Sambar powder recipe- homemade, delicious, fresh and flavorful samabar powder for making best sambar. Sambar is one of the most popular Tamil recipe. There are many varieties of sambar like idli sambar, onion sambar, udupi sambhar in south India. This homemade sambar powder is what you use for delicious everyday no grind sambar. Here is how you can male best sambar powder at home with roasted spices.
Sambar Powder- Key To The Perfect Sambar
Homemade sambar powder is the base of sambar in south Indian homes. The taste and flavor of sambar you make varies so much with the quality of sambar masala powder you use.
Every south Indian home has its own recipe for sambar powder with some minor tweaks while the main ingredients remain the same.
This recipe of sambar powder is what we have been making for many many years at our home. This is Tambrahm style sambar powder without cumin, urad dal or curry leaves. We don’t add cumin in sambar and curry leaves are added only while making sambar.
This is truly one of the best sambar powder recipe for making tambrahm style sambar. It yields sambar that is aromatic, delicious with the correct consistency, not too pasty or very thin. Moreover it has the basic spices so you can use it in many other recipes.
Usually I get my supply of sambar powder from my mother along with other staples like ghee, idli podi, rice flour and stuff. Few months back I was out of sambar podi and I made small batch. Since then I have been making this sambar powder in small batches that would last for a month.
Making in small batches preserved the freshness of any homemade masala powder. Also make sure to thoroughly dry the whole spices and lentils before powdering them. Roasted spices are easy to powder and stays good for long time.
Homemade powders are my forte and love to keep them handy. We have stock of this sambar powder, rasam powder, badam milk powder, peanut podi handy.
Making sambar powder at home is really easy and not much of work. You just need 20 minutes from scratch to make this sambar podi. Apart from sambar we also add it in vatha kuzhambu, kootu, rasam too.
Always store sambar powder in clean dry container and use as required. If stored properly this powder stays good for more than six months.
This Sambar Powder Recipe Is
100 % homemade, clean & hygienic
Clean spice blend with basic spices
Yields, tasty flavorful best south Indian sambar
Perfect blend with correct measurement of ingredients
Vegan & gluten free
Versatile spice blend for various dishes
Sambar Powder Ingredients
To make sambar powder the two main ingredients are dried red chilies and coriander seeds. Chilies provide the needed heat and coriander seeds are for flavor. Apart from imparting flavor each ingredient added has a purpose.
For tambrahm style sambar powder you will need the following ingredients
Dried red chilies- This is the base of this sambar masala podi. You can use any variety of red chilies in this recipe. We use the normal long ones. For spicier sambar podi use guntur or round chilies. If you want to make mildly spiced podi with vibrant color you can use kashmiri red chilies/
Coriander seeds- coriander seeds are used for flavor. We usually add equal measures of red chilies and coriander seeds.
Split pigeon peas and chana dal- These two lentils are the ones that provide thickness to the sambar. However we add more of pigeon peas or toor dal as they add an amazing flavor to the sambar. On the other hand chana dal adds a nice flavor and helps in thickening the sambar, So if you more chana dal in ambar powder, sambar might turn very thick and pasty.
Black peppercorns– Black peppers are mainly used to increase the shelf life of sambar powder apart from imparting some heat and flavor.
Fenugreek seeds- fenugreek seeds are added for flavor and also balances the heat from the chilies.
Turmeric roots or powder– For flavor, as a natural preservative and also very good for health. Try to use dried turmeric roots mostly but you can also use very good quality turmeric powder.
How To Make Sambar Powder Or Sambar Podi
1. Get ready with your ingredients by measuring them correctly. The blow picture just shows all the ingredients and not actual measurements. We must ensure the lentils and spices are very clean before making any spice blend. See tips for more details.
2. Heat a heavy pan or cast iron kadai well. Dry roast each ingredient separately, one after the other for 2-3 minutes in medium flame. If you are using turmeric powder don’t roast it.
3. Remove to a big plate and let cool thoroughly.
4. Transfer the cooled ingredients to a high power mixer or blender jar and grind to a very smooth powder. You may grind in batches, sift and grind again if needed.
5. transfer the prepared sambar podi to a big plate and spread well.
6. Store sambar podi in clean dry container after 15 minutes. Always use a clean dry spoon to take required quantity of sambar podi.
What Other Ingredients Can I Add In This Sambar Powder?
The recipe of sambar powder shared here is a very basic one. To this you can add
- 1/4 cup cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped kopra or dried coconut
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
- 1/4 cup curry leaves
- 1 large cinnamon stick
Just roast and grind with other ingredients. The flavor of sambar podi will change according to the added ingredients.
Tips To Make Sambar Powder At Home
Cleaning the spices- Dried red chilies may have small worms or mold inside. Make sure to break and check the chilies, discarding the ones that are not good. If you ave time you can thoroughly rinse the chilies and dry them completely under sun for 2 days and use it.
Picking the lentils- Pick the lentils and check for small stones and grit before roasting.
Roasting the spices- For any spice blend it is very important to roast the spices well. If you have very bright and hot sunlight you can just sun dry the spices. Else dry roast them in a pan over medium heat.
If you wish to sun dry just spread the lentils and spices on a big plate and cover with a thin muslin cloth to prevent dust. Sun dry for 2-3 days depending on the sunshine. The spices should be crisp and completely dry to touch. If there is moisture in the ingredients, the shelf life of the samabr powder will be very less. It will accumulate small insects or worms.
Varying the proportion of ingredients- You can absolutely vary the proportion of any ingredient mentioned here but do read above the purpose of each ingredient and add accordingly.
While grinding- This sambar masala powder should be very smooth and fine. The reason behind making a very smooth powder is sambar should have thick and uniform consistency. It should be thick like gravy and you can achieve this consistency by using a very fine powder.
A high power blender or mixer grinder is must for homemade sambar powder. If making very small quantity you can use your spice grinder or coffee grinder and for large quantities it is better to grind in grinding mills. While gridning at home, do grind in batches.
Storage and Using Sambar Powder- Once you grind the sambar podi spread it on a big plate and let it cool down a bit. let the heat from the blender cool down well. Store sambar powder in a clean dry jar. You can store this powder for 6 months at room temperature and for an year in refrigerator.
Always use a clean dry spoon for taking out required quantity.
more podi recipes
I hope you will try this sambar powder recipe enjoy as much as we did. P
Sambar Powder Recipe
Sambar Powder Recipe
Equipment
- high power blender or mixer grinder
1 CUP = 250 ml
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried red chilies
- 1 cup dried coriander seeds
- 1/2 cup toor dal split pigeon peas
- 1/4 cup chana dal split chickpea lentil
- 1/8 cup black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoon fenugreek seeds methi seeds
Instructions
- Get ready with your ingredients by measuring them correctly for making sambar powder. The blow picture just shows all the ingredients and not actual measurements. We must ensure the lentils and spices are very clean before making any spice blend. See tips for more details.
- Heat a heavy pan or cast iron kadai well. Dry roast each ingredient separately, one after the other for 2-3 minutes in medium flame. If you are using turmeric powder don't roast it.
- Remove to a big plate and let the ingredients for sambar podi cool thoroughly.
- Transfer the cooled ingredients to a high power mixer or blender jar and grind to a very smooth powder. You may grind in batches, sift and grind again if needed.
- transfer the prepared sambar podi to a big plate and spread well. Store sambar powder in clean dry container after 15 minutes. Always use a clean dry spoon to take required quantity.
Notes
- You can halve or double this recipe
- vary the proportion of any ingredient as per taste
Nutrition
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