This week, my theme for the Blogging Marathon is One Pot Meals. This is one of my favorite themes to blog about as I love making one-pot meals. Sambhar Sadham also called the South Indian Sambhar Rice is a perfect one-pot meal for parties or big events let alone the busy weekdays.
One-pot Meals are a lifesaver on busy weekday nights or a crazy activity-filled Weekend lunch.
I have to confess something! Well, it is not a big deal, maybe….but for me, it feels like I learned a whole new thing when I made this Sambhar Sadham recipe. Forever I have thought that Bisi Bela Baath and Sambhar Sadham are one and the same.
I was very ignorant and when people tried to explain it to me, I still stuck to my line of thoughts and believed that they were the one and the same. Finally, it dawned on me that Bisi Bela Baath is a Karnataka specialty and it has a different masala paste.
The South Indian Sambhar Rice is Tamil Nadu special and is very famous in restaurants. Reading further upon it, I read that it is very similar to the araichu vitta sambhar recipe I make.
I was so excited to make the Sambhar Sadham recipe and made it over the weekend. I make Bisi Bela Baath quite often and that is actually one of my monthly recipes that I make over the weekend.
After making the Sambar rice, I think this is going to come in as a competition to my Bisi Bela Baath. My little one loved this and he actually said that he likes this over the Bisi Bela Baath recipe.
I made a few changes in the way I cooked my rice and lentil (paruppu) for the recipe. For Bisi Bela Baath, I usually cook the rice and lentils together and cook it a little mushy.
For Sambhar Sadham, I wanted the rice to be not too mushy and hence I cooked them separately. I cooked them Pot in the pot in my Instant Pot and again, I couldn’t be happier than this with Instant Pot.
Any vegetables that can go into sambhar can be used to make Sambhar Sadham. I used pearl onions, drumsticks, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes. Eggplant would be a great addition to the Sambhar Sadham. I did not have any in hand, but would use it next time when I make it.
Preparation time - 15 minutes Cooking time - 40 minutes Difficulty level - easy
Ingredients to make Sambhar Sadham - Serves 4 to 6
- Rice - 1 cup ( I used Sona Masoori)
- Toor dal / Tuvaram Paruppu - ⅓ cup
- Vegetables of your choice - 3 cups (I used onions, tomatoes, drumsticks, potatoes, and carrots)
- Tamarind - a lemon size ball
- Sambhar powder - 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
- Asafetida - ¼ tsp
- Jaggery / Brown sugar - a small piece
- Curry leaves - few
- Oil - 1 tbsp
- Salt - to taste
To fry together and grind -
- Coriander seeds/dhania - 1 ½ tbsp
- Chana dal / kadalai paruppu - 1 tbsp
- Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu - 1 tsp
- Red chilies - 7 or 8 (adjust based on your spice level)
- Black pepper - ½ tsp
- Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam - ½ tsp
- Coconut (grated) - ¼ cup
- oil - 1 tsp
Procedure to make Sambhar Sadham -
- Cook the rice and toor dal separately and keep them aside. Mash the toor dal well and gently mash the rice as well. I like my sambhar sadham a little on the grainy side, so I don’t mash my rice too much.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water ( about 2 cups) and squeeze the juice.
- Chop all the vegetables and keep them ready.
- Fry all the ingredients mentioned under the list and once it cools down, grind it into a smooth paste adding a little water as needed.
- In a heavy bottom pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add the pearl onions. Saute it for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat and then add the rest of the vegetables.
- Fry the vegetables for about 5 minutes and add the extracted tamarind water.
- Add the sambhar powder, turmeric powder, and salt, and let the mixture boil well. The raw smell of the tamarind should disappear and also the vegetables should be cooked. Make sure that the vegetables still maintain their shape and do not become mushy.
- At this stage, add the ground paste and mix well. Let it come to a gentle boil and then add the cooked toor dal. Mix well and let the sambhar boil for 5 to 7 minutes on low heat.
- Add the cooked rice and mix well. make sure that there are no lumps in the rice.
- Let the sambhar sadham simmer for 5 to 7 minutes on a very low flame.
- Serve the sambar rice hot, with Appalam/Vadam/Chips.
