Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe (2024)

Feb 16, 2023 by Priya_Srinivasan ·

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Sambar sadam or sambar rice, a quick and easy one pot meal made in instant pot. South-Indian style sambar sadam a quick fix meal made in pressure cooker for those busy days.

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe (1)

Sambar Sadam or Bisibelabath?

We all have the confusion at one point of time right? Well, Sambar sadam is from Tamilnadu and Bisibelabath from Karnataka. There is a taste difference and color too, if I might say so, as the masala used in preparing these dishes are a bit different.

For Tamilnadu style sambar rice, we use the regular chana dal, coriander seeds and fresh coconut whereas for Karnataka style bisibelabath, the taste comes from cinnamon and marathi moggu along with loads of dried coconut and a piece of jaggery added to the dish.

If you want to try a Millet sambar sadam, check this Samai | Little Millet Samabr sadam, another pressure cooker recipe, with just sambar powder. If you just wanna make a pot of sambar to enjoy with plain rice, check this Instant pot sambar , a family favorite.

Why Try this Sambar Rice?

First and foremost it is an one pot meal, that should be good enough to convince you to try this. But then I m listing quite a few brownie points on this delish Instant pot sambar sadam.

Instant Pot recipe : You just sauté, add, close, pressure cook and open when needed to enjoy hot meal whenever you want.
A Balanced Meal : This Tambrahm style sambar sadam includes almost 3 cups of vegetables, rice and dal, so all your food group needs protein, carbs and fat ticked.
Quick and Easy : This dish takes just 20-30 minutes from start to finish. So, on a busy day, sick day, don't feel like cooking anything elaborate day, this pressure cooker sambar rice, has your back.
Easy on your Tummy : Made with Rice, dal and vegetable, this aromatic and flavorsome mushy rice digests easily and makes it easy on your system. Just a warm bowl of this No onion, no garlic sambar rice, envelopes you with lots of warmth and love.
No onion No Garlic Recipe : Yay, since it is sattvic, you can make it on festival days as an offering for your poojas.
Serves a Crowd : The quantity mentioned in this One pot sambhar sadham recipe, easily serves 8-10 adults when made with other dishes for any get together. This can be made accordingly to serve more too.

Ingredients to Make Tamilnadu Style Sambar Sadham

Main ingredients : Rice & dal are the main heroes of this delish one pot meal. I have used Ponni raw rice along with tuvar dal and moong dal in this sambhar rice.
Vegetables : I have used Drumstick, potato, capsicum, radish, yellow pumpkin, carrot and beans in this instant pot sambar rice. You can also use khol-khol, peas, yam etc.
Spices : A combination of chana dal, coriander seeds, black pepper, along with fresh coconut, ginger and a pinch of methi and rice are freshly roasted and ground to make this creamy and luscious pressure cooker sambhar sadham.

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe (2)

Fat : I prefer to cook with cold pressed sesame or groundnut oil . I have used groundnut oil in this one pot meal.
Garnish : I usually add a tadka of mustard, fresh curry leaves and few red chillies and loads of fresh coriander leaves on my sambar sadam. Though the tadka is optional, i highly recommend it, you can also add some crunchy elements like roasted nuts or some boondi of mixture.

Stepwise Instructions to make IP Sambar Sadam

Please check recipe card below for exact measurements of each ingredient used and also for the detailed instructions

Measure rice and dal in a bowl. Wash 3-4 times with water, until the water runs clear. Soak rice and dal until use. Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water.
Wash and prepare all the vegetables you are planning to use to make this one pot meal.
In a small pan, add drops of oil and roast chana dal, coriander seeds, red chilies, black pepper, methi seeds and rice. Roast in a medium flame, keep sauteing continuously.
Once the dal turns golden brown, take it off the heat, add fresh coconut, curry leaves and ginger to it and let it roast in the residue heat. Transfer the contents to a flat plate, allow it cool completely.

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe (3)

Take the roasted ingredients along with chopped tomato and soaked tamarind along with the water and grind it to a fine paste.
Plug in the Instant pot, turn on saute mode. When hot, add oil, splutter mustard seeds, methi seeds, and hing.
To this hot tempering , now add the chopped vegetables. Saute for a minute. After sauting add ¼ cup of water to this and deglaze the pot well. This helps in avoiding Food burn.
Add the freshly ground masala to this and mix. Add 1 cup of water to the mixer jar, wash well and add that water to the pot.

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe (4)

Drain water from the rice and dal, add to the instant pot, mix well. Add 4 cups of water to this. Mix well.
Add salt and 2 tablespoon of ghee to the sambar sadam , mix well. Close the lid, cancel saute mode. Press pressure cook on the instant pot menu and set timer to 8 minutes at high pressure.
Once done, let the instant pot release pressure normally for 15 minutes. Then do a quick pressure release.
Open the lid carefully, there will be lots of steam. Use a ladle and mix well.
Finally the tempering, this is purely optional. Add oil, splutter mustard seeds, lots of fresh curry leaves, 4-5 red chilies and hing. Pour this sizzling tadka over the sambar sadam. Mix and serve it hot with appalam.

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Recipe Card for IP Sambar Sadam

Sambar Sadam | Sambar Rice | Instant Pot Recipe

Sambar sadam or sambhar sadham, a quick and easy one pot meal made in instant pot. South-Indian style sambar sadam a quick fix meal made in pressure cooker for those busy days.

5 from 39 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Brunch, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: South-Indian, Tambrahm

Keyword: easy lunchbox recipe, Easy vegan recipe, How to make sambar rice, Instant pot recipe, Pressure cooker recipe, Sambar sadam, Sambhar Sadam, Sambhar Sadham

Equipment

Instant Pot or Pressure cooker
Magic bullet or equivalent blender for grinding the masala

Ingredients

3 cups mixed vegetables I have used potato, yellow pumpkin, drumstick, capsicum, radish, french beans, carrots
1 no medium sized tomato chopped
1 cup raw rice i have used ponni raw rice, you can also use sonamasuri
½ cup Toor dal/Tuvar dal/Split Pigeon Peas/Thuvaram Paruppu
¼ cup Moong dal/Pasi paruppu
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
25 grams tamarind size of a lemon, please see notes
2 tsp salt or to taste

Roast & Grind

1 tablespoon chana dal
2 tbsp coriander seeds
⅓ cup freshly grated coconut
8-10 nos round red chilies reduce to 6-8 if you prