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Mor Sambar

This is a sambar variety made with curd and ground coconut masala paste. Unlike the regular sambar variety, it does not use tamarind for sourness. 

Course Main Dish
Cuisine Indian
Keyword Sambar with yogurt, Sambar without tamarind
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 5 to 6 persons
Author Nisha

Ingredients

  • 8 to 10 Okra, medium sized, cut into ½" refer notes
  • ½ cup toor dal ( split yellow peas )
  • 1 cup thick curd whisked well in 1 cup water

For grinding

  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoon channa dal (bengal gram)
  • 3 tablespoon grated coconut (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 red chillies

Tempering

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds
  • ⅛ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
  • 1 or 2 red chilly
  • Few curry leaves

Instructions

Cooking the dal

  1. Pressure cook the dal with turmeric powder and keep aside. It should be soft and mushy.

  2. In a saucepan, add a teaspoon of oil and add the okras. Fry them for a minute and add lil water to soften the okras. It will take a couple of minutes.

  3. Once it turns soft, add the ground paste and the cooked dal. Mix well and let it come to a boil for a minute. 

  4. Then add the yogurt mixture and simmer the flame. Keep it on low for another 5 minutes and as the sambhar starts to thicken and froth on top, turn off the flame.

  5. Finally, garnish with coriander leaves.

Tempering

  1. Heat oil in a Kadai or a skillet over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add the curry leaves, red chillies and fry for a second. 

  2. Pour this tempering mixture over the cooked mor sambar. Add salt and mix well.  

Serving suggestions

  1. Serve this white rice and some spicy veggies on the side. Click here for vegetable sides. 

Recipe Notes

  1. You can also use vegetables like drumstick, brinjal (aubergine), ash gourd and chayote.
  2. The final dish will be slightly sour. So adjust the amount of buttermilk depending on how sour the curd/yogurt is. If the dish becomes too sour, add some red chilly powder to balance the sourness. 
  3. Since the yogurt/buttermilk curdles, do not boil it for a long time. Keep the flame low as soon as you add yogurt. 
  4. Switch off the flame as soon as it starts frothing on top. Inspite of this, it will slightly curdle. Never mind that as long as it doesn't turn bitter. 
  5. Add salt at the end since salt has the tendency to separate moisture from other ingredients. Sometimes, the water and the gravy will separate.