Protein Sambar
A hearty South Indian lentil and vegetable stew made with toor dal, mixed vegetables, and tamarind, loaded with enough dal to deliver serious protein.
Sambar is comfort food for me. It's the thing I ate almost every single day growing up, with rice, with idli, with dosa, with literally anything. When I started tracking macros, I realized sambar was already doing a lot of heavy lifting on the protein front because of the toor dal.
Most restaurant versions are heavy on the water and light on the dal. My version goes heavier on the lentils and packs in extra vegetables. Twelve grams of protein from a side dish is no joke, especially when it tastes this good. I make a huge pot on Sundays and it gets better every day as the flavors develop.
The Protein Upgrade
Restaurant sambar is often thin and watery with minimal dal, delivering about 6-7g protein per serving. We use a full cup of toor dal for four servings, keeping the stew thick and protein-dense at 12g per serving.
Protein Sambar
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal (rinsed) 6g protein
- 3 cups water (for cooking dal)
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 cup mixed vegetables (drumstick, carrot, eggplant, cut into pieces)
- 1 medium tomato (chopped)
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 2 tbsp sambar powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups water (for adjusting consistency)
- 1 tbsp oil (for tempering)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 dried red chili
- 6 curry leaves
- ¼ tsp asafoetida
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Cook toor dal with 3 cups water and turmeric in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles (or simmer in a pot for 25-30 minutes until very soft). Mash the dal until smooth and set aside.
- In a separate pot, bring 1.5 cups water to a boil. Add the chopped vegetables and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomato, onion, tamarind paste, sambar powder, and salt to the vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the mashed dal to the vegetable mixture. Stir well and bring to a gentle boil. Adjust consistency with water. Sambar should be like a thick soup, not a paste.
- For the tempering, heat oil in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add cumin seeds, dried red chili, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Let everything sizzle for 10 seconds.
- Pour the tempering into the sambar and stir. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve hot with rice, idli, or dosa.
Boost Your Protein
- Add a handful of fresh spinach in the last few minutes for extra nutrition.
- Use an extra quarter cup of toor dal for even more protein per serving.
- Pair with protein jeera rice for a meal with 20g+ protein from sides alone.
Ingredient Substitutions
- No toor dal? Use masoor dal (red lentils) for a quicker cook.
- No tamarind paste? Use 1 tbsp lemon juice plus 1 tsp brown sugar.
- No sambar powder? Use 1 tsp each cumin, coriander, and chili powder.
- No curry leaves? Use a bay leaf or skip entirely.
- No curry leaves? Use a bay leaf during cooking.
- No asafoetida? Skip it, the dish works fine without it.
- No toor dal? Use red lentils (masoor dal), they cook faster but work well.