What is so special about Arachuvitta Saambaar you may ask 🙂 For me this Saambaar takes me back to my childhood days..Amma generally won’t make this Saambar often..It is prepared mostly on Sunday that too twice a month or whenever Appa is at home. He was working in a different city from where we lived and visits us depending on his work schedule..Sundays used to be a feast day for us..There will definitely be this Sambar, Potato kari,Keerai koottu and a dabba full of Appalam,Vadaam 😋😋 It is always direct lunch on those days, watching Captain Vyom,Chandrakantha etc in DD and eating plate of carbs without any guilt or regret 😊 I mean who even categorized the food we ate as Carbs,Proteins,Fats etc few years back. Food was all about comfort for us and it was all about satisying one’s soul.
Also Arachuvitta Saambar was prepared on all special occasions, when there were guests at home and after marriage whenever we visit Amma’s house she prepares this trademark Sambar of hers along with S’s favorite Kesari and Vadai.
The combination of Drumstick+Small Onion+Fresh roasted Coriander Coconut masala adds so much flavor to this dish. சும்மா அப்டியே உள்ள சாதம் இரங்கும் 🙂 It took few trails to perfect this Sambar Recipe for me. The following measurement serves 4 people.
I miss namma ooru chinna vengayam & murungakai.. When you saute them in oil itself the whole house will be filled with an aroma 😊 This pic was taken few years ago from my kitchen in chennai.
You can use any combination of veggies of your choice. White Pumpkin, Yellow Pumpkin Radish, White Onion, Carrot, Beans, Potato,ChowChow,Sweet Potato etc. If you are adding Capsicum & Tomato to Sambar then make sure you use little less Tamarind Water than mentioned in the post so that the sambar doesn’t end up being too tangy
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 35 minutes |
| Servings |
people
|
- 1 cup toor dal
- 1 Small Lemon Size Tamarind
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 onion if you have shallots substitute large onion with 10 shallots
- 1 carrot
- 5 Beans
- 1 potato
- 5 Snowpeas
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Hing
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon urad dal
- 1/2 teaspoon Jeera Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Sambar powder if you don't have homemade or store bought sambar powder with you then add 3 dried red chillies,1/2 tsp jeera and 1/2 tsp blackpeppercorns along with other ingredients mentioned under 'To Roast and Grind' section. Use the paste to make Sambar
- Few Coriander Leaves for garnishing
- 2 teaspoon Channa Dal
- 1/2 teaspoon Methi/Fenugreek Seeds
- 1/4 cup coconut fresh or desiccated
- 1/4 cup Coriander Seeds
Ingredients
To Roast and Grind
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|
- Soak Tamarind in 1.5 cups of warm water for 15 minutes
- Extract the pulp and filter impurities
- Soak Toor Dal in warm water for 10 minutes. I usually soak my daals before pressure cooking. It takes less time to cook.
- Pressure Cook Dal with a pinch of turmeric powder for 5-6 whistles or until the Dal is cooked well
- Heat oil in a pan and add mustard,jeera and urad dal. Let them splutter
- Add the chopped veggies
- Saute for one or two minutes and then add 1 cup plain water, a pinch of salt and turmeric
- Close the pan with a lid and let the veggies get cooked for 5 minutes
- In the meantime lets roast the fresh masala. Heat oil in a pan and add channa dal. Let it brown
- Add fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and add coconut
- Saute everything together for 2 minutes. Let it get cooled down
- Now add 1.5 cups of tamarind water to the veggie mixture
- Add Sambar powder and let the whole mixture boil for 10 minutes
- Now add the ground coconut paste. Mix well
- Add the cup of mashed and pressure cooked Toor Dal to the pan
- Mix everything well
- Add 1 cup of plain water, a pinch of salt and hing
- Adjust salt. Add a pinch of jaggery if you want 🙂 Lower the flame and let Saambar boil for another 5 minutes
- Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve it hot with Rice or Idli/Dosai
- It feels so good to update this old post with new pictures & with even better instructions (26/May/2020).. Prepared spinach koottu, broccoli chickpeas poriyal today and served the rice with this delicious Arachuvitta Saambar
- Always love to hear feedback from you. In case if you try the recipe do let me know through comments or message in instagram 🙂
This is my Amma's homemade saambaar powder. *touchwood* she has been preparing this Powder for me after marriage until now. I want this tradition to continue forever.. Whenever the batch is about to get over she promptly sends me a new batch of fresh powder.I make my own Rasam Powder, Idli Powder and other spice powders but somehow i feel nothing matches her proportion and her magic. She uses fresh turmeric, toor dal, methi seeds,jeera seeds, black pepper powder, dried red chillies, coriander seeds to prepare this. She usually sundries them and grind it in a local FlourMill. Shall update the exact proportions soon.
Homemade Saambaar Powder