Hotel Sambar /Restaurant style sambar

Whenever we get a chance to go to any South Indian restaurants, one thing that always pulls me is the sambar that they make. Even though am not a big fan of Idly/pongal, for the sake of that sambar i generally order idly. The flavour and the taste of that restaurant style sambar has really amazed me and i have always tried many times about bringing the same taste at home.

After a lot of trials, researches and reference from my uncle who was a chef,i finally found the recipe for restaurant style sambar. There is a magical 'multi purpose spice powder' that we need, to make this sambar.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - small lemon sized
Carrot/beans/drumstick - cut into small pieces
Small onion - 1 handful with skin removed
Curry leaves
Corriander leaves
Multi purpose spice powder - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
jaggery - very little
Salt - as required

For seasoning:

Oil - 2 tsp
Red chilly - 2 nos
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch

Preparation to be done before cooking:

1. Cook toor dal with little turmeric powder and mash it nicely. Keep it aside.
2. Soak tamarind in little water for atleast 20 mins and keep it aside.
3. Cut small onion and veggies and keep it ready.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai. Add red chilly, mustard seeds and jeera.

2. Add small onion and curry leaves and saute them nicely till the onion turns golden brown.

3. Add carrots and continue sauteing.

4. After 2 mins,extract juice from tamarind (extract 2 or 3 times and mix them together) and pour it to the veggie mixture. Add salt and turmeric powder. Allow the veggies to get cooked in the tamarind extract.

5. Add the mashed dal and multi purpose spice powder and allow the sambar to get cooked till it reaches a consistency not so watery or not so thick.

6. Now add the jaggery and sprinkle the corriander leaves and switch off the flame.

7. Serve idly with steaming hot Sambar and a spoon of ghee on top.

Tips:

1. Use veggies like carrot/drumstick/beans to get a nativity about the restaurant style sambar.

2. Small onions and the multi purpose spice powder play a major role in getting the flavor and texture of the sambar.

3. Adding very small amount of jaggery at the end is optional. For those who doesnt like the taste of jaggery can skip it.

4. Do not add tomatoes to this sambar.

Enjoy restaurant style sambar :) Do try this recipe and let me know your comments

Katharikaai Rasavangi

Items required:

Brinjals - 4-5 medium size
toor dal - 1 cup. Cleaned and boiled nicely.
Sambar powder
special sambar powder - (measurement given below)
tamarind juice -1 and a half cups
turmeric powder
salt
oil, mustard seeds, channa dhal and red chilly for seasoning
curry leaves
grated coconut - half a cup

Method:

Cut the brinjals into equal sizes and put it in water. Now heat kadai and add some oil to it. Now add mustard seeds, channa dhal, red chilly and curry leaves and fry them nicely till the dhal becomes golden brown in colour. Now add the brinjals to it and fry little. Now add the boiled toor dhal to it. Add turmeric powder and salt and let all these boil for few mins. Now add the tamarind juice, add 1 tablespoon of sambar powder and 2 tablespoons of mel podi and mix all of them nicely. Let of these boil nicely for sometime till it becomes little thick and not so watery. Now in a plain kadai, fry the grated coconut. Once it becomes seperate and slight golden colour, remove it from flame. Add the fried grated coconut to the sambar and allow it to boil for 2 mins. Stop the flame. Katharikai rasavangi is ready to be served.

Special sambar powder preparation:

channa dhal - 1 tablespoon
urad dhal - 1 tablespoon
dhania - 5 tablespoons
red chilly - as per preferred taste
black pepper - 1/2 tablespoon
jeera - 1/2 tablespoon
hing - little

Add small amount of oil in a kadai and fry all the above till the dhals becomes golden brown in colour. Remove them from flame and grind to a nice powder. This can be prepared in a high quantity also and can be stored. This mix can be used when making sambar. It gives a very good flavour and taste.