How to make South Indian hotel style Sambar dal recipe

Despite being Bengali, South indian Sambar Dal is one of the favourites of my family. I often make it at home. My family mostly love to have sambar with rice accompanied by pickle, papad and fish tawa fry or rava fry. I also serve it with my homemade idlis or dosas, too, though that is rare.

I made this sambar dal with toor dal(pigeon pea lentil), masoor dal(red lentil), selected vegetables, powdered sambar masala, hing, tamarind, curry leaves, a few other common kitchen spices & seasoning. In vegetables, I mostly use pumpkin, sambar kai (also known as sambar cucumber), drumsticks, brinjal, tomato, onion and garlic.

What is Sambar Dal?

Sambar dal is a toor lentil or arhar dal based south indian stew cooked with mixed vegetables, flavoured with sambar masala and curry leaves.

Sambar dal and rice(together called Anna Sambar) are the staple foods of all South Indian people. On any occasion, rice and sambar are served on a banana leaf with pickle, papad, and dry curries is part of South Indian tradition and culture.

In South Indian restaurants, masoor dal is a must-use ingredient in making sambar dal. The reason must be that masoor dal is cheap compared to toor dal. However, mixing toor dal and masoor dal makes a great taste as per my experience. So I use both in my recipe.

Having stayed for more than 17 years in Bangalore, I have tasted all types of sambar dal in different South Indian cuisines. Among them, I love the taste of Tamil Nadu hotel-style sambar dal. Because Tamil sambar is slightly spicy and equally perfect for having with idli, dosa, vada and also with rice. Today I am sharing my homemade Tamil restaurant style sambar recipe, hope you will like it.

Important tips about this recipe

1. Vegetables – Sambar is a must used ingredient in making Tamil sambar. Though you can use bottle gourd if sambar kai is not available around. You can use any vegetables, as my mother uses ladyfinger(bhindi/okra) in it. I can see my Tamil friend “Bhavani” using aloo in her sambar dal.

2. Sambar Masala – Here, I used a store-bought packet sambar masala powder. Do not worry, no need to make sambar masala at home, Everest & MTR are common brands selling this ready-made sambar masala all over India. Can easily get this instant masala from your nearest grocery store if you are in any South Indian State: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Kerala. For other states, search for it in the superstores in malls, or you can order through any online apps, can get it through Swiggy, Blinkit or Zepto.

4. Hing and Ghee – Hing and ghee(though optional) are south indian restaurants’ secret ingredients used to make almost all south indian dal recipes. Mind it, do not forget to use these ingredients; otherwise, you will miss the Tamil hotel-style taste.

5. Dal for sambar – Including toor dal, you can use masoor dal or moong dal in sambar, which makes the dal thick and tasty.

6. Onion and garlic – I use onion and garlic in making my sambar dal. People who do not have onion or garlic just skip them. Using hing makes the same flavour and taste come from onion and garlic.

No matter you are a beginner or bachelor, my step by step recipe will surely guide you to make a perfect South Indian sambar dal. So, do not skip any step. Do not doubt on the taste of my recipe that truely a tough competitor my recipe for being a bengali let me know your true feedback about this recipe. You can share your feedback in the comment section below this blog post.

You can check my South Indian Style Coconut Chutney recipe.

How to make sambar dal step by step

1. Firstly, boil the dal. Wash the dals 5-6 times or until the water gets crystal clear. Soak the dal until you cut the veggies.

2. Then, wash and cut the veggies. Cut the pumpkin, sambar kai, and brinjal into cubes and peel the drumsticks’ upper skin and cut into finger length. Slice the onion, cube the tomato and crush the garlic cloves.

3. Drain the water from the soaked dal and put it in a pressure cooker. Add 300 ml of fresh water to it. Close the lid, put the cooker on low heat and cook the dal until 3 whistles are done.

4. In the meantime, heat a pan on medium to high heat on another stove top, and add 3 tbsp of any vegetable oil to the pan.

5. Once the oil is hot, temper the oil with 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1/2 tsp chana dal, 2 dry red chillies and A handful of curry leaves. Stir well.

6. Then fry the onion(finely sliced onion) in the oil. Fry the onion until soft, then add 4-5 crushed garlic cloves, fry for a minute and add the veggies(after straining the water well) afterwards.

7. After slightly frying the veggies, add 1/4 tsp hing or asafoetida. Again, stir well and fry the veggies until the veggies stop releasing water. 

8. Then add 3/4 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp salt to the pan one by one. Stir well. Lastly, add the tomato cubes and fry for a minute. 

9. Next, add around 300 ml of water to the pan and mix well. Once the water starts boiling, turn off the heat.

10. In the meantime, dal is perfectly cooked. Once the cooker automatically releases its pressure. Then open the cooker and nicely mash the dal with a masher.

11. Then shift the veggies from the pan to the cooker, stir well and again close the lid and put the cooker on the low heat of the stove. Pressure cook for 10 mins on low heat, then turn off the heat.

12. In between, prepare the tamarind pulp. Take a lemon-sized tamarind ball, and soak it in a bowl of water for 2-3 mins. Once the tamarind gets soft, make its pulp by crushing it by hand and strain it or remove the remaining and seeds by hand. 

13. On the other hand, veggies are perfectly cooked. Open the lid when the cooker automatically releases its pressure.

14. Then add 2 tsp Coriander powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 2+1/2 tsp sambar powder, 1 tsp salt, and tamarind pulp to the cooker and mix well.

15. Next, add water around 400 ml, mix well and let the dal start boiling. Slow down the heat.

16. Now prepare the tadka for sambar. Take a small pan or tadka pan, add 1/4 tsp urad dal, 1/4 tsp chana dal, 1/4 tsp mustard, 2 dry red chillies, and 1 tbsp oil.

17. Heat them on low heat, and add 3-4 crushed garlic and a sprig of curry leaves to the pan, and stir them well.

18. Then add 1/4 tsp of hing in the pan, stir well and immediately pour into the dal, mix well and boil it for 2-3 mins.

19. Lastly, add ghee(though ghee is optional), give a good stir, and the sambar dal is ready to serve.