Basale Sambar Recipe

Among the leafy vegetable section, basella alba ( a.k.a basale soppu, malabar spinach, creeping spinach etc ) is extremely nutritious. It contains a lot of iron and is very rich in all vitamins. It is a creeper plant and you can grow it in your gardens too. It is very beneficial in curing mouth ulcers. The stems of the basella plant is very sticky. So many of them use only the leafy part of it. Variety of dishes can be prepared from this basale plant like basale thambuli ( Indian soup ), pakoda and so on. Regular consumption of this leaf will help to increase the haemoglobin content as it is very rich in iron.

How To Prepare Basale Sambar

This dish requires about half an hour to prepare and the ingredients mentioned below is enough for three to four servings.

Ingredients For Basale Sambhar

• Basale leaves - 15 to 20

• Toor dal (  pigeon pea ) - half cup

• Coconut scrapings - 1/4th cup

• Cinnamon stick - one inch

• Onions - 1/4th cup

• Tomato - one small sized

• Garlic - one pod

• Red chilli ( byadige ) - 6

• Green chilli - 2

• Coriander seeds - 2 tsp

• Jeera ( cumin seeds ) - 1 tsp

• Methi ( fenugreek seeds ) - half tsp

• Tamarind - one goose berry sized

• Salt - as per requirement

• Curry leaves - 2 tsp

• Coriander leaves - 2 to 3 strings

• For tadka ( seasoning ) - one broken red chilli, one tsp urad ( black gram dal ), 1 tsp mustard seeds, 8 to 10 chopped garlic pieces, and oil 1 tbsp

Method To Make Basale Sambhar

• First and foremost, wash the basale leaves thoroughly.

• Boil toor ( pigeon pea ) dal along with washed basale leaves in a cooker up to 3 whistles.

• When cooled, remove the cooker lid and smash the toor dal and basale leaves with a laddle in the cooker itself.

• Now heat a small pan and add one tsp of oil into it.

• Add red ( byadige ) chilli, cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, jeera seeds, methi seeds, coconut scrapings, garlic and curry leaves into it.

• Fry it slightly on a medium flame.

• Let it cool down completely.

• Transfer this fried items into a mixer jar and add onion,tomatoes and tamarind into it.

• Run the mixer till the mixture is blended smoothly adding 1/4th cup of water.

• Now take a vessel and add slit green chilis along with the boiled basale leaves and toor dal mixture along with the ground Masala.

• If necessary, you can also add half cup of water if you find the sambar to be very thick.

• Add half tsp turmeric powder and salt into the vessel and leave it to boil.

• Switch off the gas stove when the mixture starts boiling.

• For tadka ( seasoning ) -  Heat a pan with oil in it and add one broken red chilli, urad dal , mustard seeds, curry leaves and chopped garlic in it.

• Once it starts spluttering, transfer the tadka into the sambhar vessel.

• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Your delicious and healthy basale sambhar is ready to be eaten with hot rice.!!!

Kitchen Masti Points

1. You can add a few pepper corns into the mixer jar while grinding.
2. Garlic can be used according to your taste. If you want the dish to be more spicier, you can increase the garlic content.
3. This can be eaten along with chapathi or ragi balls ( muddhe ).