Showing posts with label sambar. Show all posts

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Kadalai Maavu Sambar | Besan Sambar

Kadalai Maavu Sambar, a delicious sambar that can be prepared in 10 mins with besan/bengal gram flour. It's one of the popular recipes from the road side shops across Tamil Nadu, India. In some places, it's also known as Bombay sambar and honestly i don't know the reason !

In our home, ST is a big fan of kadalai maavu sambar and often asks to make this sambar as a side dish for idli and dosa. Making this sambar from scratch would hardly take 10 mins so by the time of preparing the dosa / idli , this sambar will be ready.

This kadalai maavu sambar is a tiffin sambar and tastes great with all types of dosa varieties and idli varieties but not great for rice !

Related : How to make Lunch Sambar

Kadalai Maavu / Besan

A couple of tbsp of besan/ kadalai maavu is enough for making this sambar for 2 to 3 people. Don't tempt to add more flour otherwise the sambar would be like porridge consistency and doesn't taste good.

For 1 tbsp of flour, it requires 1 cup of water for free flowing sambar and 1 tbsp of flour is enough for making sambar for one person. So keep this as guidance and add more or less of flour & water as per your need and liking.

Sambar powder

Sambar powder is the key to making this sambar. If you have followed me for a while, you might know that sometimes I make sambar without any sambar powder.

But for this sambar recipe, the flavor and taste depend greatly on the sambar powder. So use your favorite brand or home made sambar powder. I have used my homemade sambar powder.

My home made sambar powder doesn't have much chili in it ! If your sambar powder is spicy then reduce the amount of red chili powder in the recipe.

Related : How to make sambar powder

Tips for beginners to make delicious kadalai maavu sambar

Make sure that the onions and tomatoes are soft before adding the besan mixture
If you have cooked toor dal/ moong dal, add a tbsp or two to enhance the taste.
Boiling the sambar for at least 5 mins is important to get rid of the raw smell of the spices.
Adding a little amount of ghee truly elevates the taste and flavor. But it's totally optional.

Kadalai Maavu Sambar

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Sambar | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Kadalai maavu / Besan / Bengal gram flour - 2 tbsp

Onion - 1/4 cup(thinly sliced)

Tomato - 1/2

Green chili - 1

Water - 2 cups

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Sambar powder - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp(or to taste)

Oil - 1 tsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp(each)

Curry leaves - few

Coriander leaves - few

Ghee - 1/4 tsp(optional)

Procedure

First cut the onions into thin slices, tomatoes into small pieces & slit the chili and keep everything ready. In a bowl, measure and add the besan and turmeric powder.

Kadalai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 1

Next add the red chili powder, sambar powder and salt.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 2

Add 1/4 cup of water first and make a thick paste and then add the remaining water and mix it well and keep aside until use. If the mixture has some lumps, you can filter it once.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 3

Heat a kadai with oil, add the mustard, urad dal and cumin seed. Let the mustard and cumin splutter.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 4

Then add the onions, chili and curry leaves with a pinch of salt. Saute for a min and then add the tomatoes, give a quick stir.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 5

Add 1/4 cup of water and let it cook till the onions and tomatoes are soft.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 6

Next add the besan mixture, mix well and bring to a boil. Keep the flame in medium and let it boil for 5 mins or until the raw smell goes off.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 7

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and ghee(if using) and switch off the flame.

alai Maavu Sambar Recipe Step by Step Pic 8

Tasty Kadalai maavu sambar is ready. Serve it with idli or dosa.

Related : How to make Restaurant Style Crispy Dosa

Related : More Breakfast recipes

Notes:

This sambar tends to thicken a bit after it cools down.
Highly recommend to use cumin for tempering in this recipe. It gives great flavor.
Before coming into boil, stir the sambar often to avoid sticking at the bottom.

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Chinna Vengaya Sambar | Onion Sambar

Chinna Vengaya Sambar, a delicious sambar(lentil stew) made from toor dal and pearl onions. In tamil, "Pearl onion" is known as "சின்ன வெங்காயம்/chinna vengayam ". Other varieties of onions don't give the same flavor and taste to the sambar like pearl onions. So if you haven't tried this sambar before and wanna give it a try, i highly recommend to use pearl onions and it's usually available in all Indian stores across North America.

