What is Sambar?
If there is one lentil dish which is relished and enjoyed by all of India, it’s Sambar! It’s a staple in every South Indian home. And shows up at least once on my menu every week ! Sambar is a soup like lentil dish made with split pigeon peas, vegetables, spices and tamarind. It’s a very versatile dish which can have completely different taste and flavor depending on the vegetables and spices used in it. The most common vegetables used in a traditional sambar are eggplant and drumsticks, or a mix of vegetables like yellow pumpkin, French beans, carrots, flat beans, green mango and drumsticks . Sambhar also gets its unique flavor from shallots. The next best substitute for shallots are the purple or red onions or any onion for that matter. But if you have shallots that would be a game changer in this recipe. Most Indian stores carry frozen Indian shallots in their frozen section, along with the vegetable blend for sambar. So if you want the exact taste of the Sambar which you tasted in that Indian restaurant, then find shallots and the sambar vegetables.
Having said that, there is no hard and fast rule with Sambar. In most homes we pretty much use any vegetables available at hand. So this can be an ideal dish for the days when you need to finish off the last of the carrots, bell pepper or french beans in your fridge. Other vegetable options are also on the notes.
Simplifying the Sambar recipe
- Authentic Sambar recipe calls for sambar powder, which is a spice blend of red dry chilies, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, urad, chana dal and a few other spices. But I have simplified this recipe so that it’s easy for everyone to try it without compromising on the taste. So if you have a pack of the sambar powder in your pantry, by all means use a spoon of it at the same stage when I add all the spices to the vegetables.
- Another tip to simplify the recipe is to cook the vegetables simultaneously in an insert in the Instant pot along with the lentils. I would not recommend cooking the vegetables and the lentils together in one pot without the insert as the cooking time for the lentils is longer and you will be left with mushy flavorless vegetables. You want to still be able to taste the vegetables in the Sambar. If you don’t want to use the insert, you can cook the vegetables separately on the stove top in a sauce pan, while the lentils cooks in the instant pot.
- To make Sambar PBwhole30 compatible, I have used coconut oil instead of the ghee, and skipped the Asafetida which usually contains gluten, but have still provided these as options on the list.
- If looking to purchase tamarind, look for wet tamarind or soft tamarind. You can press on the pack and the tamarind will be soft, it makes juicing it easier. If you don’t want to juice the tamarind, look for tamarind concentrate with W30 compatible ingredients. Both tamarind and the tamarind concentrate are available in Asian and Indian grocery stores and on Amazon as well.
Simple Instant Pot Sambar
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Another Electric Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Toor dal/lentils (split pigeon peas)
- 2 large shallots or 1 small onion sliced lengthwise
- 1 large tomato
- 3 eggplants sliced into 4 (you can use 1.5. Cups of Vegetables of choice i.e – carrots, French beans, Pumpkin, Zucchini, Daikon or a mix of all these)
- 1 small lemon sized tamarind or 1 tbsp of tamarind paste concentrate
- 1 tsp oil
Spices
- 1.5 tsp red chilli powder / Cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp for the lentil and 1 tsp for the vegetables
- 2 tsp salt
Ingredients for Tempering
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp black/brown mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 20 curry leaves optional
- 1or 2 dry red chili optional
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida Skip for whole 30 (refer to notes)
Instructions
Cooking the lentils and vegetables
- Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for 15 minutes and squeeze the juice out of it, if using the tamarind concentrate dilute it with 1/2 a cup water.
- Rinse the lentils till the water runs clear
- Add the lentils to the instant pot.
- To the lentils add 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp Asafoetida ( skip for whole 30) and 1 tsp oil
- Add 4 cups of water
- Place the wire rack which comes with the instant pot over the lentils and water. ( Ref to video for steps)
- In a small steel or pyrex mixing bowl add all the shallots/onion, tomatoes, chopped vegetables of choice
- Add the tamarind juice or the watered down tamarind water to the vegetables.
- Add the spices – turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt.
- Place the mixing bowl with vegetables on the rack which was placed in the instant pot steel insert.
- Cover the bowl with a steel plate or an oven safe lid.
- Close the instant pot lid and make sure to close the pressure vent. Select the pressure cook option and set the timer for 15 minutes.
- Open the lid after the natural pressure release.
- Take out the bowl of vegetables and the rack. Add the vegetables and the spices into the lentils . And add a cup of water to adjust the consistency if needed.
- Set the Instant pot on sauté mode and let it come to boil.
Tempering
- For the tempering which is the final step, add 1 tbsp of oil in a pan.
- Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add the cumin seeds, let them bloom.
- Add the dry red chilli.
- Add the Asafoetida if using it and switch off the flame ( skip for Whole30)
- Pro tip – if you have sambar powder on hand add 1 tsp in the hot oil, once the flame is switched off.
- Finally add the curry leaves right away and give it a stir
- Once the oil is hot add the tempering to the sambar
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Notes
- Shallots bring in the authentic taste of Sambar
- Different vegetables bring different flavors, so the taste will vary depending on the vegetables you use. Some of the popular vegetables which are used in Sambar are as follows
- Egg plant and drumsticks (moringa)
- Egg plant, drumsticks and green mango
- Carrot, French beans
- Any kind of pumpkin
- Okra
- Daikon radish or pink radish
- Colored pepper
- Zucchini
- Or a combination of any of these , some Indian grocery stores even sell a bag of the frozen sambar mixed vegetables
- Tamarind is available in all Asian, Indian and major grocery stores. If you can’t find tamarind, you can sub it with 1/4 cup of lemon juice ( but I strongly recommend using tamarind water or tamarind concentrate. If using lemon juice add it at the end instead of cooking with the vegetables.
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