Lunch · 40 min · indian

Sambar

This is the kind of Indian lunch you’ll make on repeat — toor dal and mixed vegetables, 40 minutes, big payoff. Each serving lands at 140 calories with 6g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. Naturally vegetarian and vegan, it scales cleanly if you are cooking for more than one.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Toor dal
• 3 cups Mixed vegetables
• 3 tbsp Tamarind pulp
• 3 tbsp Sambar powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 10 Curry leaves
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
• 2 tbsp Sesame oil

Steps

1. Simmer the toor dal with turmeric 25 minutes until it collapses; whisk smooth with its cooking liquid.
2. Boil the vegetables — drumstick, pumpkin, carrots, shallots — in salted water until just tender; each keeps its own texture in the final bowl.
3. Stir the tamarind dissolved in hot water and the sambar powder into the dal; simmer 10 minutes so the raw spice edge cooks out.
4. Add the vegetables with their liquid and simmer 8 more minutes; sambar should be pourable, not thick.
5. Heat the sesame oil, pop the mustard seeds and curry leaves with a pinch of asafoetida, and pour the sizzling tadka over.
6. Rest 5 minutes so the tempering perfumes the whole pot.
7. Serve with idli, dosa, vada, or rice — sambar is the universal companion of the South Indian table.

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