Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, sambar vada recipe | how to make south indian sambar vadai is a vegetarian south indian breakfast made with toor dal, mato, and turmeric / haldi in about 50 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 40 minutes
- Total time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 10 Servings
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: south indian
Ingredients
for sambar:
- ½ cup toor dal
- 1 to mato
- ¼ tsp turmeric / haldi
- 1½ cup water
- 3 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard / rai
- pinch of hing / asaofetida
- 1 dried red chilli
- few curry leaves
- 2 green chilli (slit)
- ½ onion (petals)
- ½ cup tamarind extract
- ½ tsp jaggery / gud
- 1 tsp salt
- 1½ cup water
- 1 tbsp sambar powder
- 1 tbsp ghee / clarified butter
for vada:
- 1 cup urad dal
- 2 green chilli (finely chopped)
- 1 inch ginger (finely chopped)
- few curry leaves (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp coriander (finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp dry coconut / kopra (chopped)
- pinch of hing / asafoetida
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- ½ tsp salt
- oil for deep frying
Method
- firstly, pressure cook ½ cup toor dal, 1 tomato, ¼ tsp turmeric and 1½ cup water for 5 whistle.
- in a kadai heat 3 tsp oil and saute 1 tsp mustard, pinch of hing, 1 dried red chilli and few curry leaves.
- also saute 2 green chilli and ½ onion for a minute.
- now add ½ cup tamarind extract, ½ tsp jaggery and 1 tsp salt. mix well.
- boil for 10 minutes or till tamarind extract gets cooked well.
- add in whisked dal and tomato. mix well.
- also add 1½ cup water and adjust consistency. boil well.
- furthermore add 1 tbsp of sambar powder and stir well.
- add in 1 tbsp ghee and boil for 2 minutes.
- finally sambar is ready to serve with vada or idli.
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.
