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Special Pongal Sambar with 30+ Vegetables

January 15, 2020 by Senthil Sadasivam Recipe rating:
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Happy Pongal to Senthil’s Kitchen Family & Friends!

In today’s blog, I want to share my mom’s very special Pongal Sambar made with about 30+ vegetables. This is not just an another recipe from Senthil’s Kitchen, but it is rather a cultural phenomenon!

My mom makes a huge pot of this special sambar on Pongal day.  It has been many years since I left India and settled down in the US and so I have to learn this recipe from her to carry out the family tradition here. My son and my wife absolutely love this special sambar and so do our friends.

When I was a kid, we did not have a refrigerator at our home, so my mom made some adjustments to this sambar (like no tomatoes, no coconut, etc) in order to prolong the shelf life for at least couple of days.  She also made huge amounts of idli dosa batter as this special sambar is also a match made in heaven with the soft and fluffy idlis and crispy dosas.  Typically we enjoy this special sambar with sweet and venn (white) pongal during Pongal day lunch, and after that for one or two days it would always be non stop idli or dosa with this sambar until we ran out of it.

Buying (or collecting) these 30+ vegetables itself was an enjoyable experience at our home.  My dad is an avid gardener and we would get lot of vegetables from home.  My brother and I also barter home grown veggies with our relatives and friends in the neighborhood.  Some of the veggies which cannot be grown at home (like potatoes, carrots) are bought from the farmers market.  My mom cleaned and cut all the vegetables the night before Pongal so that it was easy for her on Pongal day.

Lot of families cook this special Pongal sambar with far less number of vegetables like 10 or so, but my mom’s recipe calls for about 30+ vegetables that are readily available in our hometown Thanjavur during January. I experimented this sambar with more number of vegetables (40+ or 50+) but the experience was not that great and so I have decided that I will stick with the recommended 30+ list from this year onward. After all, one should not question mom’s wisdom right?

One important tip to consider.  You definitely need a huge vessel to cook this special sambar as we have to cook about 30+ vegetables.  And also it is recommended to cook this sambar in medium heat so that the vegetables do not get mashed up. The leftover (after sharing with friends) freezes well. And because of the effort involved in cooking this sambar, I typically make it over the weekend following Pongal (if it falls on a weekday).

There is another simple trick you need to follow when cooking this special sambar as the cooking times of the different vegetables vary.  The end goal is that you should not let the vegetables get mashed up, but be able to identify each and every individual vegetable within the sambar. We can achieve this by identifying and grouping the veggies into 3 groups based on their cooking times.  The veggies that are hard and take a long time to cook go into the boiling pot first, to be followed by batch 2, and then batch 3 vegetables in about 10 mins intervals.

Are you keen to glimpse over my mom’s approved 30+ vegetables list? Here you go:

  1. Indian purple eggplant
  2. Indian green eggplant (if available)
  3. Drumstick
  4. Yellow pumpkin (Parangikai)
  5. White pumpkin (Poosanikai)
  6. Bottle gourd (Suraikai)
  7. Flat valor beans (Avaraikai)
  8. Long valor beans (Kombu avarai)
  9. Green beans
  10. Cluster beans (Kothavarangai)
  11. Long beans (Payathangai)
  12. Carrot
  13. Radish (White)
  14. Radish (Red)
  15. Ridge gourd (Peerkangai)
  16. Chayote squash
  17. Bitter gourd
  18. Green banana
  19. Turkey berry (Sundaikai)
  20. Green mango
  21. Yellow peas/ vatana (soaked overnight)
  22. Green peas/ vatana (soaked overnight)
  23. White chana (soaked overnight)
  24. Black chana (soaked overnight)
  25. Raw peanuts (soaked overnight)
  26. Mochai (fresh preferred, if not dry valor bean pods soaked overnight)
  27. White potato
  28. Red potato
  29. Sweet potato
  30. Yam
  31. Suran

I took the liberty to slightly alter my mom’s recipe by adding tomatoes and coconut.  Here is our family’s Special Pongal Sambar with 30+ vegetables for the enjoyment of Senthil’s Kitchen family and friends. Please make sure you also make idli/ dosa and enjoy them with this sambar as well.

Special Pongal Sambar
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Special Pongal Sambar

My mom's Special Pongal Sambar with 30+ vegetables that is typically cooked on Pongal day. Our family recipe that is everyone's favorite too and goes well with sweet/ white pongal or best with idli dosa the next day!

