Drumstick Sambar

Drumstick Sambar is a South Indian traditional stew made with lentils, spices and vegetable drumsticks. This spicy, thick, tangy and delicious stew is eaten with rice and ghee alongside papads or a vegetable stir fry. While the traditional Sambar has mixed vegetables this one uses only the vegetable drumsticks and small onions/shallots. In this post I share my Mom’s recipe to make Drumstick Sambar.

About Drumstick Sambar

Vegetable drumsticks are the pods of moringa tree and are used as a vegetable in Indian cooking. We use them to make curries, soup (rasam), pickles and add it to stews like this one. They are known as munagakaya in Telugu, murungakkai in Tamil, sahjan ki phali in Hindi and nugekkai in Kannada.

Moringa trees are native to Indian sub-continent. They are often grown in the backyards and farms, especially in South India where the pods and the leaves are a staple. We use the young leaves known as moringa leaves, in stir fry and lentil dishes. The pods are known as drumsticks, and are used in curries and sambar. Growing up we always had fresh drumsticks from our grandparents’ backyard, so this Drumstick Sambar was a staple.

Drumsticks have a vegetal and fresh grassy flavor so they require long cooking. While the tender/ young pods need about 10 minutes to cook, the more mature ones take about 20 to 25 mins. So the young drumsticks are more preferred and they also taste better than the mature pods.

Next time when you find these in a store, choose the pods that look fresh and are light green in color. Avoid buying pods that look dry, dehydrated and woody since these are the signs of very mature pods that don’t taste good and take too long to cook.

If you are wondering about the difference between this drumstick sambar and the traditional sambar, it is the amount of drumsticks and the use of ginger garlic that makes a huge difference to this version. To begin with drumsticks are simmered with onions and tomatoes until tender, later soft cooked dal is added to it. It is further simmered with Sambar Powder, tamarind and coconut. It is lastly finished off with a tempering.

Here are some expert tips that will help you make the best.

Expert Tips

1. The tempering is made with a generous amount of ghee which elevates the flavor and taste of this drumstick sambar. However if you are a vegan you can just temper the dish with any regular cooking oil.
2. Ginger and garlic paste are not regular ingredients in a vegetable sambar but this recipe uses it as the key ingredient to enhance the flavor. If you do not eat garlic, you can omit both ginger & garlic as I have not tested this recipe just with ginger.
3. Fresh coconut adds a different taste, flavor & texture. If you do not have fresh coconut you can omit it but do not use desiccated coconut or copra as it alters the flavor & taste.
4. I have used toor dal (split pigeon peas) and just 2 tbsps of moong dal (yellow mung lentils). You can use only toor dal or red lentils (masoor dal). Moong dal imparts thick texture to the sambar.
5. For the best taste use tender/young drumsticks that have been harvested recently.

More South Indian recipes
Veg kurma
Tomato rice
Idli sambar

Photo Guide

Step by step Photo Instructions

Cook dal

1. Wash dal a few times with lot of water. Fresh pour water to cook dal.

2. Cover and pressure cook the dal on a medium flame for 2 whistles or until completely soft cook & mushy. If you don’t have a cooker, please check this red lentil curry post to know how to cook lentils in a pot.

3. When the pressure drops, mash the dal completely. It must be smooth. While the dal cooks, wash the drumsticks. Lightly scrape off the skin and cut them to 2 inch long pieces. Discard both the ends. If you are using home-grown drumsticks then don’t need to scrape the skin.

Make drumstick sambar

4. Add the chopped drumsticks to a pot along with shallots or onions and green chili. If you do not have shallots you can also use medium sized onions. Halve them and add. I do not saute the veggies but if you wish you can saute them for 2 mins in 1 tsp oil. But there will be no difference in the taste. (Avoid using large red onions.)

5. Add in chopped tomato.

6. Pour 2 to 3 cups of water. The amount of water to use depends on the consistency you prefer. I normally do not make very thick sambar.

7. Cover and cook until the drumsticks are half cooked.

8. Immerse and soak tamarind in little hot water until soft. When the temperature comes down, mash the tamarind and set aside.

9. Check if the drumsticks are half cooked and add ginger garlic paste (or grated). If you do not like it you can omit but it adds a lot of flavor.

10. Then add salt.

11. Next add sambar powder and chili powder (optional). Store bought sambar powder can be really hot, so use with caution.

12. Now add in turmeric and mix well.

13. Cook until the drumsticks are completely soft, yet hold their shape. Pour the tamarind water. I prefer to filter it.

14. Next add fresh grated coconut and pour the dal.

15. Mix well and taste test. Adjust salt and tamarind as required. Bring to a gentle boil and turn off. Add the coriander leaves.

Temper

16. Pour ghee and heat it in a small pan on a medium high heat. Add mustard, cumin and methi seeds. When they begin to splutter, add in garlic, red chili and curry leaves (pat dry).

17. When the leaves turn crisp, turn off and add hing. If you think your sambar lacks flavor or want to spice up, add some sambar powder or red chili powder here.

18. Quickly pour this to the sambar. I prefer to pour 2 to 3 ladles of sambar to the tempering pan as the aroma is totally different when done this way.

19. I pour back the tempered sambar to the pot.

Serve drumstick sambar with rice, idli or dosa.

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