Indian spices are used to moderate the mildly flavored lentils in the tamarind and coconut sauce. With hot rice, serve. Additionally, try it with different veggies like potato, cauliflower, or okra. Any Indian market or speciality shop should carry the ingredients. Reconstituted tamarind paste can be used in place of the tamarind pulp.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow split peas (tuvar dal)
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup tamarind pulp
- ½ cup water
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon yellow lentils (chana dal)
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened flaked coconut
- 2 dried red chile peppers
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder
Instructions
- Place yellow split peas in a saucepan with 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. In another saucepan, mix together the tamarind pulp stir in 1/2 cup water to make a watery juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper and tomato to the tamarind juice, and continue to boil until the vegetables are soft, and the liquid has reduced to almost half.
- Meanwhile, grind the coriander seeds, yellow lentils, coconut and chilies to a paste using a mortar and pestle or food processor. Add this paste to the tamarind sauce, then stir in the yellow lentils until everything is well blended. Bring to a boil once again, then remove from the heat and set aside.
- Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat, and add the mustard seed, cumin seed, and asafoetida powder. Once the mustard seeds start to sputter and the mixture is fragrant, remove from heat and stir into sambar. Serve hot.
Reviews
Amazing recipe but too much tamarind so i put less and soak the daal 1 hr in advance and also i prefer Thoor Daal it works much much better and is softer .
Very disappointed in this. I have had sambar many times over the years at various Indian restaurants, and this recipe was way off the mark. The tamarind was too strong, and gave the dish a strong, tangy flavor that was disagreeable. And the yellow lentils, while edible, were way too firm—and I even soaked them for a couple of hours first, and also cooked them 3X as long as the recipe called for. I could see maybe using an immersion blender on the lentils to puree them after they’ve been cooked. And in my experience, sambar is supposed to have slices of carrot, which this recipe did not have. I now have a pot of soup that I am not at all enthusiastic about finishing eating, and will probably toss out.
It was great, I was cooking for someone with a coconut allergy so I had to leave out the coconut, and the yellow split peas took a lot longer to cook with a lot more water, but it came out tasting very good.
I’m getting ready to make this — I bought tamarind concentrate – how much should I use for this recipe? Thank you.
I did not make this yet, but am wondering …. why is the photo that accompanies this dish actually a shot of what appears to be banana or zucchini bread, not the biryani. I suggest you change the photo so that people won’t pass by the recipe simply because they are not trying to make bread.
1/2 cup tamarind is too much, must be a typo. Cut the tamarind at least in half depending on taste. other than that good.
Very nice
Better pre-soak the peas. They’ll never get soft in just 15 minutes cooking (w/o pressure). Seasoning is a good combination.