Pumpkin and tanarind based lentil stew usually served with rice or idli/dosas
- 2 cups pumpkin chopped in big bite sized pieces
- 1/2 cup toor dal (soaked for atleast an hour)
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste or tamarind water extracted from 1 small lemon sized tamarind
- 11/2 tsp sambar masala powder
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp channa dal
- 10 to 12 curry leaves
- 1/8 tsp asafoetida
- 1/4 tsp roasted fenugreek powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp sesame / coconut / avocado oil or ghee
- 1 slit green chilly or chopped seranno chillies as per spice levels
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 3/4 tbsp chana dal (kadala paruppu)
- 2 to 3 dried red chillies
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 4 to 5 curry leaves
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Soak your dal for a mininum of 1 hour. (You can also use already cooked dal instead)
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Switch on your saute mode and when it heats up, add the oil.
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When the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves, roasted fenugreek powder, turmeric, green chilly, chana dal and let the mustard seeds splutter
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Add the pumpkin cubes, little salt . sambar powder (store bought or any sambar powder of your choice) and saute for a minute.
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Add the tamarind paste, 4 cups water ( or 4 cups tamarind juice extracted from 1 small lemon sized tamarind )
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Add the soaked lentils, salt as needed and pressure cook in manual for 10 minutes and let the pressure release naturally
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Meanwhile while the sambar is cooking, dry roast the ingredients mentioned under spice masala powder and powder it in a spice grinder or food processor.
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When the pressure settles, open the instant pot lid, add the freshly ground sambar masala powder and let it boil for 2 minutes in saute mode. As the sambar boils, mash few pumpkin pieces using a ladle, add water as need to get the consistency you desire.
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Serve hot with rice / idlis with a dollop of ghee and some chopped cilantro.
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Cook the dal with a little salt and a pinch of turmeric powder in a pressure cooker or open pan until soft and mushy. I usually cook for 15 minutes in the instant pot or 5 whistles in the pressure cooker. Set it aside.
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Heat up a thick bottom saucepan / kadai and add oil.
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When the oil heats up add the mustard seeds, chana dal, curry leaves, asafoetida, green chilly, roasted fenugreek powder and let the mustard seeds sputter.
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Add the chopped pumpkin cubes, little salt, sambar powder, 1/4 cup water and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
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Add 3 cups of tamarind juice extracted from a small lemon size tamarind or add 1 tbsp tamarind paste diluted in 3 cups water and let it simmer in medium heat until the raw smell of tamarind is gone.
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As the tamarind is cooking, dry roast the ingredients given under spice powder and powder it to a some what smooth masala powder.
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When the tamarind is cooked, add the cooked dal, freshly ground spice powder and simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes. Add water as needed to adjust consistency, Mash few pieces of pumpkin so that the sambar gets a mildy sweet taste.
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Serve this arachuvitta sambar recipe hot with a dollop of ghee and a topping of chopped cilantro leaves.
- Can also add 1/4 cup grated coconut while dry roasting the spices for the sambar masala mix.
- To make the tamarind juice, soak the tamarind in 3 cups of hot water and let it sit for 15 minutes. When it is cool enough to handle, squeesze the tamarind and extract as much juice as you can. Discard the pulp.
- If using tamarind paste, mix the paste with the 3 cups water.
- If you don't have ready made sambar powder, you could replace it with 11/2 tsp coriander powder and 1/2 tsp chilly powder or just use the freshly ground sambar masala powder that you dry roast and grind in this recipe.
- Can use moong dal instead of toor dal.
- To make roasted fenugreek powder, dry roast the fenugreek until golden (do not burn them) and grind to a powder. Can also subsitute it with whole fenugreek seeds instead. The whole fenugreek might be slightly bitter, if used as powder, the bitterness is not evident.