Vendakkai Kozhumbu (Okra Sambhar)

Today got off to a bit of a late start and I was left scrambling to put together a meal plan and assemble a dinner for tonight. As I often do when I'm in a bind for dinner plans, I picked a couple simple curries that I could make with ingredients on hand and decided to give 'em a whirl!

I've had sambhars once or twice before, but not often. I've found that they can be a little hit-or-miss for me, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. Doubly so since its main ingredients is okra which isn't something I have a lot of experience with. It was actually pretty good though! It wasn't as good as the other curry we made tonight, but it was solid. And now that I've had a chance to sit down and think about the flavours a bit, it occurs to me that adding some hot pickles probably would've helped fill in some of the missing notes for me since I did feel like it needed slightly more heat and acidity.

Vendakkai Kozhumbu

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 5 c. water, divided
• 350-450g okra¹
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1 Tbsp. sambhar masala
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. ground asafetida
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse the pigeon peas, then cover with 2 c. of the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Skim off any foam, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for ~20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, if using fresh okra, rinse and thoroughly dry the pods, then carefully cut the caps off (without cutting into the pods), and then cut each pod into 2-3cm pieces.
4. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add the mustard seeds to the oil, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
6. Add the okra and stir-fry for ~5 minutes.
7. Add the onion and stir-fry for another 5 minutes or so.
8. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two.
9. Stir the tamarind, sambhar masala, salt, turmeric, asafetida, and curry leaves into the remaining water and add this mixture to the pan.
10. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for ~8 minutes.
11. Once the pigeon peas are cooked, transfer the legumes and their cooking water to a blender and purée.
12. Pour the pigeon pea slurry into the pan with the okra, stir in the cilantro, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
13. Serve over rice with pickles and/or flatbreads of your choice. Drizzle with ghee if desired.

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¹ Iyer calls for 450g of whole fresh okra which you then wash, trim, and cut into pieces before cooking. I had a 350g bag of okra pieces in the freezer, so I just used that. ^Back