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.

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.

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.

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. 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.



3. 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. 



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



5. In the same kadai, add ghee and splutter mustard. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. Add peeled onions.



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



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



8. Meanwhile grind the roasted spices to a coarse powder. 



9. 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.



10. 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.

Serve with hot steamed rice and potato curry the best.