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    Home » Recipes » Sambar Recipes

    Cluster beans sambar recipe | Kothavarangai sambar

    February 15, 2015 by Raks Anand 7 Comments / Jump to Recipe

    Cluster beans sambar with step by step photos for easy understanding to beginners. With tips and tricks to learn south Indian sambar.

    cluster beans 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.

    Related posts

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    • Avarakkai sambar
    • Chow chow sambar
    • Vendakkai sambar

    Goes well with

    • Pudalangai poriyal
    • Vendakkai poriyal
    • Kathirikkai poriyal

    Recipe card

    cluster beans sambar
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    Cluster beans sambar recipe

    Cluster beans sambar with step by step photos for easy understanding to beginners. With tips and tricks to learn south Indian sambar.
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Indian
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 25 minutes
    Servings 6
    Cup measurements

    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
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    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.
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    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.

    cook

    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.

    saute

    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.

    add cooked dal

    Serve with hot rice and poriyal/ kootu/ curry. We love it with a dollop of ghee.

    cluster beans sambar

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      Vengaya sambar recipe, chinna vengaya sambar
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Babitha costa

      February 15, 2015 at 7:36 am

      Hai raji,u have not added cluster beans in the ingredients,pls check

      Reply
    2. Raks anand

      February 15, 2015 at 10:32 am

      Yes, missed it, updated now 🙂 Thanks

      Reply
    3. Hamaree Rasoi

      February 16, 2015 at 3:36 am

      Sambar looks simply delicious and mouthwatering.
      Deepa

      Reply
    4. subasri gautham

      January 05, 2017 at 1:39 pm

      V can pressure cook the vegetables or v have to boil it in pan.. if pressure cooking there will be any change in taste

      Reply
    5. Raks anand

      January 05, 2017 at 2:08 pm

      You can pressure cook too since boiling takes long time., no change if cooked just right.

      Reply
    6. Kaajal

      September 12, 2022 at 4:48 pm

      Do we need to discard the cluster beans water in which we boil it?

      Reply
      • Raks Anand

        September 15, 2022 at 12:46 pm

        Yes that's what we do. You can also steam if you are worried about nutrients.

        Reply

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    Raks anand

    Hi, I'm Rajeswari Vijayanand! I am the person behind Rakskitchen, sharing recipes with pictures & videos.

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