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    Home ยป PRODUCT REVIEW ยป Vengaya sambar recipe, chinna vengaya sambar

    Vengaya sambar recipe, chinna vengaya sambar

    December 7, 2017 by Raks Anand 8 Comments /

    China vengaya sambar

    Vengaya sambar is one of the most desirable dishes in Tamil cuisine. Made with just small onions (shallots/ chinna vengayam) and fresh ground sambar powder. Full video and step by step pictures recipe.
    Whenever I remember vengaya sambar, I remember the song my mom sings, but I could not find such song online. I don’t even know if it’s really there or made up my herself, still I keep singing those two lines… vengaya sambaru…vegadha soru…😁
    Though I make everyday sambar with small onions when I have stock or the tiffin sambar with potato and small onion, never thought of posting vengaya sambar in my blog. For people who make sambar without onion all the times, vengaya sambar is a big deal and its special like how arachuvitta sambar is in place of the  everyday sambar with mill ground sambar powder. But we always make sambar with onion, so only small onions is special, that too, I use small onions whenever I have stock as Vj likes his sambar with small onions.
    Only that I make with some vegetables along with small onions, so add just a hand full. Chinna vengaya sambar is made with lots of small onions and only that, no vegetables. Also freshly ground sambar powder is best for this sambar. Vengaya sambar and potato curry is a classic combo.

    SSP asafoetida

    So when S. S. Pandian & Sons, a leading manufacturer of asafoetida or hing/perungayam in India sent two of their asafoetida to try and if I liked, asked me for a honest review of their asafoetida.
    First thing as a south Indian I remembered was sambar. I love asafoetida flavour a lot. My mom uses generously in sambar and says perungayam is one of the key ingredients in sambar for being flavourful. Without even knowing the medicinal values in it, we consume everyday. Though I have a few recipes in my sambar collections, I decided to try in my vengaya sambar. It turned out really flavourful and I liked the flavour a lot. You will know the moment when you open the pack, how flavourful it is.
    The highlight of the product is, SSP hing does not have any gum arabic in it.  So the flavour is more strong comparatively. And hence the quality and price is above par in market and they have established themselves a strong trustable brand in Karnataka.

    SSP asafoetida review

    They have a wide range of asafoetida available for sale, It’s available online in Amazon. I was sent SSP Ultra powder Asafoetida (New launch on market) and SSP powder asafoetida. There are also other forms they sell such as SSP crystal asafoetida and semi paste form too. Below are the links to buy them online: (Available in both Amazon and in their website)
    SSP Powder Asafoetida
    SSP Crystal asafoetida
    SSP Ultra powder Asafoetida
    For Singapore friends, you can buy SSP asafoetida in little India Saravana stores. Do try it out to see the difference.

    Vengaya sambar recipe

    Recipe Cuisine: Indian |  Recipe Category: Breakfast
    Prep Time: 5 hrs   |  Cook time: 17 mins |  Makes: 20 | Author: Raks anand

    Click here for cup measurements

    Vengaya sambar is one of the most desirable dishes in Tamil cuisine. Made with just small onions (shallots/ chinna vengayam) and fresh ground sambar powder. Full video and step by step pictures recipe.
    Vengaya sambar recipe

    Ingredients

    Toor dal – ⅓ cup
    Small onion – 1 cup
    Tamarind – 1 tsp, packed
    Red chilli powder/ Sambar powder – ½ tsp
    Turmeric – ¼ tsp
    Jaggery – ½ tsp
    Salt -as needed
    Coriander leaves, chopped – 2 tbsp
    Roast & powder
    Ghee/ oil – 1 tsp
    Red chilli – 4
    Chana dal – 1 & ½ tsp
    Coriander seeds – 1 & ½ tsp
    Urad dal – 1 tsp
    Fenugreek seeds/ methi – ¼ tsp
    SSP Powder asafoetida – ⅛ tsp
    To temper
    Ghee – 2 tsp
    Mustard – ½ tsp
    SSP Powder asafoetida – a pinch
    Curry leaves – A sprig

    Method:

    1. First pressure cook toor dal with a cup of water for 4 whistles in medium flame. Soak tamarind in hot water to extract pulp.
    2. Meanwhile, peel onion.
    3. Once dal is cooked, mash it well and keep aside.
    4. Extract tamarind juice in a cup of water.
    5. In a kadai or heavy bottomed pan, heat a tsp of oil and add coriander seeds, red chilli, chana dal, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Roast until golden and lastly add SSP powder asafoetida and give it a roast.
    6. Remove the roasted items in a plate for cooking. In the same kadai, add ghee and splutter mustard. Add asafoetida and curry leaves.
    7. Add peeled onions and fry for a minute in medium flame or until the onion turns translucent and browned here and there.
    8. Transfer to a vessel, add tamarind extract, one more cup of water, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and bring to boil.
    9. Meanwhile grind the roasted spices to a coarse powder.
    10. Continue boiling for 4 minutes until the onions are soft and tender. Add cooked, mashed dal.
    11. Adjust water consistency and once it starts to boil again, add powdered fresh ground masala in a sprinkled way, little by little as you stir.
    12. Once again bring to boil, add jaggery. When the sambar thickens (hardly takes 2 mins), switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.

