Easy Vegan Recipes — The Thread That Holds Everything: Priya’s Sunday Sambar

Eight years complete. Week three hundred and sixty-four. The end of another year-marker. But not the end of anything — just a line on a calendar, a number in a sequence, a week that is the same as the ones before and the ones that will follow. The sambar continues. The book is on shelves. The blog has forty thousand readers. The column runs monthly. The cookbook sits on the bookshelf at the memory care facility where my mother lives, unrecognized by the woman whose recipes fill its pages. Anaya, six, starts kindergarten in September. Rohan, almost three, is learning to manage his intensity with the help of therapists and parents and a family that loves loud boys because loud boys become strong men (Amma said this and Amma is rarely wrong about the things that matter). Arvind's daughter Asha is one, walking, babbling in a mix of English and whatever sounds Arvind and Dina speak at home. She'll grow up with biryani AND meatballs. She'll never know a world where those don't coexist. Appa visits Amma every day. Every. Day. Seventy-four years old, replaced hip, daily pilgrimage to the room where his wife sits with a Ganesh and a brass filter and the humming of a lullaby she can't say but can sing. And me. Priya Krishnamurthy-Patel. Thirty-six. Pharmacist. Writer. Mother. Daughter. The sambar girl. I stand in my kitchen — the granite counters, the five-burner range, the wet grinder on its dedicated counter — and I make food. Every day. For my children, for my husband, for my mother (delivered, three times a week, in steel containers labeled with her name). The food is the thread. The food is the constant. The food is the thing that connects week one to week three sixty-four and will connect week three sixty-four to whatever comes next. I made sambar tonight. The Sunday version. From memory. From hands. From the specific, irreplaceable knowledge that lives in muscle and love and the generous pinch that is always, always enough. The food remembers. Even when people can't. The food remembers. End of Year Eight. The story continues.

There is no recipe I make more often, or with less measurement, than this one — and that is exactly why I want to write it down. Not for me. For Anaya, who will one day stand at her own five-burner range and need to know what the generous pinch looks like. For Rohan, whose loud, strong hands will someday need something to do on a Sunday. And for Amma, whose hands taught mine, even if her mind no longer holds the memory of having done so. This sambar is the easiest vegan recipe I know. It is also the most important one I own.

Easy Vegan Recipes: Sunday Sambar

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas), rinsed well
• 3 1/2 cups water, divided
• 1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
• 1 cup cubed white pumpkin or drumstick pieces (or pearl onions)
• 1 small tamarind ball (about 1 tablespoon), soaked in 1/2 cup warm water and strained, or 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sambar powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chiles
• 10–12 fresh curry leaves
• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing) — a generous pinch
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook the dal. Combine the rinsed toor dal with 2 1/2 cups of water in a pressure cooker or heavy pot. If using a pressure cooker, cook on medium heat for 3 whistles (about 12 minutes) then let pressure release naturally. If using a regular pot, simmer covered for 30–35 minutes until the dal is completely soft and mashable. Once cooked, whisk or mash the dal until smooth and set aside.
2. Build the base. In a wide pot over medium heat, combine the cooked dal with the remaining 1 cup of water. Add the chopped tomato, your vegetable of choice, tamarind water, sambar powder, turmeric, and salt. Stir well to combine.
3. Simmer. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 12–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the sambar has thickened slightly to a consistency that coats a spoon. Adjust salt and tamarind to taste.
4. Temper the spices. In a small skillet or tadka pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop, about 30 seconds. Add the cumin seeds, dried red chiles, and curry leaves — stand back, they will sputter. Add the generous pinch of asafoetida and swirl once.
5. Finish and serve. Pour the entire tempering over the simmering sambar immediately. Stir gently, let the sambar simmer together for one final minute, then remove from heat. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve hot alongside steamed rice, idli, or dosa.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 175 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 410mg