Sambar Powder
Sambar powder is a flavour enhancing spice mix that is the base for Sambar (a lentil based stew made with tamarind broth). Sambar is a South Indian staple and there are several variations of it, but most of them use this spice mix. This powder is very fragrant and can also be used to give flavour to a variety of dishes.
Every vacation, when I visit my mom, there are a list of things she will make for me without fail. One of them is Sambar Powder. She will buy the ingredients fresh, make sure it is of very good quality, dry them in sun for 2 days or until it becomes crisp to touch and then get it ground to a fine powder from a local mill.
As there are no flour mills around where I live, I have modified her recipe so it can be made at home without sun-drying and milling. It’s an easy alternative and even beginner cooks can make this. My recipe makes about 750 g but you can scale up or scale down according to your usage.
Ingredients
Coriander seeds – 250 g
Dry red chillies – 250 g
Whole black pepper – 50 g
Toor dhal – 100 g
Chana dhal – 50 g
Fenugreek seeds – 50 g
Turmeric powder – 3 tbsp
Yield
~750 g
Prep time
5 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Method
1) Heat a heavy bottomed pan and except turmeric powder, dry roast each one of the other ingredients separately. Dry roast all these one after the other in very low heat for a few mins or until the ingredients become warm to touch. After roasting, the ingredients will become very aromatic. Transfer the roasted ingredients to a wide bowl/flat plate and allow it to cool completely.
2) Once cooled, add the turmeric powder to this and grind all of it to a fine powder.
3) Sieve the sambar powder once if you feel it is slightly coarse to touch. This is dependent on how powerful your mixer-grinder is. If you have some coarsely ground bits that are leftover in your sieve, don’t throw it away – see note 3!
4) Your aromatic sambar powder is ready! Transfer to a dry, airtight container and refrigerate. Use it to make flavourful sambar, koottu, vegetable sabzi for roti, rasam or spicy karabath (a spicy variety of pulav) and much more.
Notes
- Using 50% normal dry red chilly and 50% kashmiri red chilly will give bright colour to your sambar powder. It won’t drastically change the taste of your sambar powder, but it will increase the eye appeal, that’s all.
- Keep the heat to a minimum while roasting. The ingredients should not change colour, but evenly get roasted.
- Sambar powder ground in a mill is very fine. While grinding in a mixer/grinder at home, the same fine powder may not be possible sometimes. If you feel the sambar powder is a bit coarse to touch, sieve it and remove the coarse particles. Store this coarse powder separately and use it to top up the flavour of your potato, eggplant, sweet potato or lady’s finger dry curry in the finishing stage.
- Refrigeration in an airtight container will increase the shelf life of the sambar powder and also help retain its aroma for a longer time. You can store sambar powder in the fridge for up to a year!
