Sambar(Kolmbo)
This is one of the most popular dish of North Canara, a traditional Konkani Sambar. My Aayi is a specialist in cooking this.This is my all time favorite sambar. When I was a kid, I used to ask for this dish almost 3-4days a week. All others in the home got so bored of it that, they all used to object when I asked for this. I used to eat it continuously for 2-3days. Now, my husband is a huge fan of this dish. So I can make and eat it for days.
Usually this is served with rice. But I think this can also be served with idli or dosas. I advice everyone to taste this atleast once, I can bet you will love it.
Ingredients :
1/2 cup toor daal
1/2 cup grated fresh/frozen coconut
1 tspn chana daal
1 tspn coriander seeds
1 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
1/4 tspn methi seeds
A pinch asafoetida
7-8 curry leaves
1/2 inch piece cinnamon(optional)
5-6 cloves(optional)
5-6 red chilies
Vegetables – green beans, carrot, cauliflower, tomato, potato, drumsticks
Oil
2-3 strands coriander leaves
A pinch turmeric
Salt
Method:
Cook daal with little turmeric and 2 drops of oil (turmeric and oil help daal to cook early). Cook vegetables separately. Heat 1 tspn oil and fry ingredients from chana daal to red chillies. Add coconut and fry for 2-3 minutes. Grind to a thin paste. Heat cooked daal, add vegetables, ground masala and salt. Heat for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Heat 1tspn oil. Add mustard seeds, when they start popping, add curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the cooked sambar. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 5
Preparation time : 30min
Hi, I’m originally konkani/marathi (my family is from karwar and bombay) and I would love to link to your blog off of my site. Great recipes! I found you because my parents are in India right now and I was googling for pink kadi (made out of those sola).
hello Shilpa,
first time visit here and i must say, i absolutely love your recipes. shall try out this one asap and give you a feedback.
cheers
I love this recipe. I think it will yield the udipi sambar taste ‘coz of cinnamon and cloves. Thanks for this recipe.
This one sambar recipe is for me to try out.
I have been looking to recreate that udipi restaurant sambar taste forever and so unsuccesful. If you have eaten Idli Vada Sambar in Samhrat (Racecourse road) in Bangalore, you will know what I am talking about.
I will give this a try!
Though I loved Kolmbo very much when my mother prepared it, I never had recipe for this one.Thanks for posting it.I tried it over the weekend. Even my husband & son who usually don’t like coconut in any daals loved this one.
Shilpa, I made your kolmbo recently and we loved it. Even my 7 year old, who normally does not like anything with coconut in it, loved it. I added some tamarind concentrate to adapt it to our tastes. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
batata sasam goes well with kholmbo.try it.
Hi Shilpa, great recipe. But in Udupi, konkanis dont make Kolmbo this way…My mom is from Udupi and so’s my father. But the Kolmbo made at both places, doenst have turmeric. Also, they have some kinda pitto for the kolmbo but I am not sure it includes Coconut…will send u the recipe of the pitto soon, but this sounds more like TN- coimbatore side Sambar more than Kolmbo…take care and let me know. thanks
Vidya, I don’t know how Udupi sambar/kolmbo is made. But this is a traditional Kolmbo recipe from NK. Everyone follows the same thing except one or two changes according to their taste. Turmeric does not affect the taste in anyway, it helps in cooking the daal faster and it is very good for health. So we include it in all daal dishes.
We make the sambar without coconut also. The sambar powder which we use for it is here.
I will be happy to try your recipe, so do send it to me.
Hey shilpa.. nice to see asamabr recipe…. this is arachu vitta sambar (ground sambar) there is another instant sambar recipe which tastes good and is fast to make…hey iam sorry about the proportions…. i do it by sight value….so plz try and work wt best suits ur taste.
You need:
toor dal or masoor dal – 1 cup
any kinda vegetable u like..i wud tell about shimla mirchi here. 1 big or 2 small.
tamarind – one small TT ball size sphere
(if ur have concentrate paste – 2 tsp)
sambar masala -everest
asafoetida (hing)
salt to taste
red chilli powder (optional)
oil
mustard seed
dried red chilli -2
ural dal- 1 tsp
method:
Firstly soak the tamarind in water and squeeze out the pulp… add somemore water and let this tamarind juice boil. in a cooker keep dal seperately and cook(when making sambar with vegetables like tomato, aloo, brinjal and so on u can keep these vegetable along with the dal and steam in cooker.dont keep drumstick in cooker as it gets mashed..). Now take a pan put oil in it and slightly fry the shimla mirchi pieces in it. (this is optional but frying the pieces give extra taste.)after it is fried add the pieces to the boiling tamarind water. add salt, turmeric,hing and sambar masala to this water and let it boil well….when u see the water reducing… add the cooked dal to it add sALT and let it boil it it thickens a bit and the dal gels with the tamarind..
Now in a small kadai. add some oil, mustard seeds, ural dal and red chillis…. add to the tamarind taste when this splutters…
try it out… iam sure u will get the authentic sambar taste
Shilpa: Shubha, do try homemade sambar powder next time you make your sambar. It tastes great. This powder can be saved for 4-5months in airtight container, turns out better than any ready made ones. And yes, I too make this sambar very often.
for making onion sambar.. u need to fry the onion.. just like shimla mirchi and u need to add a bit of jaggery to the sambar….
Shilpa: Didn’t try adding shimla mirch and jaggery to sambar before. Will try it soon. Thanks.
hey shilpa… do give me ur comments…. i read ur tips on making chapati will try it ;;) thanx
This was so tasty and spicy! What a wonderful recipe!
you have a great web site love your cooking style and photos are very good keep up the good work
think you need to leave the mustard and curry leaves out while frying and grinding. they should be used for tadka…
Shilpa: No Nitin, we add them for the paste. It gives a very nice aroma. This kolmbo in very special at our place. In tadka also we add these two.
Shilpa, your website is like a magic box, I come across one wonderful recipe after another! What can I say?!
I have been looking out for the kolombo recipe since a long time. My hubby’s aunt had made it when we had visited her and i had lost the recipe. My hubby often asked for it and I had no idea how to make it. I am so happy I finally found the authentic recipe right here on your blog. Thanks so much.
I must say, this is a very well maintained blog with authentic konkani recipes which are so hard to find. Keep up the good work.
Hi Shilpa,
We are a group of forced bachelors away from our homes in Bahrain and believe me your website is really a boon because we are now able to cook home-style food and love to experiment though some of the ingredients are not easily available in the area which we live. Nevertheless keep up the good work. You are an angel.
shilpa i tried this sambar powder/ dry roast the following;
Dhania, Beydagi chillies 1cup
urad dall,jeera,pepper,boiled rice,toordall 2 tsp
chanadall, copra powder, 2 tbsp
methi, mustard 1 tsp cinnmon (optional) 1 stick
Roast them with little ghee and powder along with haldi powder and hing
powder them and store in an airtight container.
This powder is very easy pl try
I use this powder for sambar powder, bisibela bath, brinjal potato subji, pulihore.
Thank you so much for yummy Kolmbo recipe.. I’m konkani but I learnt kolmbo with your help…
Thanks a lot..
Regards,
Darshana
Kolombo is my all time fav. …..happy to find this recipe here….
many thanx to u.
regards
sahana