I make this sambar usually to pair with fish fry more than with veg curries. After nearly 3 months, last week we went to Indian store to buy some basic Indian groceries and picked a bunch of pearl onions also. The next day itself made this chinna vengaya sambar along with fish fry and relished to the core.

Back home in India, we use mostly pearl onions for all types of cooking and it's very rare to see the use of big onions(பல்லாரி) in daily cooking. Mostly the big onions are used for egg omelette and onion raita. After moving out of India, initially I pestered ST to go to Indian Store at least once a week mainly to buy chinna vengayam and curry leaves.

Later the frequency of visit to Indian Stores got reduced and now i can replace pearl onions with big onions in any recipes without a second thought and kind of adjusted to the taste also. Also here in Canada, most local stores have the basic Indian produce and groceries, so the need to visit Indian stores is very rare now a days and it's quite manageable also.

Ok,now coming back to the recipe, as i said earlier, this sambar tastes great with both veg and non-veg side dishes. Personally i like it better with fish fry or chicken fry and prefer my sambar to be a little watery/thin for non veg side dishes so usually i don't add coconut masala to this sambar.

But if you prefer sambar with coconut, do check out this sambar recipe for coconut masala and use the same in this recipe. Now let's check out how to make the flavorful chinna vengaya sambar.

Chinna Vengaya Sambar | Onion Sambar

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Toor Dal- 1/2 cup

Pearl Onion/Shallots -15

Tomato -1(small)
Green chili - 2

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Coriander leaves- few

Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste(about 1 &1/2 tsp)

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Water - to need

Oil - 1 tsp

To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal- 1/4 tsp
Red Chili - 2

Curry leaves - few

Procedure

Wash the dal and add it in a pressure cooker along with asafoetida powder and enough water. Pressure cook it for 3 whistle or until it's mushy.

Once the pressure from the cooker released naturally, open the lid and mash the dal well with the ladle and keep it aside. Soak the tamarind in a cup of water . Peel the onions, cut the tomatoes into small pieces and slit the green chilies and keep it ready.

In a kadai, heat a tsp of oil and then add the onions with a pinch of salt and saute till they are slightly transparent and then add the tomatoes and green chili.

Saute till the tomatoes are soft and then extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the kadai along with spices(turmeric, red chili ,sambar powder) and salt.

Let it comes to boil and cover the kadai with lid. Cook till the onions are soft and the raw smell of the spices are gone.

Then add the mashed dal and water to adjust the consistency, let it simmer for 5 more mins. In the mean time, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the sambar.

Flavorful and tasty onion sambar is ready.

For more curries and veggies, check out here

Notes:

Make sure to cook the dal well, it should be like smooth puree
Adjust the red chili powder as per your liking.
I have used home made sambar powder and it doesn't have much chili in it. If you're sambar powder has more spiciness, reduce the quantity as per your liking.
Tempering at the last gives more flavor to the sambar.
Instead of pearl onions, you can use shallots also.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Mullangi Sambar with Coconut | Radish Sambar | Sambar recipe

Mullangi Sambar, a delicious south indian lentil stew made with radish as main ingredient. Mullangi sambar has unique flavor and taste because of the radish added into them and it's one of the favorite sambar in our home.

Appa likes this sambar a lot compared to other sambar, so Amma makes this often for our lunch, but i didn't like this sambar when i was young because of its strong flavor. I had developed the taste for radish in recent times only, since lately, there is no turning back and i have often prepare this sambar on my own.

Recipe for this mullagai sambar is more or less similar to the mix veg sambar recipe that i had shared here with very little tweak here and there. In our home, we usually add coconut masala into the sambar, but if you don't have that habit, skip the coconut masala and add more sambar powder as per your liking. Now let's check out the recipe.

Mullangi Sambar with Coconut | Radish Sambar

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 to 3
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Toor Dal- 1/4 cup

Mullangi/Radish -1/2 cup (sliced)
Drumstick - 5 (2 inch piece)

Pearl onion - 3 nos

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Coriander leaves- few

Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste(about 1 1/2 tsp)

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp(optional)

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Water - to need.

