Hotel Sambar
Restaurent Style Sambar at Home!
I always wonder the taste of hotel Sambar, it is surely a bit different from our usual sambar which we prepare in home. I have tried many permutations and combinations and finally arrived at the below recipe for the Sambar which I believe being followed in the Chennai hotels. Many of my followers and fans tried this Hotel Sambar and complimented that this version is tasting exactly like Restaurant style.
Most of the hotel sambar uses Pumpkin as their main vegetable. The main reason about using pumpkin is when we pressure cook with dal we can get more quantity than any other veggies. We can also use shallots and make this Hotel Style Sambar. Whenever I plan to make Sambar vada, I always make this version of Hotel Sambar. Medhu vada soaked in this sambar garnished with onions and ghee is a wonderful treat to our taste buds.
The flavor, the color and consistency is very unique for Hotel Sambar and treat to the taste buds. With few secret ingridients and twists to our conventional sambar, we can make this very much in home and get the appreciation from family and friends
We can serve this sambar with hot steaming rice or we can serve as a side dish for out regular South Indian Breakfast like Idli / Dosa/ Upma / Pongal / vada etc
You can also try:
3. Udipi Sambar
4. Onion Sambar
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| Hotel Sambar |
Recipe Card
Hotel Sambar
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 130kcal
I always wonder the taste of Hotel Sambar (Restaurant style sambar), it is surely a bit different from our usual sambar which we prepare in home. Try the recipe here which is usually being followed in the Hotel (Restaurants)
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 Lemon Size Tamarind
- 1/2 cup Toor Dal (Pigeon pea) 1 cup = 250 ml
- 1.5 tsp Salt Adjust to your taste
- 1 cup Pumpkin Chopped into cubes
- 2 tsp Jaggery Grated
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves chopped
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
For Grinding
- 1 tbsp Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)
- 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 8 Red Chili
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
For Seasoning
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 fistful Curry Leaves
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida (Asafetida / Hing)
- 1 tsp Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Soak the tamarind in water for 10 minutes and extract the tamarind juice and keep it aside
- Cook the thurdal with a pinch of Turmeric and finely chopped pumpkin in a pressure cooker. Pumpkin is a key ingredient here which will give a light sweet taste to sambar and also the thickness.
- Heat a pan, add the grinding ingredients and dry fry them till the dals turn golden brown. Take all the fried ingredients in a mixer.
- Grind all the ingredients to a fine powder and take this in a bowl. This is the Sambar Powder that we are going to add with the Sambar after few steps.
- Heat a pan, add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add chopped curry leaves and hing.
- Add the tamarind extract and salt and allow the mixture to boil till the raw smell of the tamarind goes off. Now add little water with the Sambar Powder (which we prepared few steps before) and mix well. We can also add water while grinding and make it a paste. The main reason for adding water is that, when the sambar powder is added to tamarind extract it should not form lumps. So, if we make the sambar powder as a paste then it mixes well with the tamarind extract.
- When the raw smell of the tamarind extract goes off, add the sambar powder paste and immediately stir with a ladle to mix well
- Now take the cooked dal and pumpkin and smash it nicely with the help of back of a ladle. This should be like a paste. It is very important to make sure that the dal is cooked properly and it should get smashed when we press it with the ladle.
- Add the smashed dal and pumpkin to the sambar and stir well. Keep the flame in medium low and wait for the sambar to start boiling. When the sambar starts to boil, add grated jaggery and remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves
- Now the mouth-watering Hotel Sambar is ready with vada, idli, dosa or plain white rice with little ghee.
Video
Notes
- I have used only pumpkin. But we can also use mixed vegetables. Shallots tastes so good.
- Adjust the spice according to your needs
- For the unique taste of Hotel Sambar, we don't add the coconut. But if you want to enhance the taste of sambar, you can add 1/4 cup of coconut along with the grinding ingridents and grind it and add to the sambar
- Serve Hot with Ghee. Ghee further enhances the taste.
Tried this recipe?Mention @subbuskitchen or tag #subbuskitchen!
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Hotel Sambar
Amount Per Serving (1 cup)
Calories 130
Calories from Fat 6
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.7g
1%
Saturated Fat 0.1g
1%
Sodium 202mg
8%
Potassium 527mg
15%
Total Carbohydrates 26.5g
9%
Dietary Fiber 7.5g
30%
Sugars 9g
Protein 7g
14%
Vitamin A
23%
Vitamin C
57%
Calcium
5.5%
Iron
17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Method
- Soak the tamarind in water for 10 minutes and extract the tamarind juice and keep it aside
- Cook the thurdal along with a turmeric powder and chopped pumpkin in a pressure cooker. Pumpkin is a key ingredient here which will give a light sweet taste to sambar and also the thickness. Heat a pan, add the grinding ingredients and dry fry them till the dals turn golden brown. Take all the fried ingredients in a mixer.
- Grind all the ingredients to a fine powder and take this in a bowl. This is the Sambar Powder that we are going to add with the Sambar after few steps. Heat a pan, add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add chopped curry leaves and hing.
