Name: Slow Cooker Sambar
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Toor dal; ¼ cup Moong dal; 1 Onion (– large, thinly sliced); 1 pepper (Green – small, thinly sliced); 1 Yellow squash (– medium, thinly sliced); 2 - 3 3 tbsps Tomatoes Tamarind (– medium, chopped (I used 1 small tomato chopped and 1/3 cup crushed tomato) paste); 1 tsp chili powder (Red); to taste Salt; 1 tsp Urad dal; 1 tsp Mustard seeds; 1 tsp Cumin seeds; 2 chilies (Dry Red)

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Update: My Computer is fixed.. I’ve updated the post with the pics.

I wanted to use my slow cooker that’s been collecting dust for quite sometime now. So I decided to make sambar in it and it came out pretty good, can’t complain for the minimum amount of work I had to put in.

Slow Cooker Sambar

Author: Pavani

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Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 55 mins

Course: soups stews

Cuisine: south indian

Servings: serving

Ingredients

1 cup Toor dal
¼ cup Moong dal
1 Onion – large, thinly sliced
1 pepper Green – small, thinly sliced
1 Yellow squash – medium, thinly sliced
2 - 3 3 tbsps Tomatoes Tamarind – medium, chopped (I used 1 small tomato chopped and 1/3 cup crushed tomato) paste
1 tsp chili powder Red
to taste Salt

Popu Ingredients:

1 tsp Urad dal
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
2 chilies Dry Red

Instructions

I combined dal and veggies along with 5-6 cups water, ½ tsp turmeric, sambar powder, chili powder and salt in the slow cooker. Cooked on Low for about 6 hours (or on High for 4hrs).
So by the time we came home, dal & veggies were done, then I added tamarind extract and adjusted the seasonings. Cooked for another 30 minutes on High.
When there was about 10 minutes left for cooking, I made the tadka in 2tbsp oil, added it to slow cooker and let it cook.

Notes

Serve with rice, idli, dosa, roti, practically anything can be eaten with sambar. With the leftovers I made Sambar Semya which is nothing but vermicelli mixed with sambar.

Here’s how I made it:

Bring 6cups of water to a rolling boil, add 1tsp salt and 1 cup semya (vermicelli like bambino or MTR brand); cook for 3-4 minutes or until semya is cooked through. Drain the water and set aside to cool. Heat 1tbsp oil in a large sauté pan, add 1tsp each of urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds & cumin seeds, 2-3 dry red chilies, ¼ cup toasted peanuts. Add 2-3 cups of sambar and bring to a simmer. Stir in cooked semya, mix well; taste and add salt, sambar powder as needed. Simmer for 2 minutes and enjoy hot for a quick BLD (Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner).

Sambar goes to EC @ Simple Indian Food for her WYF-Side Dish event.

Sambar Semya goes to Sahaja @ Spicy Rasam for her Single Serving Recipes event.

Note: My laptop has gone cuckoo and is probably infected by the conflicker virus. So couldn't upload pics, I will update the post once everything is fixed.

Comments

meeso

April 10, 2009 at 2:17 pm

That’s a new way to use a slow cooker 🙂 These are great for one-dish dinners when you’re really busy… can be a real life-saver when you don’t wanna eat processed foods.

Pooja

April 10, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Nice idea to use slow cooker…Never got the idea of cooking sambar in slow cooker..

Cham

April 10, 2009 at 4:13 pm

Never made anything with slow cooker! Great recipe to start.

Ramya Vijaykumar

April 10, 2009 at 6:08 pm

Sambar in a slow cooker sounds nice… Shall come back for the pictures cant wait to see how it turned out…

Trupti

April 10, 2009 at 9:33 pm

using slow cooker for sambar is new to me.. sounds good..waiting for result

varunavi

April 11, 2009 at 10:34 am

What is slow cooker?
Can have sambar any time.But i never knew that moong dal can be added to sambar.

Pavani

April 12, 2009 at 4:35 pm

Meeso, Sambar I made was enough for almost 5-6 meals, so no processed food for almost 2 weeks. 🙂

I’m still trying to figure out new ways of using my slow cooker Pooja. Do try this one out.

Cham, try this one out, I’m sure you will find many more ways to use it.

Thanks for dropping by Ramya. Keep visiting.:-)

Thanks for visiting Trupti.

Varunavi, slow cooker is also called crockpot, basically you dump all the ingredients and it is going to cook for 4-8 hrs to get that slow cooked taste. Great for cooking meats, but you can also cook beans, veggies etc. Check this link out: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33956-5-Quart-Cooker/dp/B000R4FTV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1239554080&sr=8-1

Lubna Karim

April 13, 2009 at 10:13 am

Wow sambar looks yum….

easycrafts

April 14, 2009 at 9:51 am

Sambar in slow cooker..new to me..thanks for the yummy entry

nithya at hungrydesi

April 20, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Great idea to make the sambar in the slow cooker…I made daal makhani in mine not too long ago.