Quick Sambar in Pressure Cooker

A couple of days back I was clearing out some boxes from the store room. I had forgotten what was inside and was eager to find out what was in it. Usually I write something about the stuffs inside so that it is easy to pull out those stuffs when needed,but this one box had nothing on it!

As I pulled out the sealing tape, my heart started beating faster in anticipation of a treasure! And treasure it was! The cardboard box held within it the so many issues of the comic that I lovingly collected- Tinkle! And there was my first grade English reader book with my childish scribbles and doodles!A couple of story books for kids that I still remember reading on summer afternoons lazying around in the small lawn outside our home and a little book that my Uncle had given me when I went to my grandparents place during summer vacation.That little book was my uncles when he was a kid! But the pages are still intact and the print still good as new!

That box got back so many mixed feeling!I was happy that the books were still in good condition and I even patted my back for maintaining them so well ! I recollected dad buying each comic at that corner store near the market and the magazine store guy still remembered my dad when we visited that place a couple of years ago.

Life was way easy and simple back then. I still wish I was a kid.Sometimes my friends tell me I am like a kid around them! But that is only around my friends.But then life now has so many responsibilities and duties that I now feel it would be so nice to go back to childhood even it if means endless home works, school projects and countless exams.Even with all these, life was simple and easy.

No matter how much we yearn,life can never get simple and easy as we want it to be. But recipes sure can!!

This dish is my go to method when I am in a rush to pack things for the kids lunch box. Lil Angel prefers rice based dishes while Lil dude loves tiffin items. So most of the the days I pack 2 types of lunch boxes.I simplify this process by making a common dish and pairing it with something else that the two would like to eat.

So when I make sambar, I pack rice ,sambar and a veggie for Lil Angel and Mini idli / Coin dosa with sambar for Lil Dude.

My mornings pass away like a whirlwind! To rush things up in the kitchen, I speed up the cooking process by making most of the dishes in the pressure cooker and this sambar is one of them. Unlike the norml way of cooking dal separately and then making the sambar, I add all the ingredients in one go and pressure cook it. Saves a lot of precious time without compromising the taste.

I follow this method to make rasam,vegetable dry curries and even rasam! Will post these methods in teh coming days.

This post is for Blogging Marathon #71, Week 3,Day 2, and the theme I have chosen for this week is ‘One pot meals‘, meaning , making a dish in just one pot!

I use:

Toor dal- 1 cup
Mixed vegetables
Tomato-1. roughly chopped
Onion-1, thinly sliced
Curry leaves-a few
Sambar powder- 2 teaspoons
Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/8 teaspoon
Mustard- 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dal-1 teaspoon
Channa dal-1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds-1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind extract-1/4 cup[adjust to taste]
Oil- 1 teaspoon

Heat a pressure cooker with oil and add the mustard, fenugreek, urad dal and channa dal.When the mustard pops, add curry leaves and onion.Saute for a minute. Add the tomato.

Add 2 cups of water[or more if you want a thin sambar] . Put in turmeric powder, sambar powder, veggies, dal and bring to boil

Mix well and pressure cook for 10-15 minutes / till the dal is cooked.Once the pressure releases, add salt and tamarind extract. Simmer for a couple of minutes and add coriander powder. Mix and bring to boil.Remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.

Quick sambar is ready to be served.

This sambar was a part of a meal where all the dishes were made with one pot – in a pressure cooker, expect,of course, the potato wafers!

Note:

Do not add finely chopped vegetables as they tend to get mushy and disintegrate into the sambar when pressure cooked.So add cubed veggies.
Sometimes, I add tamarind extract as soon as I add dal. That works too.
The time required to cook will depend on the quality and quantity of dal used
I follow the same procedure to make moong dal sambar[pasi paruppu sambar]
I use a 3 litre pressure cooker for such quick meals.
Adjust the water to suit the consistency of your choice.