Oil - 1 tsp

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 3 nos

Garlic pods-2(small)

Cumin seed- 1/2 tsp

Procedure

First cook the toor dal in pressure cooker along with asadoetida powder and keep it ready. Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup of water for 20 mins. Cut the radish into thin slices and tomato into cubes.

Heat the kadai with oil, add mustard and urad dal, let it splutter, then add the curry leaves. Next add the pearl onion, saute it for 1 mins, then add the radish & drumstick and saute for 2 mins.

Next add the tomatoes and tamarind juice extract from the soaked tamarind. Let it comes to boil.

Add all the spices(turmeric, chili & sambar powder) & salt. Let the veggies cook, in the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into smooth paste.

Once the veggies are well cooked, add the cooked toor dal and the coconut paste. Let it boil till the raw smell goes off. Finally add the coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Tasty Mullangi Sambar is ready.

Related : How to make Nellai Idi Sambar

Notes:

Add more or less water as per your preferred consistency of sambar.
You can skip the sambar powder too and make this sambar.
For extra flavor, add a tsp of ghee in the end .
We like drumstick in our sambar, so i have added few, but you can skip that.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Idi Sambar | Nellai Idi Sambar | Sambar recipe

Idi Sambar / Nellai Idi Sambar, a unique sambar recipe from the city Tirunelveli of Tamilnadu. Idi Sambar(இடி சாம்பார் ) has got its name because all the spices are freshly pounded using mortar & pestle and added into the sambar.

"Idi" in tamil means various things depends on the context, here it means "Pounding spices" and don't confuse this sambar with Idli sambar(இட்லி சாம்பார்) which is mostly used as tiffin sambar.

In our home, we use to make this sambar at least once in a month and we all love it so much because of its intense flavor and taste. Since this sambar is mostly made with a lot of vegetables, many people don't even prefer any side veggies for this sambar. Appalam, vathal and/or vadagam would be enough for this sambar.

Related: How to make Idli/Tiffin Sambar

As the spices are freshly pounded and add into the sambar, it stays good for hours even on hot days. Therefore, this sambar is usually made for a day trip to a temple in our family because many people don't prefer variety rice in our family, so this sambar with rice and some vadagam would be the travel food for our summer holiday temple visits.

In those days, the spices are pounded in ural & ulakkai(a traditional kitchen gadgets used for pound spices), but here in the recipe i have used mixie only for easiness and make sure that the spices are coarsely grounded to get that authentic texture and flavor of the sambar.

For this week of BM, i have chosen the theme as "Regional Cuisine", so for the next three days, i'm gonna post the regional famous dishes from "Tamilnadu". A month before also, i had chosen the same theme and really loved to make and share the less popular regional dishes, so i had picked the same theme for this month also :-). Stay tuned for more regional famous dishes and now let's see how to make this authentic nellai idi sambar.

Related: How to make Aviyal

Idi Sambar | Nellai Idi Sambar

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 4
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Toor dal - 1/3 cup
Tomato -1
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind - a goose berry size
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
To dry roast & grind
Red chili - 4 to 5
Coriander seed - 2 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Coconut - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
Garlic - 3
Pearl onion - 3 or Onion - 1/4
Curry leaves - few
To Temper
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp

Procedure

First all the veggies into medium size pieces. Add toor dal and the veggies(which takes long time to cook like potato) into the pressure cooker along with enough water and asafoetida powder. Pressure cook them for 3 whistles or until the dal is mushy.

Take all the ingredients for dry roast, first add all the spices (expect coconut,garlic and onions) in a kadai with 1/4 tsp of oil and roast till it becomes aromatic and slightly changes its color, remove from the plate and keep it aside.

In the same kadai, add the coconut,garlic and onions, roast till the coconut becomes golden in color, remove from the flame and let them cool completely. Soak the tamarind in the water for 15-20 mins.

Once the spices are cooled, put it into the blender jar and grind them into coarse powder.

