Carrot Sambar Recipe-No Onion-No Garlic Carrot Sambar

Carrot sambar is very delicious and goes well with plain rice. Many wonder if it is possible to make sambar or any dish without onion and garlic and will it be palatable. In fact this sambar is very easy to prepare than the regular sambar and also tastes great. During festivals, onion and garlic are not used in cooking, so I wanted to post a sambar without onion and garlic. Today we will learn how to make carrot sambar (Tamil Iyer style) without onion and garlic following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Carrot Sambar (Iyer Style-no onion-no garlic)

Prep Time : 10 mins

Cook Time : 25 mins
Serves: 3
Recipe Category: Sambar
Recipe Cuisine: Tamil Brahmin
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Tur dal/arhar dal/tuvaram paruppu – 1/3 cup
   Turmeric powder – a pinch
   Tamarind – small gooseberry sized ball
   Sambar powder – 2 tsp
   Carrot – 3/4 – 1 cup (cut into roundels)
   Salt needed

For Seasoning

   Oil – 2 tsp
   Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
   Fenugreek seeds – 3/4 tsp
   Asafoetida/hing – a pinch
   Curry leaves – a sprig

For Garnishing

Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp

Preparation

Soak tamarind in hot water for 15-20 minutes. Extract its juice and discard the pulp. We need 2 cups of tamarind extract.

Wash, peel the skin and cut carrot into roundels.

Soak tur dal in hot water for 20 minutes.(Though soaking is not necessary, I soak it always, as now a days, some dal varieties does not get cooked properly and also it saves a lot of time and fuel). Pressure cook dal and carrot for 3 whistles, adding turmeric powder. You can keep the carrot in a small vessel along with the dal. Alternatively, you can also cook carrots separately.

Mash dal well with a masher.

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, hing and curry leaves.

Then add tamarind water, salt needed and sambar powder.

Boil on medium heat until the tamarind water reduces and the raw smell of the tamarind goes. You can see in the second picture below that the tamarind water has reduced and thickened slightly.

Add the mashed dal, carrot and 1/2-3/4 cup of water. Cook on medium heat until the sambar reaches a saucy consistency. You can adjust the consistency of sambar according to your personal preferences.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or even with idli and dosa.

Note – The only way you can go wrong is adding too much tamarind. The sambar will be tangy and sour, if you have added too much tamarind. So keep this in mind when soaking tamarind.

Check more my collection of Sambar Recipes

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