Good Food Guy
- Jul 17
- 3 min read

Sambar Sadam

Simplicity is always the best. Be it any areas of life or even in food. Simple food always means comfort food for me. And in comfort food there is a long list that is comforting for me. After all l am a true foodie:)

Today’s post is about 'Sambar Sadam' a typical rice, lentils and veggies dish, in which all come together in a home made spice blend. I learnt about sambar Sadam in early 2000. Initially I thought someone might be lazy to cook ,so mixed leftover Sambar and rice, called it Sambar Sadam. I was wrong.

Even though I was wrong with my take on Sambar Sadam, I absolutely loved it. And then while I was staying in Chennai, I knew SS :) is a freshly prepared dish and it is quite an easy dish to be put together.

I had some veggies left over that by itself won’t be made into a dish. So that’s when making Sambar sadam strikes me! And while chopping the veggies, I remembered my stay in Chennai and how delicious Sambar Sadam was on my taste buds. So folks, here is the tasty Sambar Sadam recipe that I have picked up there and am glad to share with you all. ALSO dont forget to click here and subscribe me on YouTube

You will need: Mix veggies of your choice. I have used

One green bell pepper diced

Two small carrots cut length wise

One long medium diced eggplant

Two medium potatoes diced

Two tomatoes diced

One medium onion roughly chopped

Two green chillies

Few curry leaves

Tamarind Pulp of lemon sized ball.

For masala paste

1TB coriander seeds

1 TB Fennel seeds

1/2 TB cumin seeds

1TB Bengal Gram (channa dal)

1/2 TB Black Gram (urad dal)

1/4 TB peppercorn

3-4 seeds of fenugreek

2 TB freshly grated coconut

3-4 curry leaves

2-3 dry red chillies

1tb oil

Other ingredients

1 cup rice

1/2 Pigeon peas (tur dal)

2tb oil

Salt as per taste

1tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp asafoetida

A small piece of jaggery (optional)

1 Tb ghee

Method

1 - Wash rice and pigeon peas well. Soak for an hour (I prefer to do this step as it cooks the lentils well)

2 - Pressure cook with 4 cups water for 4-5 whistles (I prefer it slightly over cooked)

3 - In a Pan add one TB oil and dry roast all the ingredients under 'masala paste' except coconut, until fragrant on low heat. Once the lentils change color, add freshly grated coconut and fry until coconut is toasty brown. Cool down and grind to a 'not' very fine paste.

4 - In a large pot, add 2 Tb oil. Once heated add green chilies, asafoetida, curry leaves and onions. Sauté until onions turn pink.

5 - Add turmeric, potatoes and carrots and fry for four-five mins. Cover and cook until potatoes are slightly tender (add little water to create steam)