Padhuskitchen


Sambar Recipe-Mixed Vegetable Sambar (step by step recipe)

by 70 Comments

Sambar is a very popular dish in South Indian cuisine. It is served with steamed rice or even as a side dish for idli, dosa and pongal. Sambar with rice is one of the main courses in everyday South Indian meals.Most South Indians are experts in making sambar. This post is for beginners who have difficulty in preparing sambar. Sambar can be made with a wide variety of vegetables. Most commonly used vegetables are brinjal, drumstick, pumpkin, radish, ladiesfinger, onion etc. Today let us learn how to make mixed vegetable sambar. This recipe yields 3 -3 1/2 cups of sambar and serves 2-3 persons.

Sambar recipe-Mixed Vegetable sambar-South Indian Sambar

Mixed Vegetable Sambar Recipe

Prep time – under 20 mins
Cook time – under 20 mins
Serves -2-3

Ingredients needed

Tur dal – 1/3 cup
Tamarind – small lemon or gooseberry sized ball
Onion -1 finely chopped
Mixed Vegetables – 1 cup
Sambar powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt as required ( I used 1 tbsp rock salt – use less if using table salt)

For the seasoning

Mustard seeds -1 tsp
Hing – a generous pinch
Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli – 1
Curry leaves – few

Preparation

Soak dal in hot water for 20 minutes and pressure cook for 3 whistles.(refer to my detailed post on how to cook dal  if required.

Soak tamarind in hot water and extract 1 1/2 cups of tamarind juice and discard the pulp.

Vegetables – You can use any vegetables like beans, carrot, cauliflower, potato,brinjal, broad beans (avarakkai),  but do not add too many vegetables, then you will end up having more vegetables and very less sambar. So use just 1 cup of mixed vegetables.

I used 1/2 a carrot, 1 small potato, 2 florets cauliflower, 2 broad beans and 3-4 beans.In case, if you are using cauliflower, do not pressure cook but blanch them in hot water and add to the sambar while adding dal or paruppu.

Method 

Heat a tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds,when it splutters,add hing, red chillies, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves,  finely chopped onions and saute for a few minutes.Then add tamarind water,turmeric powder,salt needed and sambar powder.Let it boil until the raw smell of the tamarind and the sambar powder goes. Approximately it will take around 10 minutes.

sambar-1

Meant time pressure cook dal, keeping the mixed vegetables in a small container. After the raw smell of the tamarind and the sambar powder goes, add the pressure cooked vegetables to it. (See picture below)

sambar-2

Then mash the dal well with a masher and add to the sambar along with needed water.( little less than 1/2).Simmer and bring everything to a boil, until the sambar thickens a little.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.

sambar-3

Some tips for beginners 

If your sambar is sour, then you have added more tamarind.

If it has raw flavor of sambar powder or tamarind, then you did not boil the tamarind water with sambar powder well.

You can adjust the consistency of sambar by adding a little water along with dal.

For no onion no-garlic sambar/Tamil Brahmin Sambar – you can skip adding onions. For mixed vegetable sambar, after the seasoning, you can add tamarind water directly.In case if you are making ladiesfinger sambar or any other vegetable sambar, saute them in oil for a few minutes and then add tamarind water.

The taste of the sambar depends or varies according to the sambar powder used.

Hope I have made it very clear. Even beginners can try with confidence as I have measured everything for your benefit. You can call this a fool proof sambar recipe. This recipe is for 3 persons, if  you want to prepare sambar for 6 persons, multiply by 2 and follow the same procedure.

Check out more South Indian Sambar recipes from Padhuskitchen

If you have any doubts, you can always drop a comment in the comment section or contact me through the contact form. Good luck!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  20. Kumudha

    I make sambar regularly. These days I like to eat quinoa with sambar…

    Thank you so much for sharing so many vegan and vegetarian recipes, which is good for environment and our health…

    Reply

  26. Apsu

    I tried this recipe yesterday… it turned out so well that I specially came back to your post just to thank you! Thank you so much! 🙂

    Reply

  28. Vegease

    My first try at making sambar. I always eat two to three bowls at a very good Indian restaurant so I decided to try my hand. Maybe a little too much tamarind, but I will try again…delicious. Thanks for the step by step instructions

    Reply

  31. sakthi

    @Padhu,
    This is my third time I am preparing my Sambhar, and I am very satisfied with the out come. Thanks to your post.I have also referred to other posts from other websites for sambhar, but yours is the best so far I have seen. Thank you, keep writing! 🙂

    Reply

  32. Srinivasan Sampathkumar

    Superb Padhu. I just prepared it for 3 persons but unfortunately I had a an extra guest lately. You know what happened, finally I was left with nothing & had to eat curd rice. Beautiful taste & I had to prepare more next time.

