Sambar Powder Recipe (Sambar Masala) (2024)

Sambar Powder is a masala blend of lentils and spices that makes Sambar divinely delicious. Sambar Podi called in Tamil is a handy masala common in most of South India households stocked to make Sambar effortlessly, makes sambar flavorful & tasty too. Learn to make Sambar Powder Recipe with step by step pictures and video.

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Sambar Masala or Sambar Powder is flavorful when made at home rather than buying it from stores. You can feel the difference significantly when you try making sambar with the Sambar powder recipe posted here.

What is Sambar Powder?

Sambar Powder is one of the most essential spice blend mix needed to make Sambar. Sambar Powder or Sambar Masala is made using lentils, red chilies and few spices. Sambar is a South Indian curry made using lentils and vegetables. Sambar is served with tiffin items and also with rice.

Sambar Powder is a handy ingredient to make tasty, flavorful sambar easily & quickly. Sambar made with this Sambar Powder Recipe makes the dishes tastier – Idli, Dosa, Pongal, Vada, Oothapam gets to another level.

Mittu just loves sambar especially this sambar – she would literally drink it with a spoon sometimes. For her sake, sambar is in our menu at least twice a week.

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Sambar Powder – Sambar Masala – Sambar Podi

Sambar Powder, Sambar Masala, Sambar Podi, Thanjavur Sambar Podi, Udupi Sambar Powder, Iyengar Sambar Podi, Brahmin Sambar Podi all means one and the same Sambar Powder. Sambar powder is called in different names as they are vary slightly with regions & ingredients but the core Sambar Powder recipe is the same.

Sambar Powder Video

Sambar Powder Ingredients

Sambar powder is an assortment of spices – They have rich medicinal value and makes the dish healthy & tasty to relish.

• Red chillies or Laal mirch: Red Chilies makes the Sambar powder spicy. The quantity can be adjusted based on the family liking (mild spicy to very spicy). I have used round variety of red chilli for home style Sambar Powder(but you can replace it with regular chillies too) and the long variety of red chilli for Traditional Sambar Powder. Bydagi & Kashmiri Chillies can also be used individually or with a mix of one or more variety and both of them give excellent color and are less spicy.
• Lentils or Dal: Toor Dal, Urad Dal and Chana Dal are added in equal proportions makes the base of Sambar Powder. Dals influence the taste & color of Sambar powder.
• Coriander / Dhaniya: Coriander seeds is another key ingredient in Sambar Powder. Coriander seeds have a great flavor when crushed and thus the sharp differentiating taste of Sambar Powder.
• Fenugreek / Methi: Fenugreek seeds gives aroma & nutty, slightly bitter taste to Sambar Powder. Do not use fenugreek more than prescribed quantity as it will make the Sambar bitter.
• Black pepper or Kali Mirch or Pepper Corn : gives the sharp spicy taste to the Sambar Powder. It helps in digestion and weight loss by improving the metabolism of the body.
• Cumin : also called as Jeera adds earthy, warming and aromatic flavors to Sambar Powder. Jeera also aids in building up our immunity and has anti-bacterial properties.
• Mustard : Adding mustard is this sambar powder recipe’s specialty as I haven’t seen many of them adding mustard in sambar powder. Mustard have anti-inflammatory properties and aids in digestion.

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Sambar Powder – Home Style & Traditional method

I have shared both the versions of Sambar Powder for you to try at home and take the home with surprise by the different tastes of sambar each time that keeps them happy even when you make sambar 7 days in a week.

• Home style Sambar Masala: Sometimes we do not need answers to all the questions and we are comfortable with it. Especially question like: Why I make Sambar for the 4^th time in this week when it is barely Wednesday? Sambar made with my Mom’s sambar powder recipe gives that emotion. This Sambar powder recipe is from my mother’s handwritten book which was originally passed over orally for generations together.
• Traditional Method Sambar Podi: Iyengar style Sambar podi is famous in South India. Sambar Podi is slightly different from the regular sambar powder with ingredients & the quantity of ingredients.

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How to make Sambar Powder Step by Step

1.Measure and keep the ingredients ready. First dry roast 3 cups red chilies along with 1/4 cup urad dal till dal turns golden brown and chilies turn slightly browned and crisp,transfer to a plate. If dry red chilies is roasted separately it may get burnt easily so always roast it along with any dal.

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2.Dry roast 1/8 cup pepper until crisp, let it crackle then transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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3.Dry roast 3/4 cup coriander seeds until golden and aromatic. Transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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4.Dry roast 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds until golden. Transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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5.Next dry roast 1/8 cup cumin seeds until golden brown. Transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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6.Then dry roast 1/4 cup chana dal until golden brown. Transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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7.Dry roast 1/4 cup toor dal until golden. Transfer to the same plate and set aside.

