Fresh methi sambar or vendhaya keerai sambar – a healthy and delicious sambar recipe with the goodness of fresh fenugreek leaves! Check out how to make this methi sambar, a perfect rice accompaniment with detailed step-wise pictures.
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Sambar & Kuzhambu
Sambar and kuzhambu are the quintessential dishes of Tamil Nadu. Both sambar and kuzhambu are perfect rice accompaniments, and I have quite a few recipes on my blog. Today I will share one more sambar recipe with fresh greens – fenugreek. In Tamil, we call fenugreek leaves vendhaya keerai; in Hindi, we call it methi.
I mentioned this in my raw mango sambar post; in our household, we call arachuvitta sambar varieties sambar, and the rest are kuzhambu, even if it has toor dal. That’s why you can see me using vendiya keerai kuzhambu in the title. Call it your preferred way; this sambar recipe is a very beginner-friendly and great way to use those healthy fenugreek leaves.
Like keerai kootu, keerai kuzhambu is also quite popular. In our home, we call it puli itta keerai, meaning spinach with tamarind. This sambar is like any other sambar recipe; instead of a vegetable/vegetables, we are using fenugreek leaves. You can make this sambar with amaranth greens or Malabar red spinach, or other spinach varieties that are available locally.
Methi Leaves
Fenugreek leaves fall under the spinach family, and India is the most significant producer of these greens. Fenugreek leaf is a fantastic herb with a lot of medicinal value. We use fenugreek in different forms in Indian cooking. For example, we use methi/fenugreek seeds for tadka, kasoori methi (dried methi leaves) for dal and some paneer gravies, and fresh methi leaves for sambar, dal, paratha, pulao, etc.
Ingredients required
I am sharing the ingredient list in the order we add them while cooking. Please check the recipe card for exact measurements.
Toor dal & turmeric: Like every other sambar recipe, we also need toor dal for this methi sambar. I usually pressure cook my toor dal by adding a pinch of turmeric powder and a few drops of oil. Oil is optional, but I got used to adding it as it yields nicely cooked and mushy dal.
To Temper: We need oil, mustard seeds, dried red chilies, and asafoetida. As we make sambar with fenugreek leaves, I don’t use fenugreek seeds while tempering.
Shallots: While you can use onion, I highly recommend shallots as they yield amazing flavor to this sambar. But feel free to use regular onions, white, red, or yellow.
Tomato: We also need one big tomato for this recipe. It adds flavor and some color.
Fresh fenugreek leaves: I used approximately 2 cups of fresh fenugreek leaves. Remove the stems and yellow leaves and chop them roughly.
Tamarind paste: I used my homemade tamarind paste. You can use store-bought one or gooseberry-sized tamarind flesh. In that case, soak it in one cup of water and extract the juice.
Sambar powder: I used my homemade sambar powder. You can use store-bought sambar powder or kuzhambu thool.
Apart from these ingredients, we also need salt, water, jaggery, and rice flour to prepare the slurry, which helps to thicken the sambar.
Dietary specifications and storage suggestions
This vendhaya keerai sambar is naturally vegan and nut-free. Use gluten-free asafoetida, or skip it for a gluten-free version.
This sambar stays good for 4 to 5 days when refrigerated. When needed, reheat only the required amount. Do not reheat and refrigerate again. You can make it a part of your weekend meal prep.
How to make vendhaya keerai sambar
Pressure cook the dal
- Pressure cook the toor dal by adding turmeric powder, and few drops of oil, and 1 cup of water for 4 to whistles.
- Let the pressure subside and if you are using rice flour, add it to the dal and mix and mash it nicely.
Prepare the sambar
- Heat a kadai or saucepan and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, red chili, asafoetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the shallots and saute until it turns translucent.
- Then add the chopped tomatoes and fenugreek leaves. Add salt as well and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. The greens will ooze out water, and it’s fine.
- Add the tamarind water and sambar powder mixed in ¼ cup of water. Simmer it for 8 to 10 minutes until the raw smell goes off.
- Finally, add the toor dal mix and jaggery.
- Mix well and simmer for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat. And that’s it. Yummy methi sambar is ready. Enjoy it with rice.
Recipe Notes
- Adjust the tamarind quantity according to the tanginess of the tomatoes.
- Tomatoes are entirely optional. You can skip them as well.
- Instead of shallots, you can use regular onions.
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
VVK Tips
- If you are getting started with fenugreek leaves and worried about the bitterness, reduce the measure to one cup or soak it in hot water for 30 minutes and discard the water. This soaking process helps to reduce the bitterness of the fenugreek leaves.
- Adding a small amount of jaggery helps to balance the flavors. Even though it’s an optional ingredient, I highly recommend it.
- Rice flour is optional. As I mentioned before, it helps to thicken the sambar. If you add more dal than the below-mentioned measure, you can skip the rice flour.
- Mixing the sambar powder in water and adding it to the sambar prevent lumps.
