Sambar Wada

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Prep Time:
 45min (Overnight soaking of lentils required)
Cook Time:
 30 mins

Ingredients:
This recipe serves 4 persons.
For the Vada:

  1. Moong Daal - 1 Cup
  2. Urad Daal - 2 Cups
  3. Green Chilies - 3
  4. Ginger - 1 Inch piece
  5. Coriander - Fresh
  6. Salt - To Taste
For the Sambar:
  1. Toor Daal - 1 Cup
  2. Tomatoes -2 Large
  3. Onions - 2 Large
  4. Pumpkin - 100gm (Optional)
  5. Beans - 50 gms (Optional)
  6. Cauliflower - 50gms (Optional)
  7. Drumstick - 50 gms (Optional)
  8. Red Chili Powder - 1 Teaspoon
  9. Sambar Powder- 3 Table Spoons (For the Recipe Click here)
  10. Turmeric - 1 Teaspoon
  11. Tamarind Paste/Extract - 1 Tablespoon
  12. Jaggery - 1 small piece
  13. Salt - To taste
  14. For the Tempering: 
    1. Oil
    2. Curry Leaves - 10
    3. Black Mustard Seeds - 1 Teaspoon
    4. Dried Red Chilies - 2
    5. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tablespoon
For the Tomato Chutney:

  1. Tomatoes -2 Large
  2. Onions - 2 Large
  3. Curry Leaves - 10
  4. Green Chilies - 2
  5. Garlic - 2 cloves (Optional)
  6. Salt - To taste
For the Coconut Chutney:

  1. Wet Coconut - 1 Whole (Scraped)
  2. Black Mustard Seeds - 1 Teaspoon
  3. Curry Leaves - 5
  4. Dried Red Chilies - 2
  5. Salt - To taste
Procedure:

For the Sambar:
  • Take the toor daal in a pressure cooker and three times the amount of water as the toor daal.
  • Add to this the tomatoes(whole/chopped doesn't matter) and a pinch of salt.
  • Now cook for 3-4 whistles in a 3L cooker.
  • Chop all the vegetables till the daal is cooking. All vegetables are optional. You can add any suitable seasonal vegetable to the mix.
  • Turn of the flame/induction cook-top & open the pressure after it has cooled down naturally and add all the vegetables.
  • Add a tablespoon of tamarind paste, jaggery, sambar powder, turmeric, red chili powder & salt to taste.
  • Again cook for 3 whistles.
  • After 3 whistles, turn of the flame and let the cooker cool down naturally.

  • Now for the tempering, take the oil in tempering pan, add ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, dried red chilies, asafoetida,  & mustard seeds.
  • Once cooked, add the tempering mix over the Sambar and stir well.
  • And your delicious Sambar is ready. Keep in a glass bowl for easy microwave reheating till the other items are ready.

For the Vada:
  • Soak both the moong & urad daals for atleast 3-4 hours or preferably overnight.
  • Drain all the water from the lentils.
  • Grind them to a thick & coarse batter in a grinder.
  • Add chopped coriander leaves, green chilies & finely diced ginger & salt to the batter and mix well.

  • Make sure that you do not add any water during grinding.
  • Heat the oil in fry pan or kadhai.
  • Now make small balls out of the batter and fry them till golden brown.
  • Soak the strained vadas in warm water mixed with salt & asafoetida till the time of consumtion to improve their texture.
For the Tomato Chutney:
  • Chop the tomatoes, onions & green chilies & Garlic(Optional) in to large pieces.
  • Stir fry these till they are almost cooked and then add curry leaves.
  • After the curry leaves stop sputtering, turn of the flame.
  • Wait till the mixture has cooled down a bit. Now add salt to taste and grind the mixture to a fine paste as shown in the picture.

For the Coconut Chutney:
  • Peel a whole wet coconut (semi dry coconut which still has water inside) and remove the outer shell.
  • Chop the kernel into small pieces.
  • Grind the kernel into coarse paste. Add water as needed while grinding.
  • For the tempering, we shall heat oil in a tempering pan, add dried red chilies, curry leaves & mustard seeds.
  • After the ingredients stop sputtering, add the tempering mix to ground coconut paste along with salt to taste.

  • Serve the Wadas dipped in hot Sambar along with both chutneys and enjoy.
  • For more recipes, travel logs & much more, stay tuned to my blog.

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