Cranberry Pearl Onion Sambar
Sambar, along with rice, is a dish I grew up eating pretty much at every meal about 90% of the time. I like the variety involved: add veggies in season, vary the spices a bit, omit the toor dal to make 'vatral kuzhambu' (aka vetha kozhambu), add coconut-coriander-seeds-dry-red-chilies paste to make 'araichu vitta sambar' and so on.
Sambar, in general, uses cooked toor dal, sambar powder and tamarind. As I ran out of toor dal at home, I used brown lentils and was quite happy with the results: it had the body and flavor of sambar, the heartiness of dal, tartness from the cranberries and a nice rich brown color from the brown lentils.
This recipe here is quite unconventional, so, probably my mom would not appreciate it as much :-)
Ingredients
1 cup fresh cranberries
6-8 pearl onions, peeled whole
1 cup chopped carrots (optional)
2 cups cooked brown lentils, coarsely mashed
2 Tbsp tamarind concentrate*
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3-4 Tbsp sambar powder** (either make at home, or use store-bought)
salt to taste
5 cups of water
coriander and curry leaves for garnish
2 Tbsp canola oil (or any oil)
tempering: 1 tsp each urad dal and mustard seeds
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* tamarind concentrate that i use in my recipes is found in asian stores - sometimes sold as sour soup mix - here is a picture of what i use
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** sambar powder spices (this is a slightly non-traditional mix)
1 cup coriander seeds
1 cup dry red chilies
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup toor dal
1/8 cup fenugreek seeds
2 Tbsp whole black pepper
2 2" piece of chinese/indian cinnamon bark
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 cup curry leaves (optional)
Preparation
- if making sambar powder at home, dry roast all the sambar powder ingredients, one at a time;combine them and grind them to a fine powder and set aside; can double the quantities and store the sambar powder in airtight containers, or even vary the proportion a bit to get a slightly different flavor - primary ingredients are coriander seeds and dry red chilies and the two dals, the rest is more to suit individual tastes; and from what my mom taught me: try to use (a) equal quantities of coriander seeds and dry red chilies; (b) equal quantities of the dals; BUT, ratio of (a):(b) is 2:1
- heat the oil in a cooking pot, add the tempering: urad dal first and when it starts turning light brown add the mustard; when mustard seeds splutter and die down add the pearl onions, carrots and asafoetida powder and sautee for a bit
- add the tamarind concentrate and water, a little salt, sambar powder, cover and let it cook over medium-low till onions are cooked, and it reduces a bit; sambar can be thick or thin - i prefer it thick and hearty; if making it thin, add more water and adjust spices so it doesn't feel dilute and bland
- add brown sugar, cranberries and cooked lentils; simmer on medium-low heat till flavors meld and cranberries are cooked but not mushy; adjust salt to taste
- off heat, garnish with coriander and curry leaves; alternately, the curry leaves can be added at the tempering stage itself to render it slightly crispy, and infused with sambar flavors
- serve warm with rice and sides such as snake gourd, snake beans and zuccini or even a simple potato dish.
Labels: cranberry, indian, pearl onion, sambar, stew, vegetarian
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