Sambar

Pigeon peas and a tamarind broth, with the vegetables cooked in it rather than beside it.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 200 g toor dal, pigeon peas
• 3 tablespoons tamarind paste
• 1 drumstick, in 6 cm lengths
• 1 aubergine, in chunks
• 150 g pumpkin, in chunks
• 100 g okra, trimmed
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 12 shallots, peeled
• 3 tablespoons sambar powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 15 curry leaves
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1.2 litres water

Method

1. PIGEON PEAS AND A TAMARIND BROTH, WITH THE VEGETABLES COOKED IN IT RATHER THAN BESIDE IT. Its article is exact in its first sentence: a lentil-based VEGETABLE spiced curry or stew, cooked with PIGEON PEAS and TAMARIND BROTH. Three things, and the order matters. The pigeon peas are cooked to a puree and become the body; the tamarind is the liquid rather than a seasoning added to it; and the vegetables cook IN that, taking it up, rather than being boiled and dressed. A sambar where the vegetables were cooked separately tastes of vegetables in a lentil sauce.
2. THE DAL IS COOKED TO NOTHING FIRST. Toor dal boiled with the turmeric until it collapses completely and can be whisked smooth -- forty minutes, or fifteen under pressure. Anything short of collapse leaves it grainy.
3. THE TAMARIND BROTH IS MADE AND BOILED BEFORE THE VEGETABLES GO IN. Paste in the water, brought to a boil for five minutes. Raw tamarind has a flat, metallic taste that ten minutes of boiling removes.
4. THE VEGETABLES GO IN BY HOW LONG THEY TAKE. Drumstick and shallots first, then pumpkin, then aubergine, then okra and tomato for the last five minutes. All in at once gives collapsed okra and raw drumstick.
5. THE OKRA IS ADDED LAST AND NOT STIRRED MUCH. Stirred about in liquid it turns the whole pot ropy.
6. THE DAL GOES IN AFTER THE VEGETABLES ARE COOKED, NOT BEFORE. A thick dal in the pot from the start scorches underneath and stops the vegetables softening.
7. THE SAMBAR POWDER GOES IN WITH THE DAL AND THEN SIMMERS TEN MINUTES. Long enough to lose its raw edge, short enough to keep the aroma.
8. THE TEMPERING IS POURED OVER AT THE VERY END. Mustard seeds popped in coconut oil with the curry leaves, dried chillies and asafoetida, straight into the pot and the lid on for a minute.
9. ITS ARTICLE NAMES WHAT IT GOES WITH. Dosa, as on its own page, or Idli, as on its own page, or mixed into rice and eaten on its own.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes