Sambar (Indian Lentil-based Vegetable Stew)

12 Aug Sambar (Indian Lentil-based Vegetable Stew)

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What’s the one thing you love to eat when the weather gets a little cold, maybe you’re watching some football, and you’re inching towards the winter holidays? I imagine a lot of you would answer with a nice warm bowl of chili. Don’t get me wrong, a good chili can be amazing. But, what if you’re vegetarian/vegan? Yes, there are vegan chilis out there, but they’re just not that good… I would prefer a bowl of sambar instead. Sambar is the ultimate comfort Indian food. It’s usually served as a side condiment to be eaten with dosa or vada, but I actually like it eating it on its own or with a side of rice. It’s like a savory lentil-based stew-like vegan chili but not… It’s better than chili because I find it more flavorful.

Customize your sambar however you want it

The beauty of sambar is you can put whatever vegetables you want in it. The common items among all sambar is that it has to be made with toor dal (split yellow pigeon peas) and there has to be a tomato component. And it’s great to have sambar powder on hand which brings that unique flavor. What I also love about sambar is you can make use of stuff you already have in your fridge. I happened to have a zucchini, yellow onion, some carrots, red bell pepper, and a combination of plum and yellow gold tomatoes from my garden. In a traditional recipe, you will probably find vegetable drumsticks but use what you got.

Start by cooking the dal

You can find toor dal at any Indian store (where you can also find sambar powder and other ingredients). You’ll want to cook the dal first before you start layering in your vegetables and spices. On medium high heat, boil your dal in a 4:1 ratio of water to dal for 15 minutes. Then add all of your chopped vegetables, a pinch or two of salt, some ground ginger and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Add the seasoning and the tadka

After 30 minutes of cooking, add a heaping tablespoon of sambar powder to your dal/vegetable mixture, and you’re going to let that cook for an additional 5 minutes. If you don’t have sambar powder, it’s made of a combination of cumin, chili powder, ground coriander, ground mustard seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, dry coconut and ground chana (chickpea). It’s easier to just buy the powder… After the powder has been infusing into the sambar for five minutes, take it off the heat. Sambar is interesting in that the tadka (the mustard seeds in oil tempering) comes in at the end. So heat up a small pan, add oil and cook mustard seeds until they start to blister. Then pour it into your sambar mix and stir.

It’s ready at this point

At this point, your sambar is ready to eat. As I mentioned earlier, you’ll often find it as a side condiment to dosa, vada or even idlis. But, if you don’t have time to make any of those, just eat it on it’s own. You’ll probably end up eating two bowlfuls…

Recipe

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
– 1 cup dry toor dal
– 1 zucchini
– Tomatoes (1 plum and a handful of yellow gold cherry tomatoes)
– 2 Thai chili peppers
– 1 yellow onion
– 1 red bell pepper
– 2 carrots
– 2 curry leaves
– Ginger
– 1 tablespoon Sambar powder
– Salt
– Olive oil
– Mustard seeds

1. Add 4 cups of water to 1 cup of toor dal in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes.
2. While the dal is cooking, chop up all your vegetables. After the 15 minutes, add your chopped vegetables, a couple pinches of salt, ground ginger (I usually just zest ginger straight into the pot), and cook for another 15 minutes.
3. Add a tablespoon of sambar powder to your mix. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
4. In a separate small pan, heat up 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil with mustard seeds. Once you hear the seeds start to pop, pour this tadka into the sambar and stir in.
5. Serve with a side of rice, maybe add some chopped green onion or cilantro as a garnish and enjoy!