Cluster beans sambar with step by step photos for easy understanding to beginners. With tips and tricks to learn south Indian sambar.
We always make sambar with cluster beans/ kothavarangai. Make poriyal next to it and very rarely paruppu usili. Only cluster beans south Indian recipe, though I love to try a subji.
🥘 Ingredients
Cluster beans is known as kothavarangai in Tamil. It is widely made as sambar, poriyal, poricha kuzhambu, usili and even added in Tamil Nadu style aviyal.
It's always good to cook young, tender cluster beans rather than the old ones. Young as well as tender ones gives best flavor, texture and taste.
Tamarind - Use new/ fresh tamarind (pudhu puli) as it is sweet and less tangy perfect for any sambar as well as it gives the right color. Where as the old tamarind is darker in color and it's tangier. It will be perfect for kuzhambu varieties.
📖 Variations
My mom makes this kothavarangai sambar by sauteeing the vegetable first in oil and then boiling it, discarding the water (says its pitham) and proceed with sambar.
It will be yummy, but MIL makes it as such boiling directly, I have no complains about that too. So I follow MIL’s method as Vj likes it that way. He is a big fan of cluster beans sambar, just contrast to my FIL, he hates it.
This is a simple recipe, but when I made I thought I will click and post here in my blog for beginners.
💭 Top tip
- Using ghee for tempering gives best flavor for sambar.
- Adding ½ teaspoon jaggery enhances and balances the taste.
- While choosing toor dal, choose one that is not polished. It will have a powdery coated look rather than shiny. These are healthier and vegetarian friendly.
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Recipe card
Cluster beans sambar recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cluster beans cut into 2 inch pieces, measure heaped
- ½ cup Toor dal
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tomato
- 1 teaspoon Tamarind
- 2 teaspoon Sambar powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 pinch Asafoetida
- Salt
- 4 Curry leaves
To temper
- 2 teaspoon Oil/ Ghee
- ½ teaspoon Mustard
- ¼ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds / vendhayam - ¼ tsp
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 Pinch Asafoetida Generous
- 1 Sprig Curry leaves
Instructions
- Pressure cook toor dal with a drop of sesame oil, one red chilli (optional added to cook it easily) with 1 & ¼ cup of water for 4 whistles.
- Soak tamarind in hot water for 30 mins and extract the juice, keep aside.
- Chop onion (I used small onions, so just peeled and used it) in to cubes and tomato too.
- Boil cluster beans with little salt in two cups of water.
- Once done, add the tamarind extract and required salt.
- Temper the items given under ‘To temper’ table, add onion fry till transparent, add tomatoes fry until soft and add this to the boiling cluster beans.
- Add turmeric, sambar powder, asafoetida and mix well.
- Once it boils well, add cooked dal, mashed well. Bring to boil.
- Adjust water consistency and boil until the sambar is thick enough.
- As it cools it will thicken, so switch off accordingly. Add few curry leaves torn and mix well.
Notes
- If there is lots of water in cooked dal, drain it before mashing it to make it easy.
- Tomato can be skipped.
- Tempering with ghee gives nice flavor.
- Cluster beans takes long time to cook. Cook it covered with a pinch of sugar if you need to retain the green.
Stepwise photos
1. Pressure cook toor dal with a drop of sesame oil, one red chilli (optional added to cook it easily) with 1 & ¼ cup of water for 4 whistles. Soak tamarind in hot water for 30 mins and extracts the juice, keep aside. Chop onion (I used small onions, so just peeled and used it) in to cubes and tomato too.
2. Boil cluster beans with little salt in two cups of water. Once done, add the tamarind extract and required salt.
3. Temper the items given under ‘To temper’ table, add onion fry till transparent, add tomatoes fry until soft and add this to the boiling cluster beans. Add turmeric, sambar powder, asafoetida and mix well.
4. Once it boils well, add cooked dal, mashed well. Bring to boil. Adjust water consistency and boil until the sambar is thick enough. As it cools it will thicken, so switch off accordingly. Add few curry leaves torn and mix well.
Serve with hot rice and poriyal/ kootu/ curry. We love it with a dollop of ghee.
Babitha costa
Hai raji,u have not added cluster beans in the ingredients,pls check
Raks anand
Yes, missed it, updated now 🙂 Thanks
Hamaree Rasoi
Sambar looks simply delicious and mouthwatering.
Deepa
subasri gautham
V can pressure cook the vegetables or v have to boil it in pan.. if pressure cooking there will be any change in taste
Raks anand
You can pressure cook too since boiling takes long time., no change if cooked just right.
Kaajal
Do we need to discard the cluster beans water in which we boil it?
Raks Anand
Yes that's what we do. You can also steam if you are worried about nutrients.