- Add the tamarind extract and salt and allow the mixture to boil till the raw smell of the tamarind goes off. Now add little water with the Sambar Powder (which we prepared few steps before) and mix well. We can also add water while grinding and make it a paste. The main reason for adding water is that, when the sambar powder is added to tamarind extract it should not form lumps. So, if we make the sambar powder as a paste then it mixes well with the tamarind extract. When the raw smell of the tamarind extract goes off, add the sambar powder paste and immediately stir with a ladle to mix well
- Now take the cooked dal and pumpkin and smash it nicely with the help of back of a ladle. This should be like a paste. It is very important to make sure that the dal is cooked properly and it should get smashed when we press it with the ladle. Add the smashed dal and pumpkin to the sambar and stir well. Keep the flame in medium low and wait for the sambar to start boiling. When the sambar starts to boil, add grated jaggery and remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves
- Now the mouth-watering Hotel Sambar is ready with vada, idli, dosa or plain white rice with little ghee.
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| Hotel Sambar |
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mami.. whether we can use moong dal instead of thur dal for making hotel sambhar? pls. reply. thanks.
No Renjini, We should use only Thur dal to get the right taste and consistency.
very useful and tasty recipe thank you:)
Thank you for such tasty recipe:)
Mami, can we add other veggies like carrots drumsticks, radish, onions? will it change the taste?
Sure Radha, we can very well use other vegetables too.
Maamiyar it sounds little like bisibellabhath powder and I came to know where the magic is it s n jaggery and smashed pumpkin you are simply great thank you
Hi mami
I love your site and all the recipes you have here are almost the same as my mother's. You are like a sister to me because of the age as well. I myself am a very good cook and like you I do not miss any festival and celebrations.
Please do not mind my correction. You use the word smashed/smash instead of mashed/mash.
Smashed means breaking/shattering someone/something violently.
Mashed is crushing or breaking of food.
Please no offence
Hi, Thanks for letting me know. I will correct it in all recipes.
mami onion poda vendaama?? also tell me what colour pumpkin should be used (white or yellow?)
Hi, I used yellow pumpkin, For pumpkin, you dont need to add onions. We can use baby onions alone or we can combine other vegetables with onions too.
Very tasty sambar i will try it thank you
Hi Auntie, Tried myself in the last weekend along with Idly.. Came up very nicely.. thank you
mami how much water should we add to tamarind for extract ?
Amazing website… Love it amma!! Especially for people like me who keep wondering how my mom gets that taste and not me even after following her recipe step by step 🙂 Kudos to your son and DIL who took this initiative:) Really appreciate it!
Why are we adding jaggery to the sambar maami? i thought it was more of a kannadiga style of cooking…
Thanks
Renganathan
Hi Renganthan, Adding Jaggery is always optional. Adding jaggery will give additional taste to sambar as it lifts up the flavour of tamarind we have added. Also if in case we have more spice or tangy, adding jaggery always helps to adjust the taste.
Hi maami
Love ur site..n ur recipes. .im too passionate abt cooking n me too expert in south Indian, north indian., chinese, ,,…ur presentation s r really superb n very easy to follow. !!! Tq..n expecting more n more from u.!!!!
I tried your Hotel Sambar. I substituted pearl onions (Chinna Vengaayam), 1/3 zucchini, and 1 small carrot – for the pumpkin. Although my microwave reheated Ven Pongal fell short of its original incarnation, the combination came close to hog heaven (Saravan Bhavan?) Thank you for keeping the diaspora cuisine up to snuff! We appreciate your sharing your know-how!
Hi amma,
loved all ur recipes,wanted to know the recipe for idli sambhar the hotel syle.
Hi mami, i want to know how to make vegitable sambar for lunch. Can you please tell the recipe of that
Hi Latha, please refer these links for vegetable sambar. https://www.subbuskitchen.com/2009/01/sambar.html#.U8obWPldXuI
https://www.subbuskitchen.com/2009/01/sambar-araithuvita-sambar.html#.U8obRPldXuI
Dear aunty
I want to know whether itbus redbir white pumpkin.
I assumed that it is red as it gives sweet taste.
What about turmeric
What about turmeric
Your blog was loaded with awesome information. Can you please include my hotel name in your site? Hotel Rajam – best hotels in Kanyakumari | Budget hotels in Kanyakumari
Your blog was loaded with awesome information. Can you please include my hotel name in your site? Hotel Rajam – best hotels in Kanyakumari | Budget hotels in Kanyakumari
Maami… No need to add coconut for making sambar powder paste?
No need for coconut
At what stage to add salt ?
After adding tamarind extract, add the salt.
Dear Aunty, I tried this hotel sambar yesterday and also i tried many other recipes from your blog and they all came about very tasty. I appreciate your patience for posting all these amazing recipes with pictures.
Dear Aunty, I tried this hotel sambar yesterday and also i tried many other recipes from your blog and they all came about very tasty. I appreciate your patience for posting all these amazing recipes with pictures.
Dear Madam,
When we tried sambar, but its not coming as same color as shown in photos. Where we did mistake? Kindly to be give your advise in this regard. ;(
Hope you liked the taste. The color of the sambar depends on how long we fry the dals. If we overfly them then then color of the sambar would be dark brown. If the dals are not golden color then sambar will be very light in color. So fry the dals till they are golden brown. Another ingredient is the tamarind. If you use the new tamarind then it will not be deep brown. But old stock will have rich color.