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8.Finally add 1 tablespoon mustard seeds let it splutter, transfer to the plate and set aside.

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9.Cool down the roasted ingredients completely.

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10.Transfer the ingredients to a mixer jar.

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11.Grind it to a fine powder.

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12.Spread it over a plate to cool down and then store in a clean airtight container.

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Fresh aromatic sambar powder ready!

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Sambar Powder – Traditional Iyengar Style

Amma’s sambar powder recipe posted above is the one I’ve been following all these days which I’ve already posted. I always wanted to try the brahmin / iyengar version of sambar powder as I’ve heard its different and aromatic.

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I tried making sambar yesterday and loved it to the core…it has a different flavor and I felt it was more like the sambar served in marriages, Now I am happy that I have 2 versions of sambar powder recipe as record.

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Ingredients

1/4 kg dry red chilies
100 gms coriander seeds
50 gms channa dal
50 gms toor dal
50 gms urad dal
50 gms pepper corns
25 gms fenugreek seeds
50 gms turmeric sticks (virali manjal)

Note* – I halved the recipe and tried

Step by Step

1. Measure all your ingredients(I halved the original recipe).Dry roast red chilies till the chilies turn crisp,Set aside. Dry roast coriander seeds till golden brown,Set aside to cool down.Pin
2. Then dry roast toor dal, urad dal, chana dal each separately till golden brown and set aside.
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3. Dry roast fenugreek seeds for 2 mins,Set aside.Dry roast pepper corns till nice aroma rises and till the spluttering stops.Dry roast turmeric sticks for a minute.
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4. Collect all the ingredients and let it cool down.Using a hand mortar and pestle coarse grind the turmeric sticks.Pin
5. Now add all the roasted ingredients along with the turmeric mixture and grind to a fine powder.Spread in a plate and set aside to cool down.Pin

Store in an airtight container.

Expert Tips

• Adjust red chilies according to your spice level – 3 cups can be increased to around 4 cups or more if you prefer sambar powder to be spicy.
• Adding hing is purely optional, add a teaspoon along with mustard seeds if you are adding hing.
• The color of the powder largely depends on the red chili variety. Also always fry red chilies along with the dal to avoid burning. If the red chilies turn dark/black then it will affect the color and taste of the sambar powder too.
• If you are grinding in bulk you can give it to flour mill for grinding which will give a more fine powder. If you are making in a small batch you can grind it your regular mixer itself.
• Make sure you cool down completely before you grind it. Also after grinding spread it on a plate, let it cool down before youstore.
• If you are adding turmeric powder add it as such for grinding no need to roast.
• Roasting turmeric sticks helps in breaking easily so I roasted it, that step is purely optional.
• I prefer adding turmeric sticks as it gives such a nice aroma, am sure that will be missing if we use turmeric powder.
• Keeps well even for a year, may be after 4-5 months you can refrigerate it.
• This sambar powder gives a yellow hue color because of the turmeric sticks.
• Make sure you cool down completely before you grind it.Also after grinding let it cool down before you store.
• You can even sundry the ingredients till crisp and then give for grinding.
• I used my dry mixer for grinding at home.If you are making in bulk then you can choose to give it in mill for grinding.

Storage

Sambar Masala looses flavor and aroma through evaporation when exposed to too much of light, air so store in airtight container. You can scale up or down the recipe depending on your needs!

Sambar Powder quantity prescribed in this post lasts for about 6 months for us with usage of at least 2 times a week. I usually transfer half of it to a separatecontainer and store it for later use sometimes I refrigerateit. For daily use I use a small container in the kitchen. Sambar Podi keeps well for 3 months in room temperature and even for a year in fridge / freezer

FAQS

1.What we can make with Sambar Powder?

Of course Sambar! It can be added for Kuzhambu, Kootu, Poriyal and as a replacement for Kuzhambu Milagai Thool & Curry Masala Powder when you run out of stock with them!

2.How do you make Sambar Powder?

Dry roast spices, lentils, chili separately and grind them in mixer grinder to make Sambar powder. Alternatively you can sun dry them until crisp and grind it too but roasting gives more flavor.

3.Is all the spices & dals mandatory for making sambar powder?

Yes – use prescribed ingredients which gets tasty sambar. If you are running out of stock, you can skip urad dal, cumin, turmeric and mustard. Additionally you may use hing, roasted curry leaves. Also you can add powders if you do not have in seeds form. You can also add desiccated coconut to make it tastier, but the shelf life comes down by half!

4.Is there any specific variety of red chilli that is used for Sambar powder?

You can use bydagi, kashmiri chili or round variety of red chili for making sambar powder.

5.Is Sambar Powder necessary for making Sambar?

Not necessarily – however having sambar powder handy at home reduces the effort in making sambar all time. We can grind all the spices fresh each time to make Sambar but who would not want to save time unless you are making it big for marriage like function! Make sambar easily with sambar powder.

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