Whenever I remember vengaya sambar, I remember the song my mom sings, but I could not find such song online. I don't even know if it's really there or made up my herself, still I keep singing those two lines... vengaya sambaru...vegadha soru...😁
Though I make everyday sambar with small onions when I have stock or the tiffin sambar with potato and small onion, never thought of posting vengaya sambar in my blog. For people who make sambar without onion all the times, vengaya sambar is a big deal and its special like how arachuvitta sambar is in place of the everyday sambar with mill ground sambar powder. But we always make sambar with onion, so only small onions is special, that too, I use small onions whenever I have stock as Vj likes his sambar with small onions.
Only that I make with some vegetables along with small onions, so add just a hand full. Chinna vengaya sambar is made with lots of small onions and only that, no vegetables. Also freshly ground sambar powder is best for this sambar. Vengaya sambar and potato curry is a classic combo.
First thing as a south Indian I remembered was sambar. I love asafoetida flavour a lot. My mom uses generously in sambar and says perungayam is one of the key ingredients in sambar for being flavourful. Without even knowing the medicinal values in it, we consume everyday. Though I have a few recipes in my sambar collections, I decided to try in my vengaya sambar. It turned out really flavourful and I liked the flavour a lot. You will know the moment when you open the pack, how flavourful it is.
The highlight of the product is, SSP hing does not have any gum arabic in it. So the flavour is more strong comparatively. And hence the quality and price is above par in market and they have established themselves a strong trustable brand in Karnataka.
SSP Powder Asafoetida
SSP Crystal asafoetida
SSP Ultra powder Asafoetida
For Singapore friends, you can buy SSP asafoetida in little India Saravana stores. Do try it out to see the difference.
Vengaya sambar recipe
Recipe Cuisine: Indian | Recipe Category: BreakfastPrep Time: 5 hrs | Cook time: 17 mins | Makes: 20 | Author: Raks anand
Click here for cup measurements
Vengaya sambar is one of the most desirable dishes in Tamil cuisine. Made with just small onions (shallots/ chinna vengayam) and fresh ground sambar powder. Full video and step by step pictures recipe.
Ingredients
Toor dal - 1/3 cupSmall onion - 1 cup
Tamarind - 1 tsp, packed
Red chilli powder/ Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp
Salt -as needed
Coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tbsp
Roast & powder
Ghee/ oil - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 4
Chana dal - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds/ methi - 1/4 tsp
SSP Powder asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
To temper
Ghee - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
SSP Powder asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - A sprig
Method:
- First pressure cook toor dal with a cup of water for 4 whistles in medium flame. Soak tamarind in hot water to extract pulp.
- Meanwhile, peel onion.
- Once dal is cooked, mash it well and keep aside.
- Extract tamarind juice in a cup of water.
- In a kadai or heavy bottomed pan, heat a tsp of oil and add red chilli, chana dal, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Roast until golden and lastly add SSP powder asafoetida and give it a roast.
- Remove the roasted items in a plate for cooking. In the same kadai, add ghee and splutter mustard. Add asafoetida and curry leaves.
- Add peeled onions and fry for a minute in medium flame or until the onion turns translucent and browned here and there.
- Transfer to a vessel, add tamarind extract, one more cup of water, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and bring to boil.
- Meanwhile grind the roasted spices to a coarse powder.
- Continue boiling for 4 minutes until the onions are soft and tender. Add cooked, mashed dal.
- Adjust water consistency and once it starts to boil again, add powdered fresh ground masala in a sprinkled way, little by little as you stir.
- Once again bring to boil, add jaggery. When the sambar thickens (hardly takes 2 mins), switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
- Make sure of not burning the spices while roasting as it is the main thing for sambar flavour.
- While adding the sambar powder, add in sprinkled way as mentioned, otherwise it might end up as lumps,
- Red chilli powder or sambar powder adds nice flavour to the sambar in addition to the fresh ground sambar powder. You can skip and increase the red chilli while roasting or even add 3 slit green chillies along small onion.
- After adding fresh ground sambar powder, the sambar will thicken soon. So make sure to adjust the consistency. This sambar is meant to be slightly thick.
How to make chinna vengaya sambar:
- First pressure cook toor dal with a cup of water for 4 whistles in medium flame. Soak tamarind in hot water to extract pulp. I just keep in the cooker itself for easy extraction.
- Meanwhile, peel onion. Eliminate the hard white part on the top and peel the skin off. Use a paring knife for easy peeling. Once dal is cooked, mash it well and keep aside. Extract tamarind juice in a cup of water.
- In a kadai or heavy bottomed pan, heat a tsp of oil and add red chilli, chana dal, urad dal and fenugreek seeds.
- Roast until golden and lastly add SSP powder asafoetida and give it a roast. Remove the roasted items in a plate for cooking.
- In the same kadai, add ghee and splutter mustard. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. Add peeled onions.
- Fry for a minute in medium flame or until the onion turns translucent and browned here and there.Transfer to a vessel,
- Add tamarind extract, one more cup of water, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and bring to boil.
- Meanwhile grind the roasted spices to a coarse powder.
- Continue boiling for 4 minutes until the onions are soft and tender. Add cooked, mashed dal. Adjust water consistency and once it starts to boil again, add jaggery.
- Add powdered fresh ground masala in a sprinkled way, little by little as you stir. Once again bring to boil. When the sambar thickens (hardly takes 2 mins), switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Disclaimer: This is a paid post but the review is not influenced, it's my honest review about the product.