Goal : Help cook at least 1001 different Sambars.
Click to view the One page cookbook : 1001 Sambars.
Sambars are probably the tastiest lentil stews on the planet. With the tang of tamarind balanced by lentils and divinely flavoured by sambar powder, a good sambar can be slurped up like a soup. Sambars are uncomplicated curries, easily made when you understand the building blocks.
The building blocks of a Sambar are the sour lentil base, the flavouring and the goodies added.
The sourness comes usually from Tamarind, and flavour from Sambar powder. A wide variety of goodies are simmered in this flavoured broth. Whole new families of sambars can be created by small variations of the basic building blocks.
Various regional variations of sambar exist within Tamilnadu. It is in Salem we first find garlic in sambar. Moving west across Tamilnadu, we have the Gounder sambar which uses a paste of cumin, black pepper , garlic and curry leaves to for flavouring. It is garnished with finely chopped tomato, onion and cilantro just before serving.
When sambar moved further west, into Kerala, with the migrating Iyers, it morphed to accommodate the easily available coconut and coconut oil. Tamarind trees being uncommon in Kerala, we see Keralite sambars using yogurt or kokkum as souring agents instead of Tamarind.
Sambars in Andhra evolved into a thick stew called pappu pulusu ( Lentil - Tamarind curry). The technique of cooking vegetables along with tuvar dal characterizes many Andhra sambars.
When sambar moved into Karnataka, Kannadigas found out a way to cook two dishes in one. They let the sambar rest after cooking. It then separates into a thin watery layer and a thick dal-laden bottom layer. They would use the watery top layer as Rasam and the thick bottom layer as sambar - proving the point that rasam is nothing but a clear sambar.
Karnataka also gives us the delicious, greenish, Rayar sambar. This is sambar in which dollops of blended cilantro ( kothumalli : Dhania patta ) puree has been added.
In Udupi sambar, we find a novel way of using onions. Onions are grilled on a open flame and the charred outer layers are removed. The grilled onion is pureed along with coconut and this paste is added to the sambar to give a unique flavour.
With easy availability of spices, it is not surprising we find cinnamon and clove in Konkani sambars, a combination which would raise the hackles of Tanjore Brahmins.
Moving north to Maharashtra, we bump into the ancestor of Sambar - the Amti. Amti-Bhaat-Bhaji (dal, rice and vegetable curry) is the staple diet of Maharashtrians. Instead of Tamarind, Amti uses Kokkum as a souring agent.
Further north, we meet another staple, the Tuver-ni-daal (Tuvar dal curry ), one of the pillars of Gujarati diet. This is nothing but sambar with added ginger and green chilli paste.
Prepackaged Sambar powder has greatly simplified sambar making and has guaranteed uniformly flavoured sambar. The easy availability of prepackaged sambar powder is fast killing off many delightful regional spice mixes.
By varying the sourness, flavouring and the goodies added, we can create many varieties of sambars. The one page cookbook lists how this can be systematically done. Come, let us cook and document 1001 Sambars.