Feb

22

Sambar: Kerala-style

February 22, 2007 |

sambar.jpg

It’s uncanny how similar our tastes are, be it with regards to food, paint colours or hobbies. There’s one thing though, that divided us - until recently.

J has eaten a lot of sambar in his life, and has never met a version he didn’t like. Must be in his Tamilian genes.

B has never liked sambar. The waiters at Shivala restaurant at Victoria Terminus in Mumbai knew this. She would order idlis, no sambar, double chutney. One time, the idlis arrived drowned in sambar. She was hungry and in a hurry, so she cut each idli into little pieces, impaled them with her fork and dunked them in water to rinse off the brown sludge. After that, whenever she visited Shivala, the minute she said ‘idli’, the waiter would complete the sentence. “Double chutney, no sambar, ma’am?”

Sambar was, therefore, a rare fixture in our home. Not any more.

When B’s uncle and aunt visited from India, she started preparing sambar for them, and was distracted by a phone call. She returned to the kitchen to find a potful of prepared okra sambar. Rema aunty can make shoe leather taste nice, so B tried some. It was fantastic. For once, she didn’t feel sorry for the okra.

Like many Keralites and most of B’s family, Rema aunty doesn’t use pre-roasted podis (powders) for sambar or rasam. She roasts and grinds the spices just before adding them to the dish.
okra.jpg
What distinguishes Kerala sambar from others, we think, is the use of fresh ingredients like coconut, curry leaves, green chillies and shallots, that are ground with the other dry spices. Also, there’s no chana dal in the recipe.

B didn’t have Rema aunty’s recipe, but when she received her copy of Cooking at Home with Pedatha, she knew she was on to something. She tweaked Pedatha’s recipe to incorporate Rema aunty’s tricks, and a wonderful sambar was born. She has tried making sambar a hundred ways, and has finally found the right balance of flavours.

J’s delighted, it goes without saying.

RECIPE

Kerala-style Okra (Ladyfinger) Sambar
(serves 4)


Ingredients
½ cup split pigeon peas (toor dal)
½ tsp. turmeric
¼ cup chopped tomato
a small walnut-sized knob of tamarind
2 tablespoons fresh or dry dessicated coconut
2 tbsps. coriander seeds
3 dry red chillies
½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
10-12 lady fingers/okra
1 sliced shallot or 2 tbsps red onion
2 green chillies
½ tsp. asafoetida (hing)
12-15 curry leaves
3 tbsps. chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp. jaggery or sugar

½ tsp. brown mustard seeds
2 tsps. oil
salt to taste

Method
1. Pressure cook the toor dal with 1.5 cups of water, the tomato and the turmeric until soft - 2 or three whistles. (We usually make a triple batch and freeze it in portions for later use)

2. Add ¼ cup of water to the tamarind and microwave for 30 seconds. Let it sit for a few minutes, and extract the pulp.

3. Toast the coconut in a pan until it begins to turn golden, keep it aside. Then toast the red chillies and half the fenugreek seeds for a few seconds, and separately toast the coriander seeds until they turn just a little darker.

4. In 1 tsp. of oil, fry half the curry leaves, the green chillies and the shallot until the shallot turns a little translucent.

5. Grind the dry roasted ingredients and the shallot mixture with about 2 tbsps. water to form a smooth paste.

6. Heat the remaining (1 tsp.) oil, add the remaining fenugreek seeds and the mustard seeds. When the mustard begins to pop, add asafoetida and the remaining curry leaves, stir for a few seconds, then add the okra and cook it until it is half-done.

7. Add the tamarind pulp, salt and the ground paste, cook for a couple of minutes until the tamarind loses its raw smell.

8. Add the cooked dal, bring it to a boil, adjust the level of salt, check if the okra is cooked. Add the jaggery if you wish.
Take if off the heat, garnish with chopped coriander, and serve with rice, idlis or rotis.

All about Okra
How sambar originated

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16 Comments so far

  1. Reena on February 22, 2007 12:49 pm

    Sambar is my favourite. Piping hot Sambar in my opinion is the best soup:):). In Southern Kerala most people don’t add Coconut to Sambar just like how we don’t add curd to Aviyal.

  2. Mishmash! on February 22, 2007 2:33 pm

    Hi Bee:)Thanks for visiting my page. I went thru some of your posts and liked ur style of writing…nice pick of words with a touch of humour. Btw, Sambar holds a special place in my case (!! ?? oh yeah)coz sambar fetched me lots of appreciation from my MIL when I made it first time when she visited us ;)

    Shn

    everyone seems to love sambar, and i feel like a freak. :-) - b.