In a kadai, add the extracted tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and then add the veggies like brinjal and drumstick . Let the veggies cook. In the mean time, open the pressure cooker & mash the dal and keep it ready.

Once the veggies are cooked, add the dal and turmeric powder. Give a good mix, then add the grounded spices and salt. Mix it well.

Add more or less of water as per your liking and bring into boil, then keep the flame in low and let it boil for 5 more minutes. Finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into sambar along with chopped coriander leaves. Switch off the flame.

Tasty and flavorful Nellai Idi Sambar is ready. Serve it with rice and your favorite veggies. We had it with rice, aviyal, vendakkai pachadi & mysore rasam.

Related: How to make Idi Puli Kuzhambu

Notes:

Here i have used potato,broad beans,carrot, beans, drumstick and brinjal.
Instead of adding all the veggies,you can make this sambar with any one or two veggies also.
As brinjal & drumstick are cooked really fast,I didn't pressure cook them.
If the tanginess is more in the curry, add a piece of jaggery to balance.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

White Sambar | Breakfast Sambar | Side dish for idly & dosa

White Sambar, a delicious and easy to make breakfast sambar. If you're bored of regular sambar and chutney, then definitely give a try on this sambar. It tastes amazing with both idli and dosa varieties.

Actually this is one of the side dishes that Amma used to make for dosa in our home regularly during my childhood days and i'm big fan for this sambar. I don't know whether this side dish has any particular name or if it's belong to any particular cuisine. When we (me & my brother)were little, we used to call this dish "White sambar" and that name remained the same till date in our home.

So if anyone has come across any recipe similar to this, do let me know in the comments.

This is the first dish came to my mind when i read about the theme "Flavor of India" in BM. It's so easy to make and goes well with dosa and idly. But my personal favorite is always to have it with crispy dosa.

After marriage when i tried this sambar first time and served to hubby, the first word came out of his mouth is "ethu sambar mathiriyae ella"(it doesn't taste like sambar).Yep, it doesn't taste like our regular sambar, the taste and flavor are quite unique, but it's delicious in its own way.

So don't make this recipe with the expectation of the regular sambar taste. You may be disappointed . But those who want to explore different flavors, give it a try, i'm sure that you won't be disappointed and quite surprised by its unique taste. Finally, as this sambar is very mild, we usually have it with podi/ellu podi.

Relate:How to make Ellu podi

Now let's check out on how to make this delicious white sambar.

White Sambar

Preparation Time : 30 mins for soaking | Cooking Time : 15mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Sambar | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Toor Dal - 1 tbsp
Pearl onion - 5
Tomato(small) - 1
Green Chili - 2
Garlic - 1
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Procedure

First soak the toor dal for 30-40 mins and then put it in mixie/blender jar along with coconut, cumin seed and garlic and grind into smooth paste and keep aside.

Peal and chop the pearl onion into thin slices,tomato into small pieces and slit the green chili.Heat a sauce pan with oil, add mustard & urad dal,let the mustard splutter,then add the onions,chili & curry leaves.

Saute till the onions becomes translucent and add the tomato, give a good mix.Then add the ground paste.

Now add enough water(1/2 to 3/4 cup) and salt. Bring it to boil and keep it in medium flame for 3-4 mins and switch off the flame. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Tasty & unique White Sambar is ready to serve. Quick video for white sambar recipe

Related: How to make restaurant style crispy dosa

Notes:

Don't saute the tomato till it becomes mushy,it changes the color of sambar and also it gives more tartness to the sambar.
Tomato should be soft, but not mushy.
Sesame oil gives great flavor to the sambar, so dont skip it.
Pearl onions is suitable for this sambar than the regular ones.
Once the sambar comes to boil, it tends to thick, so adjust the water as per the consistency you need.

Pages

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Kadalai Maavu / Besan

Sambar powder

Tips for beginners to make delicious kadalai maavu sambar

Kadalai Maavu Sambar

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Chinna Vengaya Sambar | Onion Sambar

Monday, July 22, 2019

Mullangi Sambar with Coconut | Radish Sambar

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Idi Sambar | Nellai Idi Sambar

Sunday, February 5, 2017

White Sambar