Instant Pot Sambar | South Indian Kerala Style

This Authentic Instant Pot Sambar recipe is a delicious vegetable lentil stew recipe from the South Indian state of Kerala.  This easy sambar is normally eaten with the South Indian staples of idli, dosa, vada, or rice but you could serve it as a soup or stew.  Use your choice of vegetables for sambar.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the disclosure.

Sambar (pronounced ‘saam-baar’) is a boldly flavored South Indian vegetable lentil stew. What was originally a South Indian dish has become popular all over India and the world.

There are so many versions of sambar because different states, communities and households have their own adaptations of this delicious recipe.  It’s an almost-daily staple in South Indian households. 

As a matter of fact my niece who’s grown up in the US wanted sambar and rice every single day when she was little!  The protein and vegetables make it quite a healthy choice.

This authentic sambar recipe comes from the South Indian state of Kerala – which is where my family is from – and it’s my mom’s recipe. My mom has two versions of sambar: with coconut (varutharacha sambar) and without coconut.

Despite the lengthy ingredients, this recipe is actually really quick and easy!

Instant Pot Sambar – Ingredients

How to Make Instant Pot Sambar

1. Add water to Instant Pot inner pot. Add rinsed toor dal and turmeric. Stir to combine, pressure cook for 10 minutes and do a natural pressure release.
2. Add water, eggplant, cucumber, okra, tomato, onion, salt, sambar powder, sugar and tamarind.
3. Pressure cook for 1 minute and do a quick release or cook vegetables in Saute mode. Stir to combine.
   [Optional: Saute grated coconut until deep golden brown, blend with a bit of water, and stir into the sambar.]
4. Preheat a small frying pan and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and cover with a splatter screen or lid. When the mustard seeds stop popping, remove the lid and add the curry leaves. Saute the curry leaves for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the mustard seeds and curry leaves to the sambar and heat through in Saute mode. Press Cancel and add cilantro. Stir until combined.

Instant Pot Sambar

This Authentic Instant Pot Sambar recipe is an easy vegetable lentil stew recipe from the South Indian state of Kerala. This boldly flavored sambar is normally eaten with the South Indian staples of idli, dosa, vada, or rice but you could also eat it as a soup or stew. Use your choice of vegetables.

5 from 6 votes

PRINT PIN RATE

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 104

Author: Paint the Kitchen Red

Cook ModePrevent Screen from Going Dark

Equipment

• Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
• Small nonstick frying pan
• Splatter Screen
• Blender

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 ½ cups water
• ½ cup toor dal rinsed well, till water runs clear
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 cup eggplant (about ½ eggplant) cubed into ¾ inch pieces
• ½ cup English cucumber (about ¼ cucumber) peeled and cubed into ¾ inch pieces
• ½ cup okra frozen or fresh
• 2 cups tomatoes chopped
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste (I prefer 1 ¼ tsp)
• 1 tablespoon sambar powder or more to taste
• 1 ½ teaspoon granulated sugar or jaggery or brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon tamarind paste (or more to taste) *
• ¼ cup grated coconut fresh or frozen (optional)
• water to blend coconut about 3 to 4 tablespoon (optional)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 12 curry leaves fresh or frozen
• 2 tablespoon cilantro chopped, to garnish

Instructions

 

• Stir together 2 cups water, rinsed toor dal, and turmeric in the inner pot.
• Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and allow for a natural pressure release. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods].
• Press Cancel and open the lid.
• Mash the dal with the back of a large spoon or potato masher.
• Stir in 1 ½ cups water, eggplant, cucumber, okra, tomato, onion, salt, sambar powder, sugar and tamarind.
• Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 1 minute, open the lid and do a quick release of pressure.  [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods].
• Press Cancel and open the lid.
• Optional:

  – Dry roast the coconut over medium heat in a small frying pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when the coconut is a rich golden-brown color. This can take about 10 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to burn! 

  – Transfer the coconut into a mini blender bowl and add 3 tablespoon water. Blend the coconut and water into a smooth paste. If the coconut mixture does not move in the blender, add a bit more water, one tablespoon at a time. Don't add too much water. 

  – Stir the coconut mixture into the sambar.
• Preheat a small frying pan and add oil.
• Once oil is hot, add mustard seeds and cover with a splatter screen or lid.
• When the mustard seeds stop popping, turn off the heat, remove the lid and add the curry leaves.
• Saute the curry leaves for a few seconds until fragrant.
• Add the mustard seeds and curry leaves with the oil into the sambar.
• Cook in Saute mode till heated through.
• Add in chopped cilantro and stir to combine.

Notes

• Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. rinsed dal, chopped onions, etc.
• See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
• * If using tamarind concentrate, start with 1 teaspoon mixed with 1 teaspoon hot water and add more to taste. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 104 kcal | Carbohydrates: 30 g | Protein: 4 g | Fat: 4 g | Saturated Fat: 2 g | Sodium: 31 mg | Fiber: 18 g | Sugar: 5 g

Course Main Dishes

Cuisine Indian

Main Ingredient vegetarian

Have you made this recipe? I love seeing your photos! Tag me on Instagram @PaintTheKitchenRed or #PaintTheKitchenRed!

Thank you for visiting Paint the Kitchen Red. All photos and content are copyright protected. Please don’t use any content without prior written permission. If you’ve made this recipe and would like to share it with your friends, please link back to this recipe. Thank you!