Capsicum sambar with colorful capsicums added to the south Indian gravy for rice, sambar.

I always love this tri color capsicum we get in Mustafa in the name of traffic light capsicum. Use it for capsicum vegetable pulao, paneer tikka, pizzas, chilli paneer or even add in veg makhani at times.
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I have seen different shaped capsicum in India, which are desi and packed with flavor. These capsicum we get in Singapore are more beautiful by its looks. These are from Malaysia.
I have never made sambar with capsicum. In fact once added to sambar when my MIL came here, but with some other vegetable, we added along.
The capsicum flavor was dominating and we thought it was not a good idea to add capsicum to sambar. But once when Jeyashri gave me sambar, I loved it so much as I could relate it to brinjal sambar’s flavor somehow.
As I am brinjal fan, I loved this capsicum sambar too. I got this capsicum last week and wanted to make sambar with this colorful capsicums.
Recipe card
Capsicum sambar recipe
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Toor dal
- 2 teaspoon Tamarind packed
- 1 Onion cubed
- 1 Tomato cubed
- ¾ cup Capsicum cubed
- 1.5 teaspoon Sambar powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- Salt
- 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves
- 4 Curry leaves
To temper
- 1 teaspoon Ghee or oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard
- ¾ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
- 1 Red chilli
- 1 Curry leaves sprig
Instructions
- Pressure cook toor dal with 1 & ¼ cup water.⅓ cup Toor dal
- I keep tamarind also inside dal in a small bowl for easy extraction of juice.2 teaspoon Tamarind
- Once done, extract tamarind juice with a cup of water. Mash dal well.
- In a kadai, heat ghee or oil and temper first with asafoetida, mustard, red chilli, cumin and curry leaves.½ teaspoon Mustard, ¾ teaspoon Cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, 1 Red chilli, 1 Curry leaves sprig, 1 teaspoon Ghee
- Add cubed onion and give it a fry.1 Onion
- In goes cubed capsicum along with tomato. Stir fry for a minute.1 Tomato, ¾ cup Capsicum
- Add tamarind juice, sambar powder, salt, turmeric2 teaspoon Tamarind, 1.5 teaspoon Sambar powder, Salt, ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- Mix well and bring to boil.
- Add mashed dal, adjust water consistency and boil until the thick sambar consistency reaches.
- Switch off the flame. Garnish with few curry leaves and coriander leaves.4 Curry leaves, 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have sambar powder, you can roast ¼ teaspoon methi, 4 red chillies, 1 tablespoon chana dal, ½ teaspoon urad dal, 1 & ½ teaspoon coriander seeds and little asafoetida in few drops of ghee or oil. Powder and use.
- Or, simply use 1 teaspoon red chilli powder 1 teaspoon coriander seeds powder
Stepwise pictures
1. Pressure cook toor dal with 1 & ¼ cup water. I keep tamarind also inside dal in a small bowl for easy extraction of juice. Once done, extract tamarind juice with a cup of water. Mash dal well.
2. In a kadai, heat ghee or oil and temper first with asafoetida, mustard, red chilli, cumin and curry leaves. Add cubed onion and give it a fry.
3. Add cubed capsicum along with tomato. Stir fry for a minute.
4. Add tamarind juice, sambar powder, salt, turmeric
5. Mix well and bring to boil.
6. Add mashed dal, adjust water consistency and boil until the thick sambar consistency reaches. Switch off the flame. Garnish with few curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Serve with hot rice with a vegetable side dish like poriyal or curry.
Abhirami Lakshmanan
Wow..looking delicious Raji! Bookmarked!:) 🙂
Abhirami Lakshmanan
Wow..looking delicious Raji! Bookmarked!:) 🙂
Raks anand
Thank you 🙂
jeyashri suresh
Wow you still remember the capsicum sambar. One of my fav, but never tried with tricolour capsicum. Vibrant pictures.
Sruthi Sudharshan
Tried this recipe today, very tasty.