Udipi Sambar is yet another famous recipe from the world-renowned 'Udipi Cuisine'. Udipi cuisine has deep-rooted ancient history and it needs another whole blog to describe its highlights.
It is a pure vegetarian cuisine with one step even further, onion less and garlic less.

Even without onion, garlic, this cuisine is very famous for its wholesome flavor. My hubby, being brought up in the states of Karnataka, is very fond of all Karnataka's food.
So, it is not necessary to make a note here, that this Udipi sambar was got slurped till the last drop.
Seasoning it with coconut oil is optional, health freaks can substitute with any low-fat oil or even can mix both the oil. So, its recipe is all set for modifications, so adjust to your taste accordingly.
Do not forget to look into other steamed rice companions like pineapple rasam.
How to make udipi sambar
1. Pressure cook ½ Cup of toor dal with required water, till it gets cooked completely. I have given the measurement for tamarind as 'small lemon sized', I know it is pretty vague, but the size of tamarind purely depends on tamarind's variety.
So decide accordingly. You can also substitute the tamarind paste available in the market.
2. Extract the tamarind pulp and remove all impurities. Slightly mash and remove cooked toor dal from the pressure cooker. Keep aside of these.
3. Dry roast all the ingredients from the table for grinding and bring it down to room temperature.
4. Grind all the dry roasted ingredients along with grated coconut, I'm sorry, grated coconut was not in the picture(some other distracting job made to forget about including it while clicking).
5. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and urad dal. After mustard splutters add curry leaves followed by chopped tomatoes.
6. Once tomatoes get slightly softer add 2-3 cups of water to the pan add salt, turmeric powder, chopped drumstick, brinjal. Bring it to boil on the high flame.
Once the veggies cooked add extracted tamarind juice followed by cooked dal and the ground paste. Adjust water to your desired consistency. Keep it in simmer for 7-10 mins, until it leaves out the raw flavor.
Serve Udipi Sambar hot with steamed rice, Potato fry, or any other crispy veggies would be the perfect companion.
Other Side dish recipes you may like,
- Chow Chow kootu
- Onion pakoda
- Moong daal vadi
- Spinach kootu
- More Kuzhambu
- Pineapple Rasam
- Indian side dish recipes
Udipi Sambar
Ingredients
For the prepping
- ½ cup toor dal /split pigeon pea-rinsed
- 1 cup water for cooking toor dal
- 1 tamarind small lemon size-soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
- 1 cup hot water for soaking tamarind
Ingredients For Grinding:
- 3 red chilies
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoon urad dal
- 1 teaspoon chana dal
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- ¼ cup grated coconut
For the cooking
- 1 drumstick
- 2 brinjal / eggplant
- 2 tomato
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon salt or as required
- 3 cups water
For seasoning
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon urad dal /skinless black gram
- 1 teaspoon asafoetida
- 1 sprig curry leaves
Instructions
For prepping
- For the toor dal-To the pressure cooker pan, add toor dal and water.
- Close the lid, and cook in high heat for the first whistle. And turn to low heat and cook further for 10 minutes.
- Wait for 10 minutes more for the steam to release naturally.
- Open the lid and set aside.
- For the tamarind-Soak tamarind in hot water for 15 minutes.
- Then squeaze and extract the juice. Discard the residue if any.
- Transfer the tamarind extract to a bowl and set aside.
For grinding
- Over medium heat, place a pan. And add red chilies, coriander seeds, urad dal, chana dal, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and grated coconut.
- Dry roast them till chana dal changes its color to a golden brown.
- To the blender jar, add all these ingredients and grind them to a smooth powder.
For seasoning
- Over medium heat, place a pan and add vegetable oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, and asafoetida. Wait for mustard seeds to splutter.
- Add curry leaves and saute for 30 seconds.
For cooking
- Add 3 cups of water to the pan and add cooked toor dal, chopped drumstick, brinjal, tomato, turmeric powder, and salt.
- Bring it to boil in the high heat for 10 minutes or until the drumstick is cooked well in the center.
- Once the veggies cooked add tamarind extract. And cook in the medium heat for 10 mins or until it leaves out the raw flavor.
- Finally, add the ground spices and cook further for 2 minutes.
- Serve Udipi Sambar with rice.
Nutrition
Tips and Variations for Udipi Sambar:
Drumstick and brinjal combo always a super hit combo but it can also be substituted with other vegetables.
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Rebecca Subbiah
looks so good and nice step by step instructions
Priya Anandakumar
delicious and authentic sambar...
Shobana Vijay
Being in bglr,I never tried udipi sambhar or rasam.Shame on me.Will soon try your secret recipe and impress my hubby.
Priya Suresh
Seriously i miss this sambhar, my grandma makes excellent udipi sambar, i always want to learn from her but she is no more..Such an authentic sambar..
Swathi Iyer
Udipi sambar looks delicious love it.