    Reply

  35. Anonymous

    Thank you for this recipe. I made it, and it didn't seem to turn out well for me. I made a double recipe, and doubled all of the ingredients. I used potato, carrot, and green bean as my vegetables.

    I think there is far too much sambar powder in this recipe, and definitely too much tamarind water. If I try making it again, I will reduce both of those, and also not include the fenugreek seeds, because they add an unpleasant bitterness to the sambar.

    Thanks.

    Reply

  36. Padhu Sankar

    Indiaindiana – this recipe has been tried more than a 100 times in my house. There is hardly any chances for the recipe to go wrong. Things you have to consider
    I have written just a small lemon sized or gooseberry sized ball which is very less. I do not know how much tamarind you added. Moreover, if it is old tamarind, you have to add less as it is more tangy. New tamarind will not be that tangy.
    I have used Homemade sambar poowder which is excellent. I do not know about store bought sambar powder. I have used Aashirwad sambar powder once and it is good.
    Adding fenugreek seeds is a must for sambar- it not only adds flavor but is also very good for health. I have given only 1/2 tsp, if you do not like it, you can reduce it to 1/4.That 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds does not make the sambar bitter. I do not know where you went wrong. But I can say with 100% confidence that this is a fool proof recipe.

    Reply

  37. Anonymous

    Thank you very much for your reply, Padhu. I tried the recipe again and reduced the amounts of sambar powder and tamarind, and it was more to my and my husband's liking. (We are in north India, so sambar is not a regular part of our menu–we may like it weaker than others.)

    I ended up having the same problem of bitterness after some time, though. As soon as I finished, I tasted it and it was very good. Then after sitting about an hour, it was a bit bitter. Any ideas? It was in a steel pot, and I thought maybe it was reacting with the metal?

    Reply

  38. Padhu Sankar

    Indiaindiana – I prepare sambar 3-4 times in a week. I have never faced this problem. I think you are over roasting the fenugreek seeds. Only burnt fenugreek seeds give a bitter taste to the sambar. You can use kadai or thick bottomed stainless steel vessel or non stick cookware to prepare sambar.

    Reply

  39. thaj

    Today my wife left to India from US. I literally wanted to start cooking after 2 yrs. Thanks Padhu…End product was awesome…Made 3 mistakes…Have not followed the steps in right order so ended up spending 2 hrs completely. Sambar ready for next 2 – 3 days!!!

    Reply

  44. mikescorpio

    My wife has never let me into the Kitchen. Today, i followed the steps to make sambar as my wife is away. Yummy. my children loved it. very well explained and i followed it step by step. Now i am going to read the recipes here and try to learn some cooking.

    Reply

  46. sandhya

    Hi, thank you for this amazing recipe. Can u plz tell me which sambhar masala is good? I have options between everest, mdh and catch.
    Thanks once again.

    Reply

  51. Unknown

    Hello madam..i tried this sambar today..it tastes very good..thanks..but i kept the hot water soaked toor dal directly in cooker and placed a bowl of veg in middle of tat.veg got cooked.but dal was only half cooked.do i need to keep dal also in a bowl and pressure cook??

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      It depends upon the quality of dal. Some dal gets cooked, some do not. In that case, you can cook for more whistles and cook the vegetables separately or you can cook like me keeping a vessel inside the cooker. Dal has to be mushy and well cooked for the sambar to be tasty.

      Reply

  55. shyam

    Hi – Nice simple recipe. I am a beginner to cooking, Had a few questions, i use Tamarind paste (what is the equivalent of the lemon/ gooseberry measurement to tsp) and how much water would be needed for that?

    In the end, when the parruppu (mashed) is being added, you mention to add water (is it 1/2 cup of water? in terms of measurement). In place of red chillies, can we use red chilly powder?

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      I have not tried with tamarind paste. Try adding a tsp of tamarind paste mixed with 1 -1/2 cup of water.
      It is 1/2 cup of water. You can adjust water according to the consistency you need. You can add red chilli powder instead of red chillies.

      Reply

  59. Anand

    Hi Paddu,
    First time sambar came nice. But it did not come good last time. I cooked beans, brinjal in cooker and added to sambar. I think I took too much tamarind… How to correct it if taste is dull?
    Please help

    Reply

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