Vendakkai sambar recipe | Basic sambar
Vendakkai sambar recipe, Ladies finger sambar - Basic south Indian sambar recipe as we do in Tamil nadu. Sambar is an everyday staple for Tamil lunch menu.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- ½ cup Toor dal Thuvaram paruppu
- 1 .25 cups Water for dal
- 1 tablespoon Tamarind tightly packed
- 12 Ladies finger
- 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
- 2.25 Water for sambar
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tomato optional
- 4 Green chilli
- 1 teaspoon Sambar powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- Curry leaves - Few
- ⅛ teaspoon Asafoetida
- Salt
To temper
- 2 teaspoon Oil or ghee
- ½ teaspoon Mustard
- ½ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds vendayam
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
- 1 Curry leaves sprig
Instructions
- Soak tamarind in hot water.
- Pressure cook dal with water for 4 whistles.
- Clean and pat dry ladies finger with a clean kitchen towel. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
- Cube onion, tomato (if adding) and slit green chillies.
- Heat kadai and add the cut ladies finger and fry with sesame oil, until black spots appear over its ridges and the slimy thing disappears.
- Add more oil if needed. Fry in medium flame, stir occasionally in between to avoid burning.
- Once done, keep that aside and add oil or ghee for tempering. Add mustard, after splutter, add fenugreek seeds followed by jeera.
- Sprinkle asafoetida and then curry leaves. Add onion, fry till transparent and then add green chilli.
- Tip in tomatoes (If adding) and fry for a minute.
- Transfer to a vessel in which you are going to prepare/ boil sambar.
- Meanwhile, you can extract tamarind juice and add water so that the tamarind juice is 2 and ¼ cups.
- Bring to boil, add fried ladies finger.
- Add turmeric, sambar powder, asafoetida and salt.
- Boil until the ladies finger gets cooked. Roughly mash the cooked dal with a ladle.
- Add dal to the boiling sambar and boil for 2 minutes or until the required consistency arrives.
- Lastly tear some fresh curry leaves and mix.
Video
Notes
- Using white variety tamarind (pudhu puli) is recommended for sambar as its not too tangy and has a mild sweetness.
- My mom ads a pinch of jaggery for everyday sambar, which enhances the taste.
- Adding asafoetida at two stages gives more flavour, but you can use just for tempering alone.
- Sambar mainly depends on the asafoetida flavour, so be generous adding it.
- Adding ghee to sambar adds more taste and flavour to the sambar.
- Sambar gets slightly thick when cooled down, so switch off the flame accordingly.
- Sesame oil is helpful to remove the slimy thing in the ladies finger also its good for health.