Course Side Dish
Cuisine Indian
Keyword Pongal, Sambar
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Eggplant
  • 1/2 lb Drumsticks
  • 1 lb Yellow pumpkin
  • 1 lb White pumpkin
  • 1 lb Bottle gourd
  • 1 lb Valor beans (Avaraikai) 2/3 varieties mixed
  • 1/4 lb Green beans
  • 1/4 lb Long beans
  • 1/4 lb Cluster beans
  • 1/2 lb Carrot
  • 1/2 lb Radish (white)
  • 1/4 lb Radish (red)
  • 1 lb Ridge gourd
  • 1 lb Chayote squash
  • 1/4 lb Bitter gourd
  • 1/4 lb Raw green banana
  • 1/4 lb Green Turkey berry (Sundaikai)
  • 5 slices Mango
  • 1 lb White potato
  • 1/4 lb Red potato
  • 1/4 lb Sweet potato
  • 1/4 lb Yam
  • 1/4 lb Suran
  • 1/2 cup White chana soaked
  • 1/2 cup Black chana soaked
  • 1/2 cup Yellow peas soaked
  • 1/2 cup Green peas soaked
  • 1/2 cup Raw peanuts soaked
  • 1/2 cup Mochai (green) or soaked

Other ingredients

  • 4 tbsp Sambar powder
  • Tamarind juice to taste
  • Jaggery to taste
  • salt to taste

To pressure cook dal

  • 3 cups Tool dal
  • 10 cloves Garlic
  • 1/2 tbsp Turmeric powder
  • 3 tsp Hing powder
  • 1 tbsp Sesame oil

For tadka

  • 2 tbsp Mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tbsp Methi seeds
  • 1 tbsp Cumin seeds
  • 5 Red chilies
  • 3 sprigs Curry leaves
  • 2 cups Onion (or shallots) sliced
  • 5 Green chilies sliced
  • 2 cups Tomatoes chopped
  • 5 tbsp Sesame oil

To make sambar powder

  • 10 Red chilies
  • 1/2 cup Coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp Methi seeds
  • 2 tbsp Cumin seeds
  • 2 tbsp Chana dal
  • 1/2 cup Coconut

To garnish

  • 1/2 cup Coriander leaves chopped

Instructions

  1. Soak the chana, dry peas (vatana), raw peanuts and mochai (if you don't have fresh shelled ones) overnight in water.

  2. Wash and cut vegetables and group them into 3 batches in the order they need to be added into the pot (instructions below).

  3. Wash and pressure cook dal for three whistles along with the ingredients listed.  Mash the dal and keep it separate.

  4. Dry roast the ingredients listed under sambar powder one at a time in medium heat, cool the contents and grind them into a fine powder.

  5. Find the biggest pot you can find in your kitchen and fill it with 40% water, 4 tbsp sambar powder and salt to taste.

  6. Add the first batch of veggies (soaked white/ black chana, yellow/ green peas, peanuts,
    mochai, cut cubes of white/ red/ sweet potato, yam). Cover and cook for about 20 mins opening the lid and stirring the contents gently every 5 mins or so.

  7. Add the second batch of veggies (cut drumstick, eggplant, yellow/ white pumpkin,
    bottle gourd, carrot, radish, chayote squash, bitter gourd, suran). Cover and cook for about 10 mins opening the lid and stirring the contents gently every 5 mins or so.

  8. Add the third batch of veggies (valor beans (avaraikai), green beans, cluster
    beans (kothavarangai), long beans (payathangai), ridge gourd (peerkangai), raw banana, Turkey berry (sundaikai), green mango slices). Cover and cook for about 10 mins opening the lid and stirring the contents gently every 5 mins or so.

  9. On a separate pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds.  When they splutter, add methi seeds and let them brown slightly.  Quickly add jeera seeds, and after few seconds, add red chilies and fry for some time.  Add curry leaves, then sliced onion and green chilies and fry well. Follow up with tomatoes and fry them until they are mashed.

  10. Check the consistency of the cooked vegetables and if required, continue cooking for additional time until about the vegetables are about 80% cooked. Time the tadka such that you are ready to add the tadka along with sauteed onion/ tomato to the pot when the vegetables are about 80% cooked.

  11. Add the mashed dal, mix the contents well and continue cooking until the vegetables turn soft.

  12. Add special sambar powder, tamarind juice, adjust salt level and let it cook for another 5 mins. My mom does not add jaggery as there is enough natural sweetness from the sweet potatoes, yam and carrots, but you can add some jaggery if you prefer so.

  13. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and enjoy with Sweet and White Pongal, or with idli or dosa. This sambar tastes the best the next day when the flavors set it.

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