Podi Sambar with Drumstick and Pearl Onions

Podi Sambar with Drumstick and Pearl Onions

Podi Sambar with Drumstick and Pearl Onions

Podi Sambar is sambar the way it was always meant to be made — built from scratch around a masala that carries all the work. Vibrant Sambar Podi's slow-roasted dal-and-kobbari base is the entire spice architecture here: you are not seasoning the sambar with it, you are building the sambar on top of it. Drumstick and pearl onions add the bite and sweetness that make a proper South Indian sambar sing.

Prep: 15 min  |  Cook: 30 min  |  Serves: 3  |  Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

  • 2.5 tsp  Vibrant Sambar Podi (VSP)
  • 1/2 cup  toor dal (pappu), rinsed
  • 6-8  pearl onions (sambar onions), peeled
  • 1 drumstick (murungakkai), cut into 3-inch pieces 
  • 1 small  tamarind (chintapandu), lemon-sized ball
  • 1/2 tsp  turmeric (pasupu)
  • 1 tsp  ghee (neyyi)
  • 1/2 tsp  mustard seeds (aavalu)
  • 2 sprigs  curry leaves (karivepaku)
  • to taste  salt

Method

  1. Pressure-cook toor dal with turmeric and 1.5 cups of water for 3 whistles until completely soft. Once pressure releases, mash well — the dal should be smooth with no whole pieces remaining.
  2. Soak the tamarind ball in 1 cup of warm water for 10 minutes, then squeeze and strain to extract the pulp. Discard the fibre and seeds.
  3. In a kadai, heat the tamarind water over medium flame. Add the pearl onions and drumstick pieces and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the drumstick is just tender and the onions have softened — the raw tamarind smell will settle into a warm sourness.
  4. Add the Vibrant Sambar Podi to the tamarind and vegetable base and stir well. Simmer for 3-4 minutes so the roasted dal-and-kobbari masala blooms into the liquid — the colour will deepen to a rich reddish-brown and the kitchen will smell exactly as it should.
  5. Pour in the mashed toor dal and stir until fully combined. Add salt and 1/2 to 1 cup of water to reach the consistency you like — sambar should pour easily but not be thin. Simmer for another 5 minutes on low flame.
  6. Finish with a tadka: heat ghee in a small pan, add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter, then add curry leaves. Pour the sizzling tadka directly over the sambar and serve hot with rice, idli, or dosa.

Shop Vibrant Sambar Podi →

✓ High Protein  |  ✓ High Fibre  |  ✓ Rich in Iron  |  ✓ Rich in Calcium  |  ✓ Rich in Potassium

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