Say Sambar and you’ll have everyone drooling. I don’t know of a single person I’ve met or known who doesn’t like this dish. You can never have enough of it. For us Sambar is a Sunday specialty with its aroma filling the lazy Sunday atmosphere and whetting our appetite for a sumptuous lunch. Though Sambar can be made with most vegetables, I’m giving the recipe for onion sambar which is a super specialty!! This is the recipe as made by my Grandma and nothing beats it.
Onion Sambar
Ingredients:
- Toor/ Arhar Dal – 1/2 cup
- 1 cup of small Madras onions
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
- Salt – As required
- Tamarind – A gooseberry sized ball
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Curry leaves – A few
- Oil – 1 tbsp
- Asafetida- 1/2 tsp
For Sambar Masala
- Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
- Coriander seeds: 1 tsp
- 1 tsp Chana dal (Bengal gram)
- Curry leaves
- Dry red chillies – 2 – 3 nos
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
Method:
- Pressure cook the dal with the required amount of salt and turmeric.
- Keep it aside in the cooker for thirty minutes and then churn it.
- Leave the tamarind ball in water for 10 minutes, squeeze out the extract and pour it into a cooking pan
- Peel and roast the onions in some oil/ghee and add them into the tamarind water.
- Add salt, turmeric and bring it to a boil
- Fry all ingredients of the Sambar Masala, excepting coconut in 1 tbsp of oil and grind in with coconut after it cools
- Add the Sambar masala in the boiling tamarind water.
- Add the cooked dal and bring it to a boil
- Add asafetida and more salt if required
- Give a tadka of mustard, curry leaves in coconut oil
Serve hot with rice
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4