Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe

Sambar sadam or sambhar sadham, a quick and easy one pot meal made in instant pot. South-Indian style sambar sadam a quick fix meal made in pressure cooker for those busy days.

Course Brunch, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine South-Indian, Tambrahm

Keyword easy lunchbox recipe, Easy vegan recipe, How to make sambar rice, Instant pot recipe, Pressure cooker recipe, Sambar sadam, Sambhar Sadam, Sambhar Sadham

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Total Time 45

Servings people

Calories 492kcal

Equipment

Instant Pot or Pressure cooker
Magic bullet or equivalent blender for grinding the masala

Ingredients

3 cups mixed vegetables I have used potato, yellow pumpkin, drumstick, capsicum, radish, french beans, carrots
1 no medium sized tomato chopped
1 cup raw rice i have used ponni raw rice, you can also use sonamasuri
½ cup Toor dal/Tuvar dal/Split Pigeon Peas/Thuvaram Paruppu
¼ cup Moong dal/Pasi paruppu
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
25 grams tamarind size of a lemon, please see notes
2 tsp salt or to taste

Roast & Grind

1 tablespoon chana dal
2 tbsp coriander seeds
⅓ cup freshly grated coconut
8-10 nos round red chilies reduce to 6-8 if you prefer a mild spice
1 teaspoon black peppercorns/milagu
¼ teaspoon methi seeds /fenugreek seeds/venthayam
½ teaspoon raw rice
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 sprigs curry leaf
5 cups water used in batches
2-3 tablespoon ghee/Clarified butter avoid if vegan & add cold pressed coconut oil

Tempering

3 tbsp Cold pressed groundnut oil any cooking oil can be used
1 teaspoon mustard seeds/kadugu
½ teaspoon hing/asafoetida
¼ teaspoon methi seeds /fenugreek seeds/venthayam

Final Garnish Tempering (optional)

2 teaspoon cold pressed groundnut oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds/kadugu
4-5 nos round red chilies
2-3 sprigs curry leaf
½ teaspoon hing/asafoetida

Instructions

Initial Prep Work

Measure rice and dal in a large bowl. Wash it 2-3 times with water until it runs clear. Soak rice and dal in water, in the same bowl until use. Usually 10-15 minutes.
Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water. Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Please check notes below.
Wash and chop all the vegetables required to make this sambar sadam. I have used ½ a radish, ½ a carrot, handful of french beans, ½ a potato, ½ a capsicum. 1 no drumstick, 10-12 cubes of yellow pumpkin.
Chop all the vegetables into chunks. We are pressure cooking this sambar sadam, so chopping the veggies too small will make them lose shape completely. I prefer chopping them into medium sized cubes,

Let us prepare the fresh masala

In a small pan, heat 2-3 drops of oil. Take chana dal, coriander seeds, black peppercorns ,red chilies and rice together and roast until the dal turns golden brown.
Keep the flame medium and roast, keep stirring it to avoid burning. Once the dal turns golden, take it off heat.
To this add fresh coconut, curry leaves and ginger. Let these ingredients roast in the residue heat. Transfer the contents to a flat plate. Let this cool completely.
When cool enough, take the roasted ingredients in a blender jar. I used my magic bullet.
Add the soaked tamarind along with the water and chopped tomatoes to this. Blend this into a smooth mix. Keep aside until use.

Let us Make Sambar Sadam

Plug in the instant pot and turn on the saute mode. Add oil given under tempering . When hot, splutter mustard seeds, hing and methi.
Add the chopped vegetables to this hot tempering and saute for a minute. Add turmeric powder and mix.
After sauteing the veggies for a minute or two. add ¼ cup of water to deglaze the instant pot, using a flat ladle, scrap the bottom nicely and stir.
Deglazing is very important as it helps to avoid Food burn while cooking in IP. When deglazing is done, it clears the bottom of instant pot from any stuck food particles while sauteing, which also adds nice flavor to the dish.
Now add the freshly ground masala to this sauteed vegetables and mix. Add 1 cup of water to the blender, shake well and add that water to the instant pot.
Drain the soaked rice and dal and add it to the instant pot and mix well. Top this with remaining 4 cups of water.
Add salt, give it a good stir, scraping the bottom, just to ensure, nothing is stuck.
Add 2-3 generous spoons of ghee to the sambar sadam, mix nicely. Close the Instant pot. Check the vent position, it should be sealed.
Cancel sauté mode. Turn pressure cook mode on, set the timer to 8 minutes at high pressure.
Once done, let the pressure release normally for 15 minutes. Then do a quick pressure release.
Carefully open the instant pot lid. Take a ladle and give the aromatic sambar sadam a good mix. It will soft, silky and creamy, skidding off the ladle as you mix

The Final Tadka (this is optional)

Heat oil mentioned under final tadka, when hot, splutter mustard seeds, add hing, curry leaves and broken red chilies to this.
Pour this sizzling tadka over the hot sambar sadam. Mix and serve the delish sambar sadam with appalam or crisps.
The tadka done at the end is purely optional. You can as well skip. Enjoy this delish sambar sadam hot

Serving Suggestions

The above amount serves 5 adults. We didn't have any leftovers. But if making for a gathering with other dishes, this quantity will definitely serve 8-10 people.
The sambar sadam absorbs liquid as it rest and tends to become more solid. If this happens, add hot water to this sambar sadam, adjust salt, add a good tempering, give a good stir and serve immediately.

Notes

Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Some tamarinds have good color but less sourness, whereas some have pale color but good sourness. The brand i tried this time had good color but less sourness for the amount i generally use. So take tamarind accordingly.
Do not miss Deglazing Step. Deglazing is very important as it helps to avoid Food burn while cooking in IP. When deglazing is done, it clears the bottom of instant pot from any stuck food particles while sauteing, which also adds nice flavor to the dish.
You can leave the IP to release pressure naturally. Since i made this for lunch, i did a QPR, after 15 minutes of natural pressure release. If you are making this in the morning just leave it release fully and open it whenever you want to serve.
Please check FAQ section for more

Side Dish Suggestions

My kids prefer Potato okra curry or simple potato podimas with this delish one pot sambar sadam.
You can make this crispy baby corn pakoda to go with your Instant pot sambar sadam.

Nutrition