When we were young, all the masala powders – sambar powders would be ground in a grinding mill. The heavy stainless steel boxes would be filled with freshly ground hot masala from the mill. The milling process generated a lot of heat. After reaching home, the masala powder would be carefully spread on a newspaper to cool and dry. The whole house would smell spicy and people would sneeze here and there as the smell was so strong. Fast forward to today, the size of the families have shrunk and the mills are slowly vanishing from the cities. Even though there are very good ready made sambar powder packets available in the market, the whole ritual of roasting and grinding spices gives a “high” that I love so much. I make it once a month and store it in an air tight container. I get many requests asking me to suggest a ready made brand of sambar powder. I am from Tamilnadu and I like tamil style sambar powders.
I like the brands Aachi and Sakthi Sambar Powder.
Here is how to do sambar powder from scratch. Ingredients like Poppy seeds and fennel seeds are not traditional. They add it at my place as its aromatic. So its up to you to use fennel and poppy seeds. The flavour wont be over powering as we are adding very little.
The recipe is fairly simple. We will need to roast all the ingredients and then grind them. The key is to roast all the ingredients in a low flame. The spices would burn fast if roasted on a high flame. The masala would taste bitter if burnt spices are used. So have patience, play some music and enjoy roasting the masalas.
First lets roast the dry red chillies. All the ingredients for this recipe are dry roasted except dried red chillies. I add a scant 1/4 teaspoon of oil and roast the chillies in oil. The oil helps the chillies to roast better. Do not add too much oil. Take a heavy pan and add in the oil and the chillies. Keep sauteing. When the chillies plump up, they are done. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
Dry roast the coriander seeds until fragrant and the color of the seeds are slowly starting to brown here and there. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to cool.
Add in all the other roasting ingredients and dry roast on a low flame. Keep sauteing until the toor dal has changed color and is brown. Set aside on a plate to cool.
Let the mixture cool completely. Take a mixie jar / spice grinder and grind the roasted ingredients. When the ingredients are half ground, add in the turmeric powder and asafoetida. Grind to a fine powder.
Sift the ground masala to remove any lumps that must have formed during grinding and to aerate the powder. Let it cool and dry for an hour. Bottle the powder and store it in an air tight container and use it within 45 days.
Here are some of the recipes where you can use this sambar powder.
CHINNA VENGAYAM SAMBAR – TAMILNADU ONION SAMBAR
MANJAL POOSANIKAI SAMBAR / PUMPKIN AND LENTIL SAMBAR
PASI PARUPPU SAMBAR / MOONG DAL SAMBAR
- Measurements Used - 1 Cup = 250 ml (approx) 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 15 ml
- ¼ teaspoon vegetable oil
- 20 Dry Red Chillies
- ½ Cup Coriander Seeds
- 2 Tablespoon Black Pepper
- 2 Teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds (optional)
- 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ¼ Cup Toor Dal
- 2 Tablespoon Rice
- 2 Teaspoon White Poppy Seeds (Optional)
- 3 Tablespoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 teaspoon Turmeric
- 2 teaspoon Asafoetida (Hing)
- Take a heavy pan and add in the oil and the chillies. Keep sauteing. When the chillies plump up, they are done. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
- Dry roast the coriander seeds until fragrant and the color of the seeds are slowly starting to brown here and there. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to cool.
- Add in all the other roasting ingredients and dry roast on a low flame. Keep sauteing until the toor dal has changed color and is brown. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- Let the mixture cool completely. Take a mixie jar / spice grinder and grind the roasted ingredients. When the ingredients are half ground, add in the turmeric powder and asafoetida. Grind to a fine powder.
- Sift the ground masala to remove any lumps that must have formed during grinding and to aerate the powder. Let it cool and dry for an hour. Bottle the powder and store it in an air tight container and use it within 45 days.
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