• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Padhuskitchen


  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • VIDEOS
  • USEFUL TIPS
  • TESTIMONIALS
  • FESTIVAL RECIPES
    • Avani Avittam
    • Pongal Festival
    • Vinayaka Chaturthi
    • Thiruvathirai
    • Navratri Recipes-Navratri Sundal Recipes
    • Varalakshmi Vratham
    • Karadaiyan Nombu
    • Tamil New Year
    • Adi Perukku
    • Krishna Jayanthi
    • Diwali
    • Karthigai Deepam
    • Christmas
    • Onam
  • CONTACT
  • Side Dish For Chapati

Onion Sambar Recipe-Vengaya Sambar-Arachuvitta Onion Sambar

January 19, 2014 by PadhuSankar 28 Comments

Onion Sambar is a very popular South Indian sambar. It goes well with rice and most South Indian tiffen (breakfast) items like idli, dosa, vada, pongal, upma etc. It is one of my family’s favorite sambar. Onion sambar and potato roast are made for each other. If you have not tried this combination, I recommend that you try and enjoy it. You can prepare this sambar with small onions/pearl onion or big onions. It taste heavenly whichever onion you use. Today we will learn how to make Onion arachu vitta sambar following this easy recipe.

Onion Sambar
Onion sambar with potato roast

How to make Onion Sambar

Prep time -under 15 mins
Cook time -under 30 mins
Yields – 3 -3 1/2 cups of sambar

Ingredients needed

Pearl Onions -1/2 cup (cut it into 2 if they are big)
Tur dal – 1/3 cup
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Tamarind – small gooseberry sized ball
Salt -1 tbsp flat rock salt (use less if  using table salt or iodized salt)

For the paste

Oil – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 2 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram dal/ channa dal/kadalai paruppu – 1 1/2 tsp
Red chillies -4
Raw rice – 1 tsp
Grated Coconut -2 1/2 tbsp

For the seasoning

Oil – 2 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves – few

Preparation

First we will keep the main things ready for the sambar – 1.Cooked dal  2. Tamarind water 3. Ground paste

1.Soak tur dal in hot water for 15 minutes. By doing this, the tur dal will get cooked well and also faster. You can save fuel and time. Pressure cook tur dal with water (just enough to soak the dal) and a pinch of turmeric powder for 3 whistles. Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker, mash the dal well and keep it aside. 

2. Soak tamarind in 1 1/4 cup of hot water for 15-20 minutes. Extract tamarind juice and discard the pulp. We need 1 – 1 1/4 cup of tamarind water. Tips -Just soak a small gooseberry or marble sized ball. If you take too much tamarind, the sambar will be sour and will not taste good.
3. Heat a tsp of oil, add coriander seeds, channa dal, red chillies and raw rice. Saute until dal turns golden brown. Switch off the flame, add grated coconut and saute the coconut in the heat of the pan itself. Leave it to cool. Grind it to a smooth paste adding little water.

So now all the 3 things are kept ready. We will start preparing the Arachu vitta onion sambar.

Method

Heat oil in a kadai/ pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, saute for a second and add onions and curry leaves.

preparation for making onion sambar

Saute the onions on medium flame until they turn translucent. Then add tamarind water, a pinch of turmeric powder and salt.

sauteing onions
Cook on medium flame until  it reduces a little and the raw flavor of the tamarind goes. (compare the picture above and below- can you see the tamarind water has reduced now)

At this stage, add the ground paste and the cooked dal. (See how the dal is cooked. Dal has to be mushy).

vengaya sambar

Add approximately 1 -1 1/4 cup of water and cook on medium low flame until the sambar thickens slightly. The sambar should not be too thick nor too thin, so adjust the quantity of water accordingly. (If you are preparing sambar for idli, dosa, it should be thin, if it is for rice, it should be a little thick). I made it for rice.

how to make onion arachuvitta sambar

Once it thickens, switch off the flame and  garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with hot steamed rice and potato roast. It will take your taste buds on a trip to heaven.

You can serve with any vegetable curry but personally we love onion arachuvitta sambar with potato roast.

Note – you can use any onions.(big ones or shallots). If using big onions, thinly slice lengthwise.

Raw rice is used for thickening.

Suppose if you do not want to prepare arachu vitta sambar but want plain onion sambar, you need not prepare the paste. Instead you should add 2 tsp sambar powder along with salt to the tamarind water and boil the tamarind water. Once the raw flavor goes, add dal, needed water and cook. That’s it. But I strongly recommend preparing arachu vitta sambar with onions.

If you want to keep the sambar for dinner also, reheat the sambar after 3-4 hours of preparing. In that case, it will not get spoiled.

Check out more South Indian Sambar Recipes 

Don’t forget to hit the +1, Share button, Tweet button, Pin it button, if you like the post. You can follow us on Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook  and Subscribe to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Related posts:

Peerkangai Chutney for Idli-Dosa-Ridge Gourd Chutney Recipe
Ghee Rice-How to make Ghee rice-Ghee Rice recipe
Pepper Kuzhambu (milagu kuzhambu)
Easy Guacamole Recipe-How to make Guacamole

Filed Under: Sambar varieties, Side dish, Side Dish For Idli Dosa, Uncategorized Tagged With: Dal, South Indian recipes, Tamil Brahmin recipes, Uncategorized




Previous Post: « Soya Chunks Kuzhambu-Meal Maker Masala Kulambu Recipe-Kuzhambu Recipes
Next Post: Schezwan Fried Rice Recipe-How to make Veg Schezwan Fried Rice »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dobby

    January 19, 2014 at 8:59 am

    lovely as usual padhu πŸ™‚

    Reply
  2. Hamaree Rasoi

    January 19, 2014 at 9:10 am

    Delicious and lovely looking sambar. Excellent preparation.
    Deepa

    Reply
  3. CREATIVE MIND

    January 19, 2014 at 10:58 am

    yum yum yummy!!!

