01
Sambar
With Rice
Sambar - a Tamil tamarind-based lentil and vegetable stew.
Tamarind and tur dal cooked with pumpkin, ash gourd, drumstick or brinjal, finished with mustard and methi seasoning.
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AMMAMMA'S NOTES.
Vegetable (pumpkin, ash gourd, drumstick, brinjal, or ladies finger)
1-2 cups
Sambar powder
1 spoon
Asafetida
1/4 spoon
Salt
to taste
Turmeric
1/4 spoon
Tamarind
lemon-sized ball
Tur dal
1/2 cup
Methi
1/4 spoon
Mustard
1/2 spoon
Oil
2 spoon
Coriander leaves
few
01
Cut the vegetable into big pieces, put in a vessel with a little water and turmeric, and cook.
02
When half cooked, add the tamarind pulp (soak tamarind in hot water, squeeze, and use the pulp).
03
Let the tamarind water and vegetables cook for some more time.
04
Add salt, sambar powder, and asafetida.
05
Cook the tur dal separately in a pressure cooker; when cooked, add it to the sambar.
06
Add coriander leaves.
07
In a pan, add oil and mustard; when it splutters, add methi seeds, and pour this tempering into the sambar.
Vetha-Kozhambu
A thick tamarind kozhambu with fried vathal and roasted spices, lightly thickened with rice flour.
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Keerai Molagutal
Keerai Mulagootal - a Tamil greens and lentil curry.
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Sambar was one of those things I refused to eat when I was younger, for no apparent reason — she'd always have to cajole me into it. But the smell of kutti vengayam (little onions) in sambar still comes to me in my dreams.
YAMINI VENKATESAN
WHAT'S FOR LUNCH, 2026