Sambhar Podi

February 14, 2015

sambar podi




Sambar Podi



Sambhar or Sambar is a medium thick lentil soup, that is very famous as a lunch and tiffin side in all of south India. This is a savory soup which people fall in love once they taste it. It can be had just as a soup or as a sauce for rice or as a dip sauce for tiffin items like Dosa and Idly(South Indian steamed rice cake made with fermented dough), sometimes it is also served with mini idlies which my kids love to have. Sometimes many people order this idli sambhar as a snack. Sambhar is so versatile that many different dishes like sambhar vadai, sambhar idly are always available fresh in the restaurants. My grandma(Aachi) makes super yum and tasty sambar twice a week in a meal and i still remember the aroma and taste while i cook. 

Ingredients :

Malli/Coriander seed - 1 cup

Red chilli - 1 cup

Channa dal - 1 cup

Vendhayam/Fenugreek  - 2 tbsp

Kayam - 1 tsp


Preparation :

  • Place a pan in the stove with a medium flame, wait till the pan heats up.
  • Now add one cup of Coriander/Malli seed. Roast it in a medium flame by constantly sauteing. Then you can take it off the pan to cool it down.
  • Now add the Channa dal to the pan, Roast it in the medium flame till channa dal turns milk red. We can not roast everything together because channa dal take long time to roast than coriander seed. When you can notice the color of the dal, take it off the pan and cool it in the plate or a bowl.   
  • Now add the fenugreek/vendhayam to the pan and roast it, it will hardly take like 1 minute to roast. Now you can take it off the pan and keep it aside to cool.
  • The important thing in roasting all this is roasting them separately to achieve the texture and the color. Each takes different time to roast so dont put it at the same time. 
  • Now it is time to add few drops of oil and add the Red chili, When you do this it will start to smoke really fast so put off the heat as soon us you can smell the fumes from the chili. Let everything cool down for like an hour or so. 
  • You can not grind them when it is hot.That will change the taste of the sambhar powder. Better cool it completely.
  • Now put all the above mix into a mixer and then grind into a fine powder so it wont form lumps when you add to it in the sambhar.
  • Grind every thing. Add Salt to taste.
  • Now the most important post process, that is storage. Sambar powder can never be stored in a open container. It will lose its aroma and taste will differ. The freshness will be lost if it is open or not in a airtight container. So always store it in an air tight container and keep it in room temperature.
Happy Eating!! 

You Might Also Like

0 comments

Aroma Cooking

Aroma Cooking

Popular Posts

About Me

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images