Home made sambar powder is a south indian powder recipe, most of the family has got their own way of making sambar powder and using in the recipes. This home made sambar powder is followed from generations with  the same ratio, which gives an aromatic flavour to any south Indian dish prepared by adding this sambar powder.

Preparation time – 30 min

Cooking time – 30 min

Ingredients –

Coriander – 500 gm

Chilly (guntur) – 250 gm

Chilly (byadgi) – 250 gm

Chana dal – 100 gm

Moong dal – 100 gm

Tur dal – 100 gm

Urad dal – 50 gm

Poppy seeds/khus khus – 50 gm

Raw Rice – 50 gm

Mustard – 50 gm

Fenugreek/Methi – 5o gm

Cumin/Jeera – 300 gm

Black Pepper – 100 gm

Fresh Curry leaves – 1 big bunch

Oil – 1 or 2 tbs (To fry chilies)

Method –

To make or to prepare Sambar powder –

Keep all the ingredients ready. Separate curry leaves and keep ready. Mix 1 or 2 tbs of oil to chilies and keep ready.

1. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, dry roast Coriander to light brown in a medium flame (divide it for two batches) and set aside.

2. In the same pan add chana dal and fry until it turns to light brown and set aside

3. Next add moong dal, urad dal, tur dal one by one and dry fry it separately to light brown and set aside.

4. Then add poppy seeds dry fry in a low flame carefully to light brown and set aside.

5. Add in rice fry it in a medium flame until it is crisp

6. Add cumin/jeera fry until you get a nice aroma in a medium flame and set aside

7. Fry mustard, methi, and pepper separately one by one and set aside. (take care while you fry mustard as it takes less time to be done.)

8. Finally fry fresh curry leaves in a medium flame until the leaves turns to crisp (take care not to burn) make a low or medium flame

9. Finally fry chilies in 4 to 5 batches in a medium flame take care not to burn just fry until it becomes hot and set aside.

10. After frying all the ingredients allow it to cool

Method to grind –

If you are doing it in bulk , dry the all the above ingredients in the sunlight. Grind it by giving it in the machine/mill. Once done, sieve the powder, mix the powder well and transfer it to a dry air tight container.

If you are grinding in mixer jar powder it to a fine powder (little coarse a semi fine powder)

Divide the ingredients to small batches to prepare powder out of it, once it is done, mix properly, sieve it, cool it at room temperature/spread it on a news paper and transfer it to an air tight container for a long time.

The moment when they bring the sambar powder ground in the mill freshly and spread for cooling, the whole house smells great !! 

Add sambar masala powder to sambar recipes whenever you make them. for a serving of 4, you can add about 2 to 3 teaspoons of this sambar masala powder in the any sambar recipe.

For curry/palya made with any veggies add 1 tbs of sambar powder (for 500 gm of any vegetable)

Notes –

Take care while frying the ingredients, not to burn any ingredients as it spoils the taste of the Sambar powder.

This sambar powder is used to prepare sambar, veg curries/palya, egg masala curries, fish fry,  breakfast dishes like puliyogre, kuttu avalakki, chitranna, Bisi bele bhath……….it is a multi purpose sambar powder for preparation of any south Indian dishes.

Here is the link how to prepare puliyogare using sambar powder , please click on the link below –

https://ushaupchar.in/puliyogare-by-using-sambar-powder-recipe/

Do not use wet hands while handling the sambar powder, always use clean spoons.

Turmeric is not used in preparing sambar powder because in some recipe like bassaru or other variety of sambar we don’t add turmeric powder. Turmeric powder is added separately along with Sambar powder.

• use spices which are fresh and in their shelf period.
• pick, clean the spices of stones etc. especially for spices like coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds.
• make sure that the dry red chilies do not have mold from inside. just break them and check if there is any whitish or greyish mold inside. they should feel crisp on touch and not moist.
• do check for small insects which do appear in spices like coriander seeds. also the coriander seeds should feel and look fresh and crisp. if they appear to have mould or are not aromatic, then throw them away.