South Indian Sambar Curry
⏱️ Prep: 20 min🍳 Cook: 20 min
Ingredients
| 1.5 cups | 360 ml | split pigeon peas |
| 3 cups | 720 ml | water (for soaking) |
| 3 tablespoons | 45 ml | cooking oil (such as canola oil) |
| 3 | dried red chile peppers | |
| 9 | whole curry leaves | |
| 1.5 teaspoons | 7.5 ml | black mustard seeds |
| 0.25 teaspoon | 1.3 ml | asafoetida powder |
| 1.5 cups | 360 ml | finely chopped red onion |
| 0.75 cup | 180 ml | finely chopped tomato |
| 1.5 teaspoons | 7.5 ml | turmeric powder |
| 1.5 teaspoons | 7.5 ml | red chile powder, or to taste |
| — | salt | |
| 0.5 cup | 120 ml | diced carrot |
| 0.5 cup | 120 ml | diced eggplant |
| 1.5 | drumsticks (bean-like vegetable), cut into 1-inch pieces | |
| 9 cups | 2.2 l | room-temperature water |
| 4.5 teaspoons | 23 ml | tamarind paste |
| 1.5 teaspoons | 7.5 ml | sambar masala |
| 1.5 teaspoons | 7.5 ml | brown sugar |
Instructions
READY IN: 45min · PREP TIME: 20min · COOK TIME: 20min. Servings: 10.
- Soak split pigeon peas in 3 cups water.
- Turn pressure cooker to Saute mode on High. Add cooking oil, dry red chiles, curry leaves, mustard seeds, and asafoetida powder to inner steel pot of pressure cooker; saute until mustard seeds start popping, 1 to 2 seconds.
- Add onion to pressure cooker and saute until onion is lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add chopped tomato, turmeric powder, red chile powder, and salt to onion mixture; saute until tomato begins to break down, about 5 minutes.
- Drain water from split pigeon peas through a colander.
- Stir diced carrot, eggplant, drumstick, and the soaked split pigeon peas into tomato mixture.
- Pour 9 cups room-temperature water over pea mixture and stir.
- Lock pressure cooker lid in place and set the steam vent to Sealing. Select pressure cook (Manual) and cook on High pressure for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally.
- Remove lid, add tamarind paste, sambar masala, and brown sugar to pea mixture; stir well.
Mealthy Tip: Substitute lentils for pigeon peas. Drumsticks are a vegetable from the same tree that moringa leaves come from. They are similar to a green pea pod. If you can't find drumsticks, substitute green beans or okra.