Sambar is a popular South Indian dish that is cooked on a charcoal grill. The ingredients are black gram (Rice), dry red lentils, coconut pieces and ghee or clarified butter. One must be well aware of cooking methods, time and the equipment required for preparing this delicacy. Let us explore how to prepare Sambar.
Start with the ingredients. These can be rice, clarified butter, dry red lentils, kichdi, and black gram. These have to be soaked overnight in water and cooked in an iron skillet until they become tender. One has to make sure that there is no stick or crackle in the flour as it cooks. How to prepare Sambar is to add the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix them using a wooden spoon.
One can add salt to taste and also coconut or clarified butter if preferred. Add the rice to the mixture and cover for few minutes. After the time specified one can remove the lid and cook in an indirect fire for around 15 minutes. One should note that Sambar preparation needs much patience and care as the rice may tend to stick to the bottom of the pan or may not cook completely.
If the rice is cooked well, one can add the coconut and gram powder to make it a thick curd. Then it can be served. One can add the red chilli powder if required to give it a spicy taste. Ginger can be used to spice it up as it gives the rice a delicious aroma.
How to serve Sambar is to make the main course or side dish. It can be grilled or plain. A common side dish in South Indian meal is Bhel Puri or roasted split green leafy vegetable. This can be grilled or fried and served with Sambar. It is always served with a side of sesame oil or clarified butter.
The main course or side dish should always be prepared before the rice is served. In normal occasions, the main course is prepared with rice and cooked with spices. In Sambar, there are no special preparations or cooking methods needed. Just stir fry the rice and add the ingredients required and garnish it well with onions or garlic etc. depending on the type of Sambar one makes.
In south Indian meal, the main course usually consists of rice along with spices like turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom etc. Then there are other ingredients like fried prawns, fried fish etc. Along with these ingredients a dash of coconut milk or yogurt can be served. This completes the complete South Indian meal which is known as Sambar. The preparation of Sambar is very easy and simple.
There are no special techniques or methods involved in the preparation of Sambar. All that needs to be done is to blend all the ingredients together, cover it and place it in a pan and keep stirring until it gets evenly mixed. The final result is the perfect Sambar preparation.