    Reply
  4. Rani Acharyulu

    January 19, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    Delicious Sambar looks so tempting.

    Reply
  5. nandoos Kitchen

    January 19, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    Yummy delicious sambar.

    Reply
  6. Jesi Daniel

    January 21, 2014 at 4:00 pm

    Nice Sambhar

    Reply
  7. Priyadarshini Shivakumar

    March 6, 2014 at 4:50 am

    Yummy sambhar!! Tried it out came out perfect:)

    Reply
  8. Aravind V

    April 25, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    Hi, can we also add tomatoes before putting onions?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      April 29, 2014 at 6:40 am

      If needed, you can add 1 small tomato after sauteing the onions well- not before that.

      Reply
  9. Shashi

    May 17, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    Padhu – I am a North Indian but a big big fan of South Indian cuisine. Love your recipes, they turn out great in my kitchen!

    Reply
  10. Vidhya Anand

    June 20, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    Hi, Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. Tried it today and was absolutely delicious !

    Reply
  11. Prabakaran R Prabakaran

    June 24, 2014 at 7:17 am

    heavenly for old people like me who are starved of tasty food . Thank you

    Reply
  12. Sparksmile

    August 19, 2014 at 11:40 am

    Love this sambhar. . Thank you b for sharing the recipe. ..

    Reply
  13. rajushank

    September 3, 2014 at 4:23 am

    Thanks for the recipe! I am doing this today, only difference is I am adding half a tomato.

    Reply
  14. Ruchi

    September 30, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    yummy recipe. can you also post recipe for potato roast that you mentioned here? could not find it on your blog. thanks.

    Reply
  15. Vaishnavi

    January 8, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    Hi Padhu,

    Your sambhar recipes have become the "go-to" recipes in my kitchen. They never fail to draw praise πŸ™‚ I have a doubt; I don't get pearl onions where I live so can I replace them with shallots?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      January 9, 2015 at 6:22 am

      Yes, you can use shallots.

      Reply
  16. rajushank

    April 18, 2015 at 7:42 pm

    Tried this recipe it came out lovely. I also added half a tomato and some drumstick pieces.

    Reply
  17. shreeks

    March 10, 2016 at 8:40 am

    I add a few fried pearl onions to the paste…adds a good flavour! Thnx very much

    Reply
  18. Uthra :)

    April 13, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    Looks yummmy! Can we add drumstick to this recipe or would it spoil the taste?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      April 14, 2016 at 8:18 am

      You can add if you want. Not a problem.

      Reply
  19. vidhya

    April 17, 2016 at 9:43 am

    Hi padhu..am new to this place and likes ur posting..you are rocking..

    Reply
  20. Unknown

    October 6, 2016 at 10:29 am

    Your recipes have always been very helpful.. Truly a guide for the beginners.. Thanks a ton..!!

    Reply
  21. harini rao

    March 25, 2018 at 4:58 am

    Yummy!!! Made this today for Pongal.. i love freshly ground masala for sambars as opposed to readymade..

    Reply
  22. Unknown

    August 8, 2018 at 7:47 am

    Can we use any vegetables along with that

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      August 9, 2018 at 8:59 am

      Of course, you can add other vegetables also. With onions alone the taste is different.

      Reply
  23. Srinivasan Rajagopal

    August 13, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    I was thinking that Arachu vitta sambar is very complicated. But today I just tried these instructions exactly. Surprisingly, it came out very well and tasted great. Thanks

    Reply
  24. Lena

    November 16, 2018 at 5:59 am

    Thank you for this wondeful reciepe. I cooked sambar for the first time. It came out very well. It taste really heavently!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About the Author

Meet Padhu, the Chef, the photographer, recipe developer and web designer behind Padhuskitchen which features Simple Indian Vegetarian recipes, healthy recipes, kids friendly recipes, Indian festival recipes, traditional South Indian Vegetarian ...

Read More

Padhuskitchen Recipes on YouTube

Padhuskitchen Youtube

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

Browse by Cuisines

Kerala Recipes
Punjabi Recipes
Andhra Recipes
Gujarathi Recipes
Maharashtrian
Tamil Brahmin Recipes
Karnataka
International
Indo Chinese Recipes

Browse by Categories






Recent Posts

  • Ragi Masala Dosa-Finger Millet Masala Dosa Recipe-Kelvaragu Masala Dosai
  • Girmit Recipe-North Karnataka Style Masala Spicy Puffed Rice Chaat
  • Poha Sweet Snack-Breakfast-Kerala Aval Vilayichathu-Sweetened Rice Flakes
  • Kuska Biryani-Kuska Rice-How to Make Biryani without Vegetables or Meat
  • Soft Poha Idli-Aval Idli Recipe-Instant Beaten Rice Idli

Baby Recipes

Baby Recipes

https://youtu.be/ObMz4uI5zUc

Copyright © 2023 Padhuskitchen