Sambar Powder / An All Spice Powder
The Story
Most homes have three different Cooking Powders - one for the iconic Sambar, one for Vethal Kuzhambu (a tangy vegetable sauce without cooked lentils) and one for Rasam (the south Indian delicious broth). But in my mother-in-law's home it was just one spice powder used for all three. Delicious and absolutely indescribable. Guests invited themselves just to taste my mother-in-law's cooking. She was my 'Cooking Guru'. The Sambar powder is used even for stir-fried vegetable roasts in a Tambram home. They tasted very good. The food cooked with this versatile powder was on a different level. Try making it at home as all the ingredients are easily available in the Indian groceries.
Sambar Powder / An All Spice Powder
The most versatile and healthiest of all powders in a Tamil home. Completely flavorful and Ayurvedic (holistic medicine) in nature, it can be used for a slew of recipes - main course and side dishes.
Ingredients
- 5 cup coriander seeds
- 3/4 cup pigeon peas / thuvar dal
- ½ cup bengal gram / chana dal
- 1/2 cup husked whole black gram / urad dal
- 1/4 cup fenugreek seeds / methi
- 1/4 cup mustard seeds
- 1/2 cup cumin seeds
- 2 cup dried red chillis
- 1/4 cup peppercorns
- 3/4 cup curry leaves
- 8 long thin turmeric pieces OR
- 3 tbs turmeric powder
Instructions
- Wash and wipe the curry leaves dry.
- Roast all the ingredients with the curry leaves in a saucepan over a medium flame for a couple of minutes, until the lentils turn light golden and start emitting their distinctive aromas.
- Blend into a fine powder.
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate. The powder remains fresh for many months.