Vengaya Sambar

Tamil lentil and tamarind stew built on whole small shallots left to sweeten in the pot

Origin: Tamil Nadu, South India

From the journey of Shallot.

There are a great many sambars, and Tamil households will tell you the shallot one is the best of them. The frame is constant: toor dal cooked to softness, tamarind for sourness, sambar powder for the spice, a vegetable for the body, and a tempering of mustard seed and curry leaves poured over at the end. What changes is the vegetable, and when it is chinna vengayam, the small pink shallot, something happens that no other version manages. The shallots go in whole and stay whole, and over twenty minutes in the sour, spiced liquid they turn translucent and sweet the whole way through, so that each one bursts when bitten. A bulb onion cannot do this. It falls apart, muddies the dal, and gives its sweetness up to the liquid rather than holding it. That is a difference in water content and cell structure rather than a matter of taste, and it is why the shallot is not treated in South India as a smaller, fancier onion but as the correct ingredient, with the large onion as the substitute. The dish carries a name that arrived by an odd route. The most-repeated account attributes sambar to the seventeenth-century Thanjavur Maratha court and to Sambhaji, son of Shivaji, said to have improvised a sour dal with tamarind in the absence of kokum. The story is almost certainly later invention: sour lentil preparations are far older than that in Tamil country. It is a good story regardless and everybody tells it. Sambar is eaten with rice, with idli, with dosa, and with vada, and most Tamil households make it several times a week.

Ingredients

Dal

150 g toor dal (split pigeon peas), rinsed
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
600 ml water
1 tsp sesame oil

Sambar

250 g small shallots (sambar onions), peeled and left whole
30 g tamarind, soaked in 250 ml warm water
2 tbsp sambar powder
2 whole tomatoes, quartered
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp jaggery, grated

Tempering

2 tbsp sesame oil or coconut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp split urad dal
0.25 tsp asafoetida (hing)
3 whole dried red chillies, broken
2 sprigs fresh curry leaves

To Finish

3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Method

Cook the dal with the turmeric, the teaspoon of sesame oil, and the water until completely soft, about 30 minutes in a pan or three whistles in a pressure cooker. Whisk it smooth.
Soak the tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes, then squeeze it out thoroughly and strain, discarding the pulp.
Peel the shallots and leave them whole. Soaking them in warm water for ten minutes first makes the skins slip off.
Bring the tamarind water to the boil in a wide pan with the sambar powder, the whole shallots, the tomatoes, the salt, and the jaggery.
Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until the shallots are translucent and yield to a spoon but still hold their shape, and the raw smell of the tamarind and spice powder has gone.
Stir in the cooked dal, add water if it is thicker than a pouring cream, and simmer gently for a further five minutes.
Heat the oil for the tempering in a small pan. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop, then the urad dal until it turns golden, then the asafoetida, chillies, and curry leaves.
Pour the tempering over the sambar, stir once, and scatter with coriander. Cover and leave for five minutes before serving.

Notes

Small pink shallots are sold by South Asian grocers as sambar onions, small onions, or madras onions. Two hundred and fifty grams is roughly twenty-five to thirty of them and the peeling is the only real work in the dish. Shop-bought sambar powder varies enormously. If yours is mild, use three tablespoons; if it is fierce, start with one and a half. A drumstick or two, cut into finger lengths and added with the shallots, is the classic companion vegetable and worth including if you can find them. Serve with plain rice and a spoonful of ghee, or with idli, dosa, or vada. It thickens overnight and wants loosening with hot water when reheated.

The Gastrographer

Name: Vengaya Sambar
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: South India
Ingredients: 150 g toor dal (split pigeon peas), rinsed; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 600 ml water; 1 tsp sesame oil; 250 g small shallots (sambar onions), peeled and left whole; 30 g tamarind, soaked in 250 ml warm water; 2 tbsp sambar powder; 2 whole tomatoes, quartered; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste; 1 tsp jaggery, grated; 2 tbsp sesame oil or coconut oil; 1 tsp black mustard seeds; 1 tsp split urad dal; 0.25 tsp asafoetida (hing); 3 whole dried red chillies, broken; 2 sprigs fresh curry leaves; 3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control