Ladies Finger / Vendakkai Sambar

Dear friends ,

This is a traditional simple South Indian sambar recipe.You don’t need any special sambar  powder to prepare this yummy sambar.Sambar is a dal preparation with veggies and is made in every South Indian homes regularly and my mom prepares sambar atleast 3 times a week .Any vegetable can be used to make sambar but veggies like Drumsticks , Ladies finger , Radish makes it so flavourful.And this okra is my sons favaurite so I will prepare this once in a week. Here comes the simple recipe…

 



 

 

Ingredients

 

Vendakkai / Okra – 250 gms

Carrot – 2 chopped / diced ( Optional )

Toor dal / Tuvaram paruppu – 150 gms

Onion – 1/2 chopped

Tomato – 3 chopped

Green chillies – 2 slit lengthwise

Turmeric powder / Manjal thool – 1/2 tsp

Chilly powder / Milagai thool – 1/2 tsp ( increase or decrease as per your spice level)

Tamarind – a small gooseberry size / 2 tbsp extract

Coriander leaves – a handful chopped

Salt to taste

 

For Tempering

 

Oil – 3 tsp

Mustard seeds / Kadugu – 1/2 tsp

Urad dal / Ulunthamparuppu – 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds / Jeeragam – 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek seeds / Venthayam – a generous pinch

Pepper / Milagu – 1/4 tsp

Dry red chillies – 5 in nos ( increase or decrease as per your spice level )

Asafoetida – a generous pinch

Curry leaves – a spring

 

Preparation

 

Wash the dal several times in water and transfer to a pressure cooker with enough water and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and cook it till done (4-5 whistles).

 



 

Wash and  pat the veggies dry.Chop it to 1 inch pieces .Heat a tsp oil in a kadai and add the chopped veggies and shallow fry till they turn colour ( will take app 5 - 6 mins . Don’t burn the vegetable, better keep in medium flame while frying).

 

 

Heat the remaining oil in a kadai and add the tempering agents and fry for a min.

 



 

Add the onions and green chillies and fry for 2-3 mins.

 

 

Add the tomatoes and fry for few more mins.Add the fried okra and carrot and saute with the tomatoes for 2 more mins.

 

 

Then add the cooked dal with enough water ( 3-4 cups ) .

 

 

Add salt and chilly powder and allow to boil .

 

 

Let the veggies cook till they are done (Cover it partially while cooking).

 

 

Now add the tamarind extract and allow to boil for 2 mins.

 



 

Throw in the chopped coriander and switch off the flame.Serve with hot steamed rice.

 



 



 

Any spicy poriyal / fry will be a perfect combination to this sambar rice.Here are some good combo for sambar rice…. Click to check the recipes..…

 

• Cauliflower Poriyal / Fry

• Potato Varuval / Fry

• Kovakkai Poriyal / Tindora Fry

• Kothavarangai Poriayal / Cluster beans fry

   

  Notes

• Make the  okra sambar watery Or after few hours it will become so thick because of the veggie’s slimy nature.

• Adjust the spice as per your taste as we are adding red chillies, green chillies and chilly powder.Don’t omit red and green chillies as it gives a wonderful flavour to the sambar.You can reduce chilli powder .

• You can use the same method to make sambar with other veggies just skip the initial shallow frying step with other vegetables .

                         Linking this to Spicy Treats and Anus event page

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