Hotel Sambhar on a rainy day

Pin It Now! The rains are good not when you are on the road but when you are at home, its a weekend and you have planned for a nice hot brunch. Perfect. Somehow I love the combination of idlis with piping hot sambhar on a rainy morning. The slightly cold outside and the warm feeling inside is very relaxing to me. This was one such weekend where the weather gods smiled at us and showered some much needed moisture. It was a great welcome after the hot days we have had so far.

This time rather than using my own recipe to make sambhar  I thought to try the "Hotel Sambhar" recipe on this site.I made it in my rice cooker and set it on warm setting to have a continuous supply of hot sambhar throughout saturday morning. This slow cooking not only improves its taste but saves the in and out from the microwave.

Here is my version of the recipe- 


1C Toor Dal pressure coked with pinch of turmeric and hing
1/2 onion sliced
1 tomato chopped
lime sized tamarind ball soaked in hot water for 10min
1tsp mustard seeds
1-2 tsp sambhar powder
some jaggery/gur
2-3C water
Paste of 1tsp coconut + 1 garlic clove+ 1/2 inch ginger+1tsp jeera


1.In a rice cooker or a pot heat 3C of water and add the tamarind pulp. You can use store-bought tamarind paste also. Let it come to a rolling boil.


2. Then add the sliced onions,tomatoes and let it cook for 10 mins or so.


3. Once the raw smell of tamarind is lost add the tur dal,salt,sambhar powder and gur. You can 1-2 tsp of chilli powder to make it more spicy.


4. Then add the coconut-ginger-garlic paste to the mixture and let it cook for 10-15 mins. Taste and adjust the seasonings.


5. Heat oil in a small kadai and add mustard seeds. When seeds cracked add curry leaves and whole red chillies.Pour over the rice cooked. I did not use curry leaves since i did not have those at hand.


6. Serve with warm idlis.

We had ours with some rava idlis for a satisfying brunch.