Sambar is a staple food from Southern India, which has taken so many incarnations in Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Though there is a slight change of ingredients and preparation, the rest is almost the same. Irrespective of its origin, now sambar is so prevalent, that it is available in all kitchens of India. Dal is a simpler version of Sambar, adding veggies and tamarind will upgrade dal to Sambar…
It is an inseparable component in the South Indian thali (a platter of main course, starter, and dessert). The added advantage of sambar is it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, i.e., any meal at any time of the day. It’s a lifesaver for many working people due to its multipurpose utility.
What’s the difference between Tiffin/Araicchuvitta Sambar and a simple sambar? The former one has a freshly prepared special sambar powder mix made of multiple ingredients, mainly coconut. The name Araicchuvitta (means added with freshly ground) pertains to this freshly prepared sambar powder. This is supplemented with the cooked dal along with yellow pumpkin, with a dash of tamarind juice, and balanced with jaggery. Consistency would be slightly thinner than normal sambar, for it is to be paired with breakfast or snacks.
On the other hand, lunch or simple sambar is made with homemade stocked sambar powder or store-bought powder (with fewer ingredients and without coconut). This is added to the cooked lentil base with any veggies, topped with sufficient tamarind extract and salt to complement plain steamed rice (no jaggery is added). Consistency will be slightly thicker to be paired with steamed rice.
This special sambar powder has different versions and variations depending upon the region it originated from. This recipe is my version of a mix evolved from my mother’s kitchen. I’ll endorse the quality of this mix; it’ll take your sambar an extra notch. It can be prepared a day before the day of cooking, and store in an airtight container to retain the fresh aroma of this mix. If you have more sambar mix with you, no worries, just check my kitchen secrets below. I’m always there to guide you with the leftovers.
Click here to jump to recipe card!
Wash and soak toor dal and channa dal together in a vessel. Keep the vessel with soaked dal in a pressure pan. Add turmeric powder, garlic, asafoetida powder to it.
Then add diced yellow pumpkin, shallots, slit green chilli, tomatoes, diced carrots. Mix well.
Close the lid and pressure cook for 10-15 whistles. Once the pressure settles down, open the lid and let the dal mixture cool. You can either mash it with a masher or blend it in a mixer (just a few whips, refer to Notes). Keep it aside.
Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, dry roast curry leaves till it turns crisp. Then add whole Kashmiri chilli and normal red chilli whole (refer Notes), dry roast it. Keep it aside.
In the same pan add channa dal, roast it well, then add toor dal, roast it, then urad dal, roast it well.
Now add coriander seeds to it, after roasting well, add pepper, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, roast well.
Finally add cinnamon stick, asafoetida powder, grated coconut, roast the coconut well to remove the moisture in it. Then add the mustard seeds and finally roast it.
After it cools down, transfer all the ingredients together into a mixer jar and grind it coarsely.
Now take a deep bottomed pan, add coconut oil, then add fenugreek seeds, roast till it turns brown, add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add cumin seeds, broken red chilli, asafoetida powder, and curry leaves.
Then add shallots, add some salt, sauté till it turns golden brown. Later add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, close, and cook it on low flame till it turns mushy.
Then add 5 tbsp ground sambar powder, add water and close it for another 5 minutes.
Then add the ground dal, 1 cup tamarind extract.
Then add jaggery, add another 2-3 tbsp of sambar powder, if needed.
Add 2-3 cups of water, mix well. Close it and cook for 10 minutes on medium flame.
After 10 minutes of boiling, it would have reached the proper consistency. Switch off the flame, add 2 tbsp ghee and a handful of chopped coriander.
Restaurant tiffin sambar/ Araicchuvitta Sambar is ready to serve with South Indian tiffins and snacks. Here, I served with Thinai Pongal, Medhu vada along with Onion Chutney and Coconut coriander chutney.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes (including dal)
Cuisine: South Indian
Category: Curries
Yields: 8-10
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
For Dal:
Split pigeon peas/Toor dal – 1 cup
Split chickpeas/ channa dal – 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Garlic – 2 cloves
Asafoetida powder – 1⁄2 tsp
Yellow pumpkin- 1 1⁄2 cup
Shallots/small onion – 1⁄4 cup
Chopped tomatoes – 1⁄4 cup
Green chilli (split) – 1
Chopped carrot – 1⁄2 cup
For Sambar powder mix:
Kashmiri red chilli – 6
Red chilli whole – 6
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Split chickpeas/ channa dal – 2 tbsp
Split pigeon peas/Toor dal – 1 tbsp
Whole black lentils/ urad dal – 1 tbsp
Coriander/Dhaniya seeds – 3 tbsp
Pepper – 1⁄2 tsp
Fenugreek/Methi seeds – 1⁄2 tsp
Cumin/Jeera seeds – 1 tsp
Cinnamon – 1⁄4 “
Asafoetida powder – 1⁄4 tsp
Grated coconut – 1/3 cup
Mustard/rai seeds – 1⁄2 tsp
For tempering:
Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
Fenugreek/Methi seeds – 1⁄4 tsp
Kashmiri red chilli – 3 broken
Mustard/rai seeds – 1⁄2 tsp
Cumin/Jeera seeds – 1⁄2 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing powder – 1⁄4 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Shallots/small onion – 1 cup
Chopped tomatoes – 1⁄2 cup
Turmeric powder – 1⁄4 tsp
Salt – to taste
Tamarind – 20 gm/ 1 tbsp (tightly packed)
Jaggery – 1 tbsp heaped
Ground sambar powder – 7-8 tbsp
For garnish:
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Chopped Coriander leaves – handful
Instructions:
- Wash and soak toor dal and channa dal together in a vessel.