Other Rice Recipes
- Cauliflower Dum Biriyani | Gobhi Dum Biriyani
- Tamatari Kasoori Pulao - Pulao with tomatoes and dry Fenugreek leaves
- Quabuli Pulao | Kabuli Pulao - National Dish of Afghanistan (Vegetarian)
- Cranberry Rice / Kuruthi Nelli Sadam
Recipe
Equipment
- ▢ plate
- ▢ Bottom Pan
- ▢ spatula
- ▢ bowl
Ingredients
To make Sambhar Sadham -
- ▢ 1 cup Rice I used Sona Masoori
- ▢ ⅓ cup Toor dal / Tuvaram Paruppu
- ▢ 3 cups Vegetables of your choice I used onions, tomatoes, drumstick, potatoes and carrot
- ▢ Tamarind a lemon size ball
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Sambhar powder
- ▢ ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ▢ ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
- ▢ a small piece Jaggery / Brown sugar
- ▢ few Curry leaves
- ▢ 1 tablespoon Oil
- ▢ to taste Salt
To fry together and grind -
- ▢ 1½ tablespoon Coriander seeds / dhania
- ▢ 1 tablespoon Chana dal / kadalai paruppu
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu
- ▢ 7 Red chilies adjust based on your spice level
- ▢ ½ teaspoon Black pepper
- ▢ ½ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam
- ▢ ¼ cup Coconut grated
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Oil
Instructions
- Cook the rice and toor dal separately and keep them aside. Mash the toor dal well and gently mash the rice as well. I like my sambhar sadham a little on the grainy side, so I don’t mash my rice too much.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water ( about 2 cups) and squeeze the juice.
- Chop all the vegetables and keep the ready.
- Fry all the ingredients mentioned under the list and once it cools down, grind it into a smooth paste adding a little water as needed.
- In a heavy bottom pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add the pearl onions. Saute it for 2 to 3 minutes in medium heat and then add the rest of vegetables.
- Fry the vegetables for about 5 minutes and add the extracted tamarind water.
- Add the sambhar powder, turmeric powder and salt and let the mixture boil well. The raw smell of the tamarind should disappear and also the vegetables should be cooked. Make sure that the vegetables still maintain their shape and not become mushy.
- At this stage, add the ground paste and mix well. Let it come to a gentle boil and then add the cooked toor dal. Mix well and let the sambhar boil for 5 to 7 minutes in low heat.
- Add the cooked rice and mix well. make sure that there are no lumps in the rice.
- Let the sambhar sadham simmer for 5 to 7 minutes in very low flame.
- Serve hot with Appalam / Vadam / Chips.
Nutrition
More Rice Recipes
- Vellam Sadam | Sweet Jaggery Rice
- Rasam Rice | One-Pot Rasam Sadam (Instant Pot Recipe)
- Instant Pot Vegetable Masala Khichdi
- Spicy Schezwan Fried Rice
Sambhar Sadham | South Indian Sambhar Rice
Equipment
- plate
- Bottom Pan
- spatula
- bowl
Ingredients
To make Sambhar Sadham -
- 1 cup Rice I used Sona Masoori
- ⅓ cup Toor dal / Tuvaram Paruppu
- 3 cups Vegetables of your choice I used onions, tomatoes, drumstick, potatoes and carrot
- Tamarind a lemon size ball
- 1 teaspoon Sambhar powder
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
- a small piece Jaggery / Brown sugar
- few Curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- to taste Salt
To fry together and grind -
- 1½ tablespoon Coriander seeds / dhania
- 1 tablespoon Chana dal / kadalai paruppu
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal / Ullutham paruppu
- 7 Red chilies adjust based on your spice level
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam
- ¼ cup Coconut grated
- 1 teaspoon Oil
Instructions
- Cook the rice and toor dal separately and keep them aside. Mash the toor dal well and gently mash the rice as well. I like my sambhar sadham a little on the grainy side, so I don’t mash my rice too much.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water ( about 2 cups) and squeeze the juice.
- Chop all the vegetables and keep the ready.
- Fry all the ingredients mentioned under the list and once it cools down, grind it into a smooth paste adding a little water as needed.
- In a heavy bottom pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add the pearl onions. Saute it for 2 to 3 minutes in medium heat and then add the rest of vegetables.
- Fry the vegetables for about 5 minutes and add the extracted tamarind water.
- Add the sambhar powder, turmeric powder and salt and let the mixture boil well. The raw smell of the tamarind should disappear and also the vegetables should be cooked. Make sure that the vegetables still maintain their shape and not become mushy.
- At this stage, add the ground paste and mix well. Let it come to a gentle boil and then add the cooked toor dal. Mix well and let the sambhar boil for 5 to 7 minutes in low heat.
- Add the cooked rice and mix well. make sure that there are no lumps in the rice.
- Let the sambhar sadham simmer for 5 to 7 minutes in very low flame.
- Serve hot with Appalam / Vadam / Chips.
