Sambar diaries

Hi people,                                                     

The word meals brings to our minds, a banana leaf with lots of items. One such item which is special to south india is sambar. Sambar or kuzhambu is present in every south Indians house ,be it for breakfast, lunch, dinner . Every house has their own way of preparing sambar. But the most important part of any sambar is the Sambar powder.

So let's now start .

I have two methods to grind sambar powder.

First method is freshly ground powder in mixie that can be used for 15-20 days. We will see that method now.

INGREDIENTS:- 

• Red chillies          :- 1 cup
• Coriander seeds  :- 1 cup
• Chana dal            :-⅓ cup 
• Tur dal                  :- ⅓ cup
• Methi seeds          :- 2 tbsp
• Jeera                    :- 1 tbsp
• Pepper                  :- 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder   :- 1 tbsp

Dry roast separately chillies and coriander seeds. Dry roast all the other things together. Keep it to cool down. After cooling ,grind everything together with turmeric powder into a very fine powder. If needed sieve to get a very fine texture.

Second method is to grind in bulk that can be kept for 2-3 months in an airtight container. We keep it in an airtight container to store its freshness and aroma.

In our house we take equal chillies and coriander seeds. In some houses they have more of coriander seeds.

INGREDIENTS:- 

• Red chillies          :- 250gms
• Coriander seeds  :- 250gms
• T.dal                     :- 1 cup
• Channa dal          :-1 cup
• Methi seeds         :- ¼ cup 
• Pepper, jeera       :- ¼ cup
• Virali manjal         :- ⅚ pieces

Dry everything in the sunlight for 1 or 2 days. After drying in the sun take it to your local flour mill to grind to a fine powder.

Keep it in a container to retain its freshness .

In the coming days I am planning to upload some authentic tambrahm sambar and kuzhambu recipes specifically pertaining to the tirunelveli region.