- Keep the vessel with soaked dal in a pressure pan. Add turmeric powder, garlic, asafoetida powder to it.
- Then add diced yellow pumpkin, shallots, slit green chilli, tomatoes, diced carrots. Mix well.
- Close the lid and pressure cook for 10-15 whistles.
- Once the pressure settles down, open the lid and let the dal mixture cool. You can either mash it with a masher or blend it in a mixer (just a few whips, refer to Notes). Keep it aside.
- Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, dry roast curry leaves till it turns crisp. Then add whole Kashmiri chilli and normal red chilli whole (refer Notes), dry roast it. Keep it aside.
- In the same pan add channa dal, roast it well, then add toor dal, roast it, then urad dal, roast it well.
- Now add coriander seeds to it, after roasting well, add pepper, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, roast well.
- Finally add cinnamon stick, asafoetida powder, grated coconut, roast the coconut well to remove the moisture in it. Then add the mustard seeds and finally roast it.
- After it cools down, transfer all the ingredients together into a mixer jar and grind it coarsely.
- Now take a deep bottomed pan, add coconut oil, then add fenugreek seeds, roast till it turns brown, add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add cumin seeds, broken red chilli, asafoetida powder, and curry leaves.
- Then add shallots, add some salt, sauté till it turns golden brown.
- Later add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, close, and cook it on low flame till it turns mushy.
- Then add 5 tbsp ground sambar powder, add water and close it for another 5 minutes. Then add the ground dal, 1 cup tamarind extract, jaggery, add another 2-3 tbsp of sambar powder, if needed. Add 2-3 cups of water, mix well. Close it and cook for 10 minutes on medium flame.
- After 10 minutes of boiling, it would have reached the proper consistency. Switch off the flame, add 2 tbsp ghee and a handful of chopped coriander.
- Restaurant tiffin sambar/ Araicchuvitta Sambar is ready to serve with South Indian tiffins and snacks. Here, I served with Thinai Pongal, Medhu vada along with Onion Chutney and Coconut coriander chutney.
Notes:
- I used 2 tbsp channa dal along with toor dal. It’s optional to add channa dal, but it’s worth adding for the taste it imparts in sambar.
- Adding veggies like yellow pumpkin and carrot to the dal and mashing with it gives a unique flavour and texture to the sambar. You can add either of the veggies also but adding both will impart a distinct flavour and taste to it.
- I prefer a uniform, creamy texture for my sambar, so I pulse it in the mixer. It’s purely optional as few like it to have dal separately in their sambar.
- The sambar powder is freshly prepared that’s the reason it derived its name, “Araicchuvitta”.
- Still, it can be prepared a day prior and store it in an airtight container to retain its freshness. I used Kashmiri chilli for its intense colour and normal red chilli for its hotness. If you are adding only normal red chilli, then add according to your spice level, and you may not get the intense colour. If you are adding only Kashmiri chilli, then increase the quantity to get the desired hotness, but the colour is assured.
- Though the number of ingredients added in the sambar powder mix is more, don’t miss anything, as each one has its own flavour.
- Roasting the sambar powder ingredients plays a crucial role in the flavour of the sambar. Do not overburn while roasting.
- If you want to store the powder for a longer period, then roast the coconut separately till it changes brown in colour as it improves the shelf life. Here, I toasted coconut for a few minutes along with other ingredients as I used the remaining powder the next day itself.
- Tamarind, I took the extract from tightly packed tbsp, roughly weighing 20 gms. It yielded 1 cup of juice. This quantity of dal requires this amount of juice, again, it depends upon the quality of tamarind you use. Old tamarind has an intense sourness, while new tamarind has a tinge of sweetness. It is better that you gradually add tamarind juice according to your requirement and the quality of the tamarind.
- Jaggery can be optional. But it highlights the other ingredients added in sambar if included.
Now time for my Kitchen secret…😉😍
This section of the recipe is my favourite part. You can unfurl your creativity in the kitchen with no limitations. You can alter, amend, and play with the ingredients beyond imagination. Absolutely there are no hard and fast rules. Don’t panic if you have leftover at home, say rice to kheer, I’m here to rescue you. Just click the hyperlink of kitchen secret, you’ll be enthralled to see a different, exciting transformation.
Now let’s get into this recipe, there will be rare chances to have leftover sambar. As the taste will be divine, you can just consume the sambar only. You might have a challenge with the leftover sambar mix, no worries. You can store it in an airtight container for a month till you make another batch of sambar.
But I didn’t wait till then. You can use this sambar mix when you make channa salad (Sundal). After tempering with mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds, broken whole red chillies, curry leaves, add the boiled channa or any lentils, then add this sambar mix powder (quantity according to the amount of channa), mix well along with salt, your healthy and tasty lentils salad (sundal) is ready to serve…😋😋
2 Replies to “Restaurant Tiffin Sambar/Araicchuvitta Sambar”