Homemade Sambar Powder Recipe

A combination of roasted spices and dals ground together to make sambar powder. Sambar powder is a flavorful South Indian style coarse textured spices powder prepared by grinding various types of basic Indian spices like coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, dry red chillies, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, dry coconut etc. with chana dal. The Sambar recipe is originally said to be native to Maharastra, while it is presently relished by South Indians, especially the natives of Tamil Nadu. It is said that Shivaji's son Sambhaji who was one of the Maratha rulers, was making dal for himself while the chef was away. Later the chef corrected him that tamarind was not used in making dal, but he liked his way of preparing it more. Thus, the name of Sambar comes from his name. There are more than 50 varieties of Sambar today that are typically made in India. Sambar is also very famous worldwide as a South Indian tadka to various dishes.