    Notes

    • Make sure of not burning the spices while roasting as it is the main thing for sambar flavour.
    • While adding the sambar powder, add in sprinkled way as mentioned, otherwise it might end up as lumps,
    • Red chilli powder or sambar powder adds nice flavour to the sambar in addition to the fresh ground sambar powder. You can skip and increase the red chilli while roasting or even add 3 slit green chillies along small onion.
    • After adding fresh ground sambar powder, the sambar will thicken soon. So make sure to adjust the consistency. This sambar is meant to be slightly thick.

    How to make chinna vengaya sambar:

    1. First pressure cook toor dal with a cup of water for 4 whistles in medium flame. Soak tamarind in hot water to extract pulp. I just keep in the cooker itself for easy extraction.
    2. vengaya-sambar-1

    3. Meanwhile, peel onion. Eliminate the hard white part on the top  and peel the skin off. Use a paring knife for easy peeling. Once dal is cooked, mash it well and keep aside. Extract tamarind juice in a cup of water.
    4. vengaya-sambar-2

    5. In a kadai or heavy bottomed pan, heat a tsp of oil and add red chilli, coriander seeds, chana dal, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. 
    6. vengaya-sambar-3

    7. Roast until golden and lastly add SSP powder asafoetida and give it a roast. Remove the roasted items in a plate for cooking.
    8. vengaya-sambar-4

    9. In the same kadai, add ghee and splutter mustard. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. Add peeled onions.
    10. vengaya-sambar-5

    11. Fry for a minute in medium flame or until the onion turns translucent and browned here and there.Transfer to a vessel, 
    12. vengaya-sambar-6

    13. Add tamarind extract, one more cup of water, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and bring to boil.
    14. vengaya-sambar-7

    15. Meanwhile grind the roasted spices to a coarse powder. 
    16. vengaya-sambar-8

    17. Continue boiling for 4 minutes until the onions are soft and tender. Add cooked, mashed dal. Adjust water consistency and once it starts to boil again, add jaggery.
    18. vengaya-sambar-9

    19. Add powdered fresh ground masala in a sprinkled way, little by little as you stir. Once again bring to boil. When the sambar thickens (hardly takes 2 mins), switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.
    20. vengaya-sambar-10

    Serve with hot steamed rice and potato curry the best.
    small-onion-sambar-recipe
    Disclaimer: This is a paid post but the review is not influenced, it’s my honest review about the product.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. laxmi

      December 07, 2017 at 12:02 pm

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OjhwF0Lb8k Please see if this is the song you are looking for

      Reply
    2. Raks Kitchen

      December 07, 2017 at 12:26 pm

      Exactly, thanks a lot, I tried searching, I didn't get… this is the one ๐Ÿ™‚ But totally different tune we sing! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Reply
    3. Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi

      December 07, 2017 at 2:22 pm

      Love this Sambar. will try this soon

      Reply
    4. Darsh Deepak

      December 12, 2017 at 1:32 am

      Hi akka in sambar powder v should add cumin or not ? Pls help

      Reply
    5. Raks Kitchen

      December 12, 2017 at 1:39 am

      If you like, you can add 1/2 tsp. I don't add all the times, but sometimes

      Reply
    6. Prema Sridharan

      July 11, 2018 at 1:11 am

      Hi Raksha! Thanks for your recipes… this onion sambar is good. I just have a small doubt. In the list of ingredients you have mentioned coriander seeds but nowhere else have you incorporated them in the sambar. Is this just a slip? Please clarify thanks!

      Reply
    7. Raks Kitchen

      July 11, 2018 at 1:22 am

      Apologies, the first thing to add to roast is coriander seeds. Updated now.

      Reply
    8. Anuradha

      December 13, 2020 at 11:43 am

      More than the recipe the song mentioned in your writeup made me emotional and nostalgic. My all time favourite is Vengaya sambhar Saddam.
      Thank you for posting
      “Panneer pushpangal” is the film name and it is a hit movie of 80’s

      Reply

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