Sambar - Nookal Carrot Sambar

Here's the basic Sambar recipe ..
     Sambar is a lentil based vegetable stew .. It is a popular recipe especially in South India .. Sambar is made either exclusively with one of these vegetables or a combination of them - okra(ladys finger), moringa (also known as drumstick), carrot, radish, pumpkin, white radish, potatoes, tomatoes, brinjal (eggplant), nookal, and whole or halved shallots or onions, etc ..
and using sambar powder that is a coarse powder made of roasted lentils, dried whole red chilies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and sometimes asafoetida and curry leaves with regional variations including cumin and black pepper ..

Nookal-Carrot Sambar

Preparation time: 45 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Toor Dal/Pigeon Pea/Thuvaram Paruppu - 100 gms
Nookal - 1 chopped
Carrots - 1 (cut into coin shapes)
Shallots/chinna vengaayam - 10
Tomato - 1 chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Sambar powder - 3 tbsp (I've used store bought sambar powder)
Tamarind - a gooseberry sized ball
Jaggery - 2 tsp (optional)
Crystal Salt - as required
Coriander leaves - a handful

Tempering Ingredients:

Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek/Vendhayam - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeerakam - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 1 tsp
Dry Red chilli - 1
Curry leaves - 1 string

Method:

1.  Soak toor dal in water for about 30 minutes ..then pressure cook it by adding a pinch of turmeric powder for 4 whistles .. after cooking, when the pressure leaves, mash it well ..

2. In a separate kadai, start cooking the vegetables ..Add in the chopped Nookal, coin shaped carrots, shallots and chopped tomato in boiling water ..Once it is 3/4th cooked add in the masalas (add 2 tbsp of sambar powder in it..rest you can add later), salt and tamarind extract ..

3. Add in jaggery (to take out the tartness of tamarind - this is optional)

4. Add in the cooked toor dal ..now you can add the remaining 1 tbsp of sambar powder in it ..

5. In a separate tadka pan / tempering pan, heat oil, add in tempering ingredients ..once it splutters, add it to the sambar ..

6. Start stirring, check whether veggies are cooked and masalas have a balanced taste ..

7. Once everything is done, SERVE hot with steamed rice .. :)

Note:

1. If you feel, tamaring extract dominating the taste, add in some more jaggery to balance it ..
2. If you feel it is too spicy, then add in some more salt ..
3. It is always better to add small amount of salt in the beginning, after cooking the recipe, check the taste and you can add some more salt later ..


Pictorial:

Here are your ingredients ..

Start cooking the vegetables ..

Once vegetables are 3/4th cooked, add in the masala powders ..don't add sambar powder fully, just add in 2 tbsp of sambar powder, then add tamarind extract and jaggery ..

Once dal is cooked in pressure cooker, mash it well, add it to the sambar ..After adding the toor dal, add in the remaining 1 tbsp of sambar powder ..

Start tempering and add it to the sambar ..after switching off the flame, add in coriander leaves ..

Here is your tasty sambar is ready to SERVE :) :)

Hope you'll like it Folkz :)