At Long Last, Sambar That Tastes Like Sambar

I've known my husband for more than eleven years, and in that time I've cooked a lot of Indian food. I started out not knowing anything at all, but I like to flatter myself that I've gotten pretty good. Still, in all that time, a prize has eluded me. The prize of sambar. It seems simple – just a vegetable-lentil stew, flavored with sambar powder spice blend and the tang of tamarind. It's daily fare in millions of South Indian homes. Every home's sambar seems to taste different, and I love that. I'm OK with 'different,' and mine was decent, but just not... right. Not the way I wanted it to be.

 Awhile back we were staying with my in-laws, and my mother-in-law asked me to roast a combination of channa dal, dried coconut, and red chilies. Then she had me grind it into a paste and add it to the sambar.

Suddenly the clouds parted and a ray of light shone down from the heavens. As the angels started to sing, I thought, "I haven't been doing this. Maybe this is what I need to do."

"Amma," I asked, "Do you do this every time?" She answered something to the effect of, "You don't need to, but it's a nice touch." Translation, in my own mind: "Yes, this is why my sambar tastes so awesome."

In all my years of making sambar, this final step had somehow escaped me. You wouldn't believe how many things get lost in translation – and this one was a biggie. (Which proves my own personal philosophy: Doing is better than talking.)

Fast forward to Diwali Celebration 2010, ie: last Friday's dinner. In honor of the Festival of Lights, I decided to make onion sambar, adding the previously missing channa dal/coconut paste. Eureka! Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, good triumphs over evil, and my sambar tastes like sambar! Happy belated Diwali!


Onion Sambar
First, start cooking the lentils:
1 cup toor dal*
4 cups water
Rinse the toor dal three times in a large sauce pan, then add four cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Skim off any foam that appears. Cook for approximately 40 minutes, or until the lentils are very soft and falling apart. Add water if the lentils look like they are drying out. When lentils are done cooking, take a wire whisk and whisk them into a rough puree.

While the lentils are cooking, start cooking the onion:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 Thai green chili, halved lengthwise (or about ¼ of a jalapeno)
2 teaspoons sambar powder**
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
one onion, cut in half crosswise, then cut lengthwise along the grain into pieces slightly less than an inch wide
2½ - 3 cups water
1 slightly heaping teaspoon of tamarind concentrate
salt
Heat the coconut oil, mustard seeds, and green chili in a large heavy-bottomed pot until the mustard seeds turn grey and start sputtering out of the pot. Turn down the heat, add the sambar powder and asafoetida, and stir for a few seconds. Add the onion and stir to coat with the spices. Cook the onion for a few minutes, then add the water to cover the onions well. Dissolve the tamarind concentrate in a bit of water, and add it to the onion mixture. Add some salt, and bring to a boil. Once the mixture starts to boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the onions are soft, about 20 minutes.

While your onions are simmering, make the coconut/channa dal paste:
2 teaspoons coconut oil (plus 1 additional tablespoon, for finishing)
2 dried red chilies (small, like Thai chilies)***
3 tablespoons dried flaked coconut
3 tablespoons channa dal****
small amount of water

Heat the 2 teaspoons of oil in a small skillet (reserve the 1 tablespoon for the end), then add the chilies, coconut, and channa dal. Roast on medium heat until the coconut is light brown. Take care not to scorch it. Puree the coconut/dal mixture in a blender with a small amount of water to make a paste.

When the separate elements are done, you just need to put them together. Add the whisked toor dal to the cooked onions (reserving a small amount of plain dal for your kids if necessary), then add the coconut/channa dal paste, and mix. Add more salt if necessary. Add the final tablespoon of coconut oil, and simmer the sambar for a few minutes. That's it. Serve with rice and a nice vegetable curry.

*You will most likely need to go to an Indian grocery for toor dal, though an upscale grocery like Whole Foods, or natural foods grocery may carry it. The Indian store will be the least expensive.

**Sambar powder can also be found at your local Indian store. My mother-in-law makes her own, and gives me a huge jar periodically. However, I recently ran out and ended up buying some from the store. I used Priyom brand, which contains red chili, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, asafoetida, pepper, curry leaves, urad dal, gram dal, and salt. It tasted authentic to me.

***Go to, you guessed it, the Indian grocery store. Lots of dried red chilies there.

****Did I mention you really should get yourself on over to the Indian grocery store?