Interestingly, no south Indian meal is ever complete without sambar.
A steaming plate of soft, fluffy idlis or rice cakes served on greasy banana leaves taste best when eaten with a subtly spicy, tangy sambar – a lentil stew that works equally well with dosas, curd rice or vadas. However, the rather humble dish we relish today was in fact, created by a prince in a culinary crisis.
The absence of one ingredient gave birth to a new dish
It was just another day at crown prince Sambhaji’s palace in Tanjore (present-day Thanjavur), Tamil Nadu when a rumble in his stomach indicated that he needed to eat. He was fond of the Maharashtrian soupy dish called Amti, a slightly sweet and spicy curry with pigeon pea lentils and was in the mood for the taste of home with a freshly prepared bowl of it for lunch. Therefore, he made his way to the royal dining hall only to find it empty… just like his stomach.
After waiting for a good amount of time, he wandered off into the kitchen where he found that his head chef was absent for the day. Despite being the son of a famed Indian Maratha empire ruler, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the prince did not back out from a quest, be it at war or in a kitchen. Sambhaji took it upon him to prepare lunch that day much to the shock of the other chefs. In technicality, years of surviving on the battlefield meant that he was not a bad cook himself; however, nobody dared to tell the royal that his dish could not be made that day, due to the lack of a key souring ingredient - kokum or amsul.
However, the court jester decided to muster up the courage and informed him.
One whisper in the prince’s ear could go either way – the palace would experience the anger of the prince or he would understand. Luckily, for them, the latter worked out when the jester approached the prince with a solution.
“Use a little tamarind pulp. The locals use it quite often to gain a little sourness for their dishes,” explained the jester.
The suggestion caught Sambhaji’s imagination. Therefore, he proceeded and ended up creating sambar - a dish that derives its name from the prince.
Sambar – like any other dish – has evolved over centuries to suit every palate. And with its evolution came different labels. The dish particularly uses a set of ingredients like coriander, cumin, fenugreek, curry leaves, dried red chilli, split black grams and chickpeas, which when combined form what is known as ‘sambar mix’ today.
Simply put, sambar is – undoubtedly – Maharashtrian in origin and south Indian in ownership.
Sambar conquers the south
At one point in time, making sambar was laborious, so much so that certain ingredients had to be sun-dried, roasted and then ground to paste. The dish was soon known as koddel (in Tulu), kolombo (in Konkani), and huli (in Kannada), with the addition of ingredients such as red and white pumpkin, okra and drumsticks. Sambar is known as pappu charu in Andhra, where the stew is slightly thicker than the usual dish. In Telangana, the concept of sambar is quite popular despite being highly influenced by Nizami cuisine, and is known as kaddu ka dalcha. However, it is made using meat, chana dal, tamarind and a spice mix similar to that of sambar.
There are different types of amti in Maharashtra – like how there are different types of sambar – despite the latter being popular in the south ever since the 17th century...
Growing up around the tales of Marathi ruler Shivaji, Sachin Narhar Joshi, an Indian expatriate in Dubai and owner of Maharashtrian restaurant Peshwa in Dubai, knows a thing or two about the myths around sambar. “In Karnataka, the people use tamarind. However, very little is known of the fact that kokum or amsul was used primarily in Maharashtrian cooking and although it was a substitute for it when it was first created, we continued using kokum itself. It was similar to that of amti in the beginning; just the addition of vegetables changed everything. So for us, there are different types of amti in Maharashtra – like how there are different types of sambar – despite the latter being popular in the south ever since the 17th century.”
The irony of it all is that sambar is not even called sambar in the state it claims to be from – Tamil Nadu. It is known as kuzhambu, which is an umbrella term used for gravy. And within this, are several variations or ‘types’ of kuzhambu like paruppu urundai kuzhambu, made with lentil patties and a spiced gravy; vatha kuzhambu made with black chickpeas or kala chana, muttai kuzhambu, made with boiled egg, so on and so forth.
When sambar finally cooked its way to the Indian state of Kerala, the addition of grated coconut elevated the dish. It was when Palaghat Iyers, who migrated to Kerala from Tamil Nadu, brought this dish along with them. Other than this, the dish was made using fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, red chilli, asafoetida and chickpeas, all of which still have a distinct flavour profile, with or without the coconut.
It was this very popularity of the dish, which touched the hearts of many when eaten. “I grew up and studied in Chennai, which is a hub for all things food today. Born to a Malayali family, I had the privilege to eat the cuisines of both states, which – unlike the common notion – are very different from each other. On the days when we felt like eating a plate of medu vadas, which came with two fritters, we would dunk and soak it in sambar and have it with chutney on the side.
It is more than just a dish for me, it is a part of my childhood, a part of some of the best memories I made with my friends and it’s been there as comfort food on the less cheery days, the rainy days, and even on the days when I was under the weather.
“There is, and will never be another a substitute for it. Lunch used to be a hot bowl of freshly cooked rice with sambar poured on top. Pair it with a pickle, and the lunch that day used to be extra special. But, we always had a glass of lemon juice, which completed the meal and gave us the perfect balance between hot and cold, spicy and sweet. I also remember the days my mum used to make sambar for idli in the morning – we’d have it for the rest of the two meals during the day. It is more than just a dish for me, it is a part of my childhood, a part of some of the best memories I made with my friends and it’s been there as comfort food on the less cheery days, the rainy days, and even on the days when I was under the weather. I haven’t yet started on perfecting the preparation of the dish myself, but I know I will never have second thoughts when it comes to pairing sambar with a good south Indian meal,” said Tobin Babu, a 25-year-old expatriate working in Dubai.
For Vaishnavi Patil, a 28-year-old Indian expatriate working in Dubai, devouring a plate of idli with sambar resonates with her mum’s cooking. “I grew up watching my mum making it [sambar] at home. It started with the first aroma that came from adding mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chillies to heated oil – sometimes I miss that. Then she would add all these vegetables, while the dal would be kept in a pressure cooker – the noise, the smell – it makes me hungry just thinking about it. I’m sure eating it with idlis is the right way to eat it, but there’s nothing a good bowl can’t do.
It is also extremely healthy and growing up, eating your vegetables were such a task but when it came to sambar, all of my dislike towards vegetables used to vanish at the mention of it.
“It is also extremely healthy and growing up, eating your vegetables were such a task but when it came to sambar, all of my dislike towards vegetables used to vanish at the mention of it. My father, sister and I tried making it ourselves once when mum wasn’t around, and it was an absolute disaster. It was then when we realised, making sambar, let alone the perfect version, is not an easy task. It is the perfect blend of spices, and many people don’t realise that it varies from state to state, and is tasty in its way. I am from Maharashtra, so I can undoubtedly say that the amti we serve is incomparable to the sambar of the south and vice versa. Both are unique, but equally delicious.”
Now that you have an idea of what sambar is, try to make it at home with this recipe.
Do you have your version of sambar? Email us at food@gulfnews.com
