and onions. You can sort of pick and choose what veggies you like best. For me, I usually put the following:
  • carrot aka gaajar
  • drumstick aka sahajan (सहजन)
  • okra aka bhindi
  • pumpkin aka squash I like the idea of using ingredients that are available in my current location. It can be a little tricky to find okra where I am, so I might use green beans instead.

Rinse the dal until the water runs clear. Add water, tamarind and salt. Cook until the dal is falling apart, basically forming a homogeneous soup. In the pressure cooker this takes about 20 to 25 minutes. If you’re not using a pressure cooker, this could take closer to an hour or an hour and a half.

While the dal is cooking, cut up all the vegetables into bite size pieces. I like big, coarsely cut chunks of veggies. If using multiple types of vegetables, organize by cook time. Carrots and potatoes, for example, need longer to cook compared to okra or drumstick.

Make the temper for the sambhar. Heat up the vegetable oil, and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop, and the curry leaves become fragrant. Curry leaves release an interesting smell that was unfamiliar to me before making recipes like sambhar or sabudana. Let the temper cool significantly.

Once the dal is done cooking, add sambhar powder and vegetables. Make sure to add the vegetables according to their cooking times. Once the vegetables are more or less cooked, add the temper. Make sure the temper is cooled before adding to the stew. Simmer for a another few minutes before serving.

Sambhar is a lentil and vegetable stew originating from Southern India. It is spicy, bright, and a little tangy, in addition to being super healthy. I’ve mostly eaten it with idlis and dosa, but I’ve eaten it over rice, or simply on its own. In some foods, like masala dosa, sambhar comes as a sort of dipping sauce, playing the same role as a chutney, while in dishes like vada sambhar its the central element.
A debate appears to exist in the sambhar world as to whether or not the stew should be a little sweet. Purists are of the opinion that it should be entirely savoury. I think a little sweetness contrasts nicely with the heat of the chillies and the tanginess of the tamarind.

Quick conversions

1 cup = 16 Tbsp

3 tsp = 1 Tbsp