How to make the best sambar masala powder?

Are you a sambar lover like me? Then you know , the key to making a great sambar depends on a good sambar powder / masala and that’s what I’m here to share with you today!

I love my sambar, maybe a bit too much. Infact I judge any Indian restaurant based on their sambar. If they don’t have a good sambar, I never order any south Indian dishes from that restaurant. Unfortunately for me, most of the Indian restaurants here don’t even come close at making sambars as good as the one’s we get in India (especially South India). So I prefer to make them home and with my mom’s aromatic and amazing sambar powder.

So what makes a good sambar?

• The right propotion to veggies and lentils, an aromatic spice mix and a perfect balance of sourness, spiciness and sweetness.
• The veggies you add makes a huge difference to the taste of your sambar.
• Veggies like small pearl onions, drumstick, yellow pumpkin have a distinct taste to them and elevate the taste of a sambar. You can choose to make it with a single vegetable or a variety depending on what you are serving it with.
• Similarly the choice of dal used affects a sambar’s taste. Mostly sambars are made with either toor dal or moon dal, or a combination of both.
• Everyone has a different recipe for the spice mix. Some keep it simple with basic ingredients, some decide to add a lot more, some use pre ground spices, some grind it fresh. All these factors have a huge imapact on the taste of your sambar. And yes a good SAMBAR MASALA plays a huge part in the tatse of your sambar.

I grew up eating two kinds of sambar on a regular basis. One is arachuvitta sambar where spices are roasted fresh and ground with some coconut to make an aromatic sambar recipe. The other one is using the sambar powder (sambar masala) mom would have premade which we call paruppu kuzhambu at home. This is the spice powder, mom would use for rasams, sambars, veggie stir fries and other dishes that needed it. The premade sambar powder is the recipe I am going to share with you today. And trust me it is so much more better than the store bought sambar powder/ masalas.

How do we make this back home?

Typically, huge batches of spices are bought, making sure the spices are fresh and of great quality. Then mom would spread them all in a newspaper in the hottest part of the terrace and dry them in the sun for about 10 days. The idea behind this is, by doing this the ground masala powder will not get any bugs and also roasting all the ingredients in a pan especially the chillies would be difficult as they are made in huge quantities. If you have high temperature with lots of sun light, I would recommend drying them in the sun rather than roasting it especially if you want to make a big batch. You do not have to roast these ingredients in the stove if you dry them in the sun.

We do not have separate powders for rasam, curries and sambar in our house. We use this as an all purpose spice mix for most south Indian dishes.

I would recommend you store them in an air tight container, so that you don’t lose its wonderful aroma over time. You could adjust the chillies as per the spice levels of the chillies you get in your area and according to your preference.

So let’s see how to make the best homestyle sambar powder / sambar masala.

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