More methi recipes
Have you made this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Vendhaya Keerai Sambar | Methi Sambar
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup = 240ml; 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml;
To pressure cook
- ¼ cup toor dal
- ⅛ tsp turmeric powder
- 2 drops of oil
- 1 cup water
To temper
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ⅛ tsp asafoetida
- 1 dried red chili broken into two pieces
Other ingredients
- 5 shallots peeled and chopped into halves
- 1 tomato chopped (approx 1 cup)
- 2 cups fresh fenugreek leaves 1 bunch, stems removed and roughly chopped
- 2 tsp tamarind paste diluted in 1 cup of water
- 1 tbsp sambar powder diluted in ¼ cup of water
- 1.5 tsps salt or to taste
- 1 tsp rice flour
- 2.25 cups water divided
Instructions
Pressure cook the dal
- Pressure cook the toor dal by adding turmeric powder, and few drops of oil, and 1 cup of water for 4 to whistles.
- Let the pressure subside and if you are using rice flour, add it to the dal and mix and mash it nicely.
Prepare the sambar
- Heat a kadai or saucepan and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, red chili, and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the shallots and saute until it turns translucent.
- Then add the chopped tomatoes and fenugreek leaves. Add salt as well and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. The greens will ooze out water, and it’s fine.
- Add the tamarind water and sambar powder mixed in ¼ cup of water. Simmer it for 8 to 10 minutes until the raw smell goes off.
- Finally, add the toor dal mix and jaggery. Mix well and simmer for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat. And that’s it. Yummy methi sambar is ready. Enjoy it with rice.
Notes
- Adjust the tamarind quantity according to the tanginess of the tomatoes.
- Tomatoes are entirely optional. You can skip them as well.
- Instead of shallots, you can use regular onions.
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
- If you are getting started with fenugreek leaves and worried about the bitterness, reduce the measure to one cup or soak it in hot water for 30 minutes and discard the water. This soaking process helps to reduce the bitterness of the fenugreek leaves.
- Adding a small amount of jaggery helps to balance the flavors. Even though it’s an optional ingredient, I highly recommend it.
- Rice flour is optional. As I mentioned before, it helps to thicken the sambar. If you add more dal than the below-mentioned measure, you can skip the rice flour.
- Mixing the sambar powder in water and adding it to the sambar prevent lumps.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Update notes: Earlier posted on 2015. Now updated the recipe card with nutritional information and new step-wise pictures.
My mom used to make methi sambhar and we loved it. I had forgotten how to mak it. Thanks now I have a foolproof recipe to follow. Thanks.
Thanks so much Archana.
This is a classic sambhar/kuzhambu that is common in our home. We love it with rice as well as dosa. Great recipe.
Thanks Radha.
Methi in sambar is new to me, I have to try this, the recipe sounds so unique and healthy. But tell me doesn’t it make the sambar a little bitter or does the jaggery cut it down?
No Vaishali, it doesn’t make it bitter. It’s more like methi dal.
Hi
Please detail the methi quantity in terms of cup, would it be 1 cup
It should be approx 1.5 to 2 cups, loosely packed.
Such a comforting and hearty methi sambar.
Thanks Pavani
Yummy comfort dish.
Agreed. :-)
Lipsmacking kuzhambu, serve me with rice and papads, can have my lunch happily.
oh yeah.. This goes well with papad
Love kuzhambu of any kind…this one looks awesome!
Thanks :-)
Methi is one of my favourites. We also make this with some variation.
Great.. Thanks
So flavorful and I remember my mom making it often picking fresh methis from my kitchen garden when she was visiting us last year :)
thanks.. kitchen garden sounds interesting.. home grown are always special
Comfort food at its best!
Thanks Harini
We love fresh methi during the winter months. Lots is uses and so healthy.
Yup totally agree :-)
That’s such a comfort food..love this!
Thanks :-)
I love Methi. I don’t know if you have tried making the sweet dal with Methi, Srividhya. If not, do try it.
No Aruna, I haven’t tried. Thanks a lot for the idea. Will give it a try soon. Do you have it in your blog?
Yes, I do, Srividhya. The link is https://aahaaram.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/menthi-koora-pappu-methi-dallentils-with-fresh-fenugreek/
Oh great. Thanks a bunch
I never know that we get fresh methi in farmers market.. Thanks for the info.. Its been ages since I had this now that you told about farmers market so I can taste it soon
Errrr… vidya I am not sure about East Coast farmers market. Here in CA we get lot of local produce so methi, okra are very common here. If you get it thats awesome.
I do it as one pot ;) to save time…This looks cool..will try it during weekends :)
true.. one pot meal is always the best
Love this sambar.Ultimate comfort food!!!
Thanks PJ..
On a rainy day, hot rice with a drop of ghee and vendhaya keerai kuzhambu.. what else do you want.. My favourite :)
I agree.. may be appalam ;-) ;-)
yeah.. yeah :)
I had Methi Sambar for my lunch dear!! yummy and delicious sambar..
Thanks Farin.. Same pinch :-)