  3. Suma Gandlur on February 24, 2007 5:20 pm

    Hi Bee,
    I was under the impression that all South Indians eat sambhar. Being a South Indian vegetarian, that is the main source of protein for me. Your restaurant event reminded me my days when I used to patiently remove all the finely chopped onion pieces that my mother in law put in the sambhar. Some how it seems funny now.

    i too hate things like onions floating in my gravies. that’s why i like the idea of grinding the shallots and chillis with the spices. - bee

  4. Shammi on February 25, 2007 4:46 pm

    Bee, what a fantastic blog/website this is! I’m only sorry that I didnt visit here sooner.

    LOVE sambar… and this is a recipe I will try very soon :) will let you know the feedback (which I’m sure will be glowing) - yum, sambar…

    hey, shammi, we’re part of your fan club. great to see you here. - bee

  5. beena on February 27, 2007 3:26 pm

    thanks for the new recipe for sambar!i never used coconut in sambar,but this looks like its going to be yummy:) hot sambar and hot white soft idlies are my favorite.thanks again:)

  6. Sig on February 28, 2007 1:56 pm

    Hey Bee, This is so funny, I hate Sambar with Idlis too, I always order double chutney, but never thought about dipping the idly pieces in water though, on those rare occasions when the idlis were touching the sambar! :-D.

    But I like sambar with rice, will try out this recipe next time.

  7. Linda on March 1, 2007 8:34 pm

    Hi Bee, came in from your comment at my blog — thanks for visiting. The sambhar recipe sounds fantastic - I’m sure I’ll give this a try. No-knead bread looks wonderful too. Very nice site here — lots to read :)

  8. Kootu » jugalbandi on April 1, 2007 3:53 pm

    […] spice mix) business. The exception is the red hot idli podi which was a must with breakfast. As mentioned elsewhere, she has never seen chefs in the immediate or extended family use rasam powder or sambar powder. […]

  9. Pumpkin Chronicles » jugalbandi on April 7, 2007 7:46 pm

    […] also made Erissheri, Thuviyal (Chutney), Bread, Sambar, and shown here, Pumpkin Halwa. Recipe from […]

  10. A tale of two cookbooks » jugalbandi on April 19, 2007 5:24 am

    […] Some recipes from this book illustrated online: Vankaya Muddha Kura (Brinjal Pasty Vegetable) at The Cook’s Cottage Arati Ava Pettina Koora (Mustard flavoured Green Plantains) at Mahanandi Rasam Podi at Jugalbandi Sambar inspired by Pedatha’s recipe at Jugalbandi […]

  11. Watermelon Rind - three ways » jugalbandi on August 19, 2007 12:00 pm

    […] dishes that may work with this ingredient: Handvo Sambar […]

  12. My Continuing Discovery of Indian Cuisines « A Mad Tea Party on October 19, 2007 4:33 am

    […] While I have established (some might say - followed my tummy to) the general region of my previous birth as Dravidian India, I have not yet been able to point to the exact spot. In my early teens I already knew that Andhra and Tamil food gave me as much comfort as did my mum’s cooking. I relished the everyday-kind dal-based vegetable preparations (which I may not know by their names) served with thick short grain rice; idli smeared with fiery milagai podi was as much ambrosia as was tayir saadam. I discovered Kerala cuisine a little later – in my twenties - though it was confined to the odd fish curry, thorans and pachadis, and the exotic (to me) appams with either avial or ishtu. […]

  13. Anonymous on December 18, 2007 5:44 pm

    Hello Friends!

    Sambar flows through my veins. The best anti dote for a night of smalling ( excess drinks but within limit). Ha Ha Ha! I judge a South Indian vegetarian restaurant by the quality of its Sambhar.I told my friend who runs a restaurant in New Jersey to offer it as a hang over cure.I am fortunate that my love for sambhar is restricted to the early AM with steaming white Idlis.In fact it is theindianplayboys.com favorite dish.

    Cheers!

    Richard Wandering Menon
    New York City

  14. Sambar Powder and Paste « A Life (Time) of Cooking on January 8, 2008 1:15 pm

    […] has a post on making a Kerala-style Okra Sambar mahanandi also has an Okra Sambar and also a Shallot Sambar Spice Trail has one which also uses a […]

  15. Mallika on March 30, 2008 5:42 pm

    I’m salivating :drool: - already! Haven’t eaten saambar in ages…this is just calling out to me. I have to make this right now :drool: :drool: :drool:

  16. Anonymous on April 14, 2008 1:57 am

    hello,
    just enjoyed reading only so much and can imagine my condition when i make it!! my tummy is tickled with this recipe!

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