Homemade Sambar Powder

Sambar is my ULTIMATE comfort food (if I have to pick just one dish out of all dishes in the world as my favorite, I will pick sambar); sambar is also the most favorite dish for my wife and son.

At our home, we eat sambar at least 4 days in a week, and still crave for more. If it happens that we go without sambar even for couple of days, we feel like we did not have sambar for ages, and I immediately jump in and make a huge pot of sambar again. Being a South Indian, and that too a Tamilian, what else do you expect? Sambar is nutritionally superior too as it has got dal (protein), vegetables, good blend of spices offering various health benefits in addition to immensely satisfying your palate.

Do you know sambar originated in Thanjavur, my hometown?

As per sources from the Thanjavur Tamil University library, sambar originated in the royal kitchen of King Shahaji Bhonsle (1684 to 1711 CE), son of Ekoji, founder of the Maratha rule in Thanjavur and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s step-brother. Shahaji’s greatest contribution was to architecture and literature, but he enjoyed dabbling in cooking too. On one occasion, he was craving for the famous Maharashtrian Amti dal made using kokum. Kokum is a plant belonging to the Mangosteen family from the Western ghats coastline. Its outer cover is dried (and sometimes powdered) and used as a souring agent in the dal. But kokum was out of supply on that day and so Shahaji substituted it with the locally available tamarind, and the combination of lentils, vegetables, spices and tamarind was a great success. That dish was first served to Shahaji’s cousin Sambha or Sambhaji (Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son) who was visiting the royal palace on that day and was named “Sambhache ahar” (Sambha’s food or Sambhar) and became a royal staple at the Thanjavur palace. This story was narrated to Nanditha Krishna, Chennai by Pandit Bhim Rao, the late Marathi pandit of the Saraswathi Mahal library, who referred to a manuscript in “Modi” script (a script used to write the Marathi language) in which this was recorded. Special thanks to my dear friend Mahesh Khanna for forwarding these interesting details to me.

To me, the word “sambar” evokes a pumped up adrenaline and a cocktail of pleasant feelings from within that include excitement, happiness, pleasure, joy, ecstasy, and love! No wonder when fans had to pick a nick name for the best ever romantic Tamil hero of all times Mr.Gemini Ganesan, they rightly picked the name “Sambar” for him! If you watch this sample song from one of his movies, you certainly will wonder if Gemini (or Sambar) could exude this much subtle love and romance towards his wife (that too with their kid running around), what he could have done to his girl friend or lover, video here.

In this blog, I am sharing our family recipe for the homemade sambar powder that is very easy to make and takes only about 15 mins to make, and stores up to a month in the fridge. Just add 3 or 4 tablespoons of this powder whenever you are making sambar, I promise your whole house will be filled with the wonderful aroma!!! Coconut is optional and is generally added when making special Brahmin Style Araithu Vitta Sambar (traditionally wet masala is used, but you can use dry powder), Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka style sambar rice), or Stuffed Eggplant Fry.

I make this homemade sambar powder only for occasions, but for everyday use, I use the sambar powder sent by my mother-in-law (her mother’s recipe) where most of these ingredients are sun dried and ground in commercial spice grinding mill in large quantities.

In addition to making sambar, you can also be creative with the sambar powder and try using this powder on a variety of veg/ non-veg fries, curries etc. I also use a little bit of sambar powder when I make tandoori chicken (tip shared by one of our friend).  Just experiment by adding this sambar powder to many of your recipes and you will be surprised by the tasty outcome.

There are so many variations to the sambar powder depending on the family preferences, culture and the region. I have noted down some ingredients as optional, please make a note of it, also read the Notes sections for additional tips.

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Homemade Sambar Powder

A quick, easy and versatile homemade sambar powder recipe from Senthil's Kitchen that you can use in various other dishes other than sambar as well.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Sambar, Sambar Powder

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 10 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• 20 Red chilies to taste
• 1 cup Coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp Methi seeds
• 1 tbsp Black pepper
• 2 tbsp Jeera
• 2 tbsp Toor dal
• 1 tbsp Chana dal
• 2 tsp Hing
• 1/2 tbsp Turmeric powder no need to roast

Optional ingredients

• 1/2 cup Coconut (for special sambar) grated
• 1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds optional
• 1 tbsp Urad dal optional
• 2 sprigs Curry leaves optional
• 1 tbsp Rice optional

Instructions

1. One at a time, dry roast each item listed (except turmeric powder) in a low flame setting until that they give out a nice aroma. Use optional ingredients if you want to experiment. PLEASE DRY ROAST ONE ITEM AT A TIME as the roasting time varies for each ingredient, this way you can avoid the ingredients from getting burnt.

2. Let the contents cool and then grind them along with the turmeric powder to a fine powder consistency.

3. The optional ingredient coconut is used to make special Brahmin Style Araithu Vitta Sambar, Bise Bele Bath (Karnataka Style Sambar Rice), or Stuffed Eggplant Fry.

4. Some dry roast rice to help as a thickening agent, but I do not like the slimy texture rice produces so I omit rice.

5. Just add 3 or 4 tablespoons (depending on your spice level) of this powder when making sambar or other dishes. This powder can be stored in the fridge and will remain fresh for up to a month. If you are using coconut, use the powder immediately, or store it in the fridge and use within a week or so as it loses it freshness fast.

Recipe Notes

• Some add fennel seeds (1 tablespoon) also when making the sambar powder, but I prefer not to.