Brinjal sambar is a healthy and delicious South Indian sambar variant made with small brinjals, pigeon pea lentils, onion, tomato, sambar powder, herbs and spices.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • 1.5 to 2 tablespoons seedless tamarind
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 cup pigeon pea lentils ((tuvar dal or arhar dal))
  • 1 onion (- quartered or sliced (medium sized))
  • 2 pinches asafoetida ((hing))
  • 2.5 to 3 cups water (for pressure cooking lentils)
  • 250 to 300 grams brinjals ((kathirikai or eggplant))
  • 2 or 2.5 cups water (to be added later)
  • 1 tomato (- quartered (medium to large-sized))
  • salt as required
  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder ((ground turmeric))
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons sambar powder (or as required)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons oil (sesame oil (gingelly oil) or coconut oil or any neutral flavored oil)
  • 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon spilt and skinned black gram ((urad dal))
  • 3 to 4 dry red chilies
  • 15 to 20 curry leaves
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))

Method

Making brinjal sambar

  1. Soak the tamarind in water for 20 to 25 minutes.
  2. Squeeze and extract the pulp from the tamarind. Keep the tamarind pulp aside.
  3. Boil the tuvar dal with onions and asafoetida powder with 2.5 to 3 cups water in a pressure cooker for 8 to 10 minutes on medium to medium-high heat or until the lentils have completely softened and cooked well.
  4. Quarter or chop the brinjals. Soak them in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes.
  5. Once the pressure settles down on its own, then only open the cooker lid and mash the lentils with a spoon or wired whisk.
  6. Now add water, chopped brinjals, quartered tomatoes, salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder to the dal.
  7. Stir and pressure cook again for 1 whistle on medium to medium-high heat.
  8. Let the pressure settle down. The brinjals would be cooked by now.
  9. Now add the sambar powder, tamarind pulp and simmer the brinjal sambar for 4 to 5 minutes or till the rawness of the tamarind goes away and the whole mixture has well blended flavors and taste.

Making tempering

  1. In a small pan, heat oil. Add the mustard seed and urad dal.
  2. Let the mustard seeds splutter and the urad dal turn golden. Fry on a low heat so that the spices do not burn.
  3. Add dry red chilies, curry leaves and asafoetida. Fry for some seconds until the red chilies change color and curry leaves become crisp.
  4. Stir and immediately pour the tempering mixture on the sambar.
  5. Cover with a lid, so ½ the lid after 4 to 5 minutes.
  6. Garnish with coriander leaves if you prefer.
  7. Serve the brinjal sambar hot with steamed rice or South Indian recipes like Idli, Dosa varieties or uttapam.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.