Vegetable Sambar

Traditional South Indian Vegetable soup with lentils, it is a treat for the taste buds and must try for soup lovers. Generally served with Rice and curry, but can be drink as soup.

Cuisine

Indian

Course

Side Dish

Difficulty

Difficult

Duration

30-60 min

Diet

Diabetes, Gluten Free, Low Fat, Vegan, Vegetarian

Cooking Technique

Multicooker, Pressure Cook

Keywords

30-60 min, 5-6 servings, bottle gourd diced, carrot, cilantro, contributed, cook 30 min, coriander powder, cumin seeds, curry leaves, diabetes, difficult, garlic, ghee, gluten free, indian, lime sized tamarind, low fat, multicooker, mustard seeds, oil, onion, prep 15 min, pressure cook, red chili powder, salt to taste, sambar powder, serrano pepper, side dish, tomato, turmeric, vegan, vegetarian, water, yellow lentils

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

30 min

Servings

5-6 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1/2 onion
1 serrano pepper
Salt to taste
1 big carrot
1 small bottle gourd diced
1 big tomato
1 cup yellow lentils
1 small lime sized tamarind
1/2 cup cilantro
4 cups Water
1 tbsp red chili powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp sambar powder
3 tbsp ghee
7-8 cloves garlic
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 sprig curry leaves

Instructions

Put the pot on saute mode high, fry the seranno pepper and onions in oil. Add veggies of choice and fry for a minute.
Add the spices mentioned, water, lentils and tamarind extract and salt.
Turn off Saute mode and put manual high for 12 minutes.
Once natural pressure releases, check for salt and spices, boil for few mins and turn off.
Do the tempering (see notes) and add it to the sambar, add cilantro.
Serve Hot with Rice and Potato chips.

Notes

For tempering heat the ghee in a small pan on stove, add all ingredients when the ghee is hot. Fry till fragrant and garlic becomes golden. Alternatively you can do this Tempering in the first step directly in the Instant pot. It’s just a preference.
If using Raw tamarind, then soak it in hot water and get the extract.
Sambar powder is easily available in Indian groceries.
You can also use other veggies like Okra, Moringa pods, pumpkin, Shallots, Radish etc
Serve this Sambar as a Vegetable soup or with Rice, traditional breakfasts like Dosa, Idli or Upma.
Yellow lentils can be replace with red lentils.