Nutritious Sambars:

Sambar powder of Multi Grains

Sambar ia an indispensable item in South Indian menu.This sambar can be made very palatable and healthy by using multi grains powder. The proportions given below are for majority taste. One can change chilli and other ingredients slightly to suit their individual tastes.

Red Chilli                                   6 cups (200 ml size)

Dhania                                        2 cups

Bengal gram dhal                       1 cup

Toor dhal                                   1cup

Green gram                                1 cup

Horse gram                                1 cup

Kabuli chana                              1 cup

Groundnut                                 ½ cup

Kidney beans                             1 cup

Dried green peas                        1 cup

Black pepper                              ¼ cup

Jeera or cumin seeds                  ¼ cup

Methi seeds                                 3 tsp

One can add any other lentil except maize (it has high starch content).

Dry fry all the ingredients one by one (of course patiently) and allow them to cool. Mixing all together, grind in the mixie coarsely. If flour grinding machine is available in the city, it is better to grind all in that machine. Preserve the powder in an airtight container.

    While making sambar, add one or two teaspoons of this powder, along with cooked dhal to the sambar. The amount of cooked toor dhal can be reduced while one adds this special sambar powder. This will make a very nutritious sambar for rice and chappathis.

Protein rich Sambar:

One can have this sambar in a cup even without rice for a lunch meal.

Soak ½ cup each of raw groundnut, kabuli chana,kidney beans,dried green and white peas and brown small chana gram together overnight.

Rinse well in the morning and pressure cook the grams together with ½ salt. Take the required quantity of tamarind solution, add ½ salt and the cooked grams and one or two tsp of sambar powder,allow it to boil well till the raw smell of tamarind goes off. This sambar does not need cooked toor dhal or vegetables.A cup of this sambar with just one chappathi will make a full meal with far less carb choice compared to regular rice with sambar.