When I need sambar on short order, I make this easy Instant Pot sambar. It tastes like an authentic south Indian sambar but you need just 10 minutes hands-on time and pantry ingredients to make it. Serve the sambar with rice or dosa for a wholesome meal.
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My husband Desi, who's from Tamil Nadu, loves sambar. But I daresay I enjoy making this south Indian vegetable stew, flavored with a special spice mix called sambar powder or sambar masala, even more. It's blissfully therapeutic, from choosing and chopping the veggies to roasting the spices, squeezing tamarind pods between my fingers to extract their juice and ensuring all the ingredients go in at exactly the right times.
Making sambar isn't difficult. But if you are making a traditional version, it can be a multi-step process that includes cooking the dal separately, roasting spices and blending them up, extracting that tamarind juice and adding ingredients at different stages. All of this can seem intimidating to a beginner or someone looking for a quick, largely hands-off meal.
That's why I've taken all of my expertise, built over years and years of making sambar and gathering tips and tricks from my in-laws, and condensed it all into this simple Instant Pot sambar recipe.
This is a true, one-pot recipe. You don't need to cook the dal or vegetables separately. The tadka or tempering happens right in the Instant Pot. Then toss in the ingredients in a specific order, click on the Instant Pot lid, and dinner's almost ready!
Why you will love this recipe
- Classic sambar, only quicker: Whether you are, like Desi, a south Indian who loves their sambar, or someone who enjoys eating it occasionally, you will be pleasantly surprised by how authentic this Instant Pot sambar tastes.
- Minimal prep: Unlike many Indian recipes, most varieties of sambar (with some exceptions like vengaya sambar, which is made with onions) don't call on you to chop lots of onions. You also don't need ginger or garlic. All you do need to chop up is a tomato and whatever veggies you choose to use. I use sambar powder in this recipe so you don't have to make fresh sambar masala by roasting and blending spices.
- Easy to customize: You can change the flavor of sambar by using different veggies. Okra, pumpkin, ash gourd, eggplant, Indian drumsticks (pods of the moringa tree) and red pearl onions are all great choices. Vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and potatoes can be added when you use a mix of vegetables to make sambar. I used eggplant this time and I heartily recommend it: the eggplant becomes silky-soft and almost melts into the sambar, making it even more delicious (you can also try this stovetop eggplant sambar, called brinjal pulippu kootu).
- Allergy-friendly: Like most dal recipes, sambar is soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free.
How to make Instant Pot sambar
Make the tadka
- Set the Instant Pot to "sauté" on high and add the oil to the steel Instant Pot liner. Once the oil shimmers, add mustard seeds and wait for them to pop - this is how you get them to disperse their spicy flavor into the oil. Unpopped mustard seeds are bitter. If the oil isn't hot enough, just wait a little longer and tease the seeds with a ladle to help them along.
- Once the mustard has popped, stir in the cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafetida and sauté for a few seconds.
Add veggies
- Add the vegetables to the pot, sauté a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes and mix.
Add spices and dal
- Add toor dal to the pot (rinse it first in a colander) followed by the spices: sambar powder, red chili powder or cayenne, turmeric, ground coriander and sugar. Add salt to taste. Don't worry too much about getting the quantities of sambar powder and salt exactly right at this stage, you can always taste and add more after the sambar has finished cooking.
- Pour in 2 ½ cups water at room temperature and mix.
Pressure-cook the sambar
- Turn off the sauté function, cover the Instant Pot, and make sure the vent is set to the "sealed" position. Pressure cook on high for 12 minutes and let the pressure release naturally, or force-release 10 minutes after cooking has ended. The vegetables will have risen to the top.
- Stir the sambar gently with a ladle or spoon. If the sambar is too thick, add another ½ cup water and mix. Turn the sauté function back on to bring the sambar back to a quick boil. Check for salt - you can also add more sambar powder at this stage if you want to, just make sure you mix it in thoroughly. Once the sambar returns to a boil turn off the Instant Pot and serve the sambar hot.
More south Indian style dals
Recipe card
Instant Pot Sambar
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon asafetida
- 2 sprigs curry leaves (about 25 individual leaves)
- 7 small Indian eggplants (about 1½ pounds. Slice the eggplants lengthwise into ½-inch thick slices. See FAQs below if using other vegetables)
- 2 teaspoons tamarind paste (if using tamarind pods, soak a 1-inch ball of the pods in ¼ cup warm water for 15 minutes. Extract the juices by squeezing the pods between your fingers, then discard the solids and use only the watery extract.)
- 1 medium tomato (cut into 1-inch chunks)
- ½ cup toor dal (split pigeon peas, rinsed in a colander)
- 1 heaping tablespoon sambar powder (add more to your taste)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder (cayenne)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon jaggery (or sugar)
- Salt to taste
- 2-3 cups water
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté on high, then add the mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter. Add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafetida and sauté for 15-20 seconds.
- Add the eggplant or whatever vegetables you are using, tomatoes and tamarind paste to the Instant Pot. Mix them in with the spices and oil and sauté for a minute.
- Stir in the washed dal, sambar powder, turmeric, red chilli powder, ground coriander, jaggery or sugar and salt to taste. Add 2½ cups water. Mix.
- Cover the Instant Pot and make sure the vent is set to the "sealed" position. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. After cooking has ended, you can wait for pressure to release naturally or force-release it after 10 minutes.
- The vegetables would have risen to the top. Stir them back into the dal gently - this will also help the dal become creamier. Check seasoning and add more salt and/or sambar powder if needed. You can also add ½ cup water if the sambar is too thick - in that case turn the Instant Pot back on to sauté and heat the dal just until it boils.
Nutrition Information
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A few things to know before you start
- Instant Pot size: I used a three-quart Instant Pot for this recipe, and it's the perfect size for this quantity of dal which Desi and I ate over two meals. But a six-quart Instant Pot will work just as well. If you want to double the recipe, use the larger Instant Pot.
- Cut the vegetables into larger chunks. This will help them hold their shape after pressure cooking. I used the small Indian eggplants cut into ½-inch slices lengthwise.
- Use toor dal. You can use other dals like masoor dal or red lentils, or even moong dal, to make sambar. But I prefer toor dal for most dal recipes like this yellow dal because it cooks up with the creamiest texture, which is perfect for sambar.
Recipe FAQs
The tadka is critical for adding authentic flavor to the sambar. It helps the mustard, cumin and curry leaves bloom and release their flavors into the oil. It takes just a minute of time and it will reward you with the tastiest sambar.
No, just rinse it under running water for a few seconds before adding it to the Instant Pot.
This depends on a few factors, including the vegetables used and whether you cut them in big or small pieces. The eggplant I used does turn soft and wonderfully sweet, but because I cut it into large pieces it doesn't fall apart. Vegetables like carrots, okra and drumsticks will hold their shape better than softer veggies like pumpkin and ash gourd.
To keep the vegetables from breaking down completely into a mush, cut them in larger chunks - roughly a 1-inch dice.
Absolutely. Frozen drumsticks work very well in sambar. I also add frozen bitter gourd, when that's the only option I have, to sambar-style recipes like bitter gourd pitlai. It would work very well in sambar too.
Adding jaggery, or a little bit of sugar, helps round out all the spicy, salty, tangy flavors in the sambar. Just a teaspoon won't make the sambar taste sweet. You can skip it if you'd rather.
Serve sambar with south Indian breads like idli, dosa or uttapam, or with rice.
Store the sambar in the fridge for up to four days, and freeze it in a freezer-safe container up to three months. Thaw and reheat until it boils, adding a little water if necessary, before serving.
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