No doubt, sambar is the queen of south Indian dishes and it own a number of variations depending upon the region where it is prepared. Its best combination is idli or dosa, but it is also used along with rice in sadya. This typical vegetarian curry is really a nutritious one since a lot of vegetables are added and its unique odour makes it entirely different from other curries. It can be prepared with or without coconut and in this article I am providing you an easy method to make it at your kitchen using pressure cooker. If I want sambar for my break fast then I always cook its ingredients in a pressure cooker at night itself and never open the lid till next morning. By this method, cooking time is very much reduced and contents mix well retaining its nice aroma of asafoetida and fenugreek.

Ingredients:

Toor daal (Sambar daal) - 3/4 cup
Shallots as full - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1
Tamarind - Gooseberry sized
Drum stick - 1
Colacasia - 1, medium sized
Pumpkin - A small piece
Ladies finger - 5
Green chillies - 2
Sambar chillies - 5
Brinjal 2 types - 1 each
Cucumber - A small piece
Snake guard - A small piece
Yam - A small piece
Cluster beans (Amarakka) - 10 cut into two
Carrot - 1
Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Kashmir chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2-3 tsp
Asafoetida - big gooseberry sized
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Curry leaves - A hand full
Coriander leaves - As needed
Salt - As per taste
Shallots - 2 finely chopped

Method of preparation:

1. Cut all vegetables into big square sized pieces. Shallots and sambar chillies should be used as whole. Cut drumstick, okra and cluster beans into small lengthy pieces. You can replace shallots by 2 onions. If so, chop them. Vegetable contents may be varied according to one's taste.
2. Wash toor daal and soak it by adding a little water. Place it for 15 minutes. Soak Tamarind also.
3. Take a pressure cooker. Add all vegetables, daal, curry powders, salt and asafoetida. Add tamarind water too along with sufficient water needed for cooking. Just 1.5 or 2 cups of water will be sufficient since we are using cooker for its preparation. Close the lid and put it in high flame.
4. After the first whistle, simmer it for 3-4 more minutes and put the flame off.
5. Never open the lid for 4-5 hours. If so, contents will blend nicely giving a pleasant aroma. If you are preparing it at night, you can place it overnight without opening the lid.
6. Next day morning, open the lid and stir the contents once. Check whether all ingredients are sufficiently added.
7. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds and red chillies. When mustard splutters add finely chopped shallots to it. When it turns golden brown, add curry leaves and pour the whole sambar into it.
8. When sambar begins to boil, add freshly cut coriander leaves and wait till it boils. Put the flame off.

You can serve sambar with idli or dosa for breakfast. To prepare soft idlis and dosa you can refer my article Soft idlisYou can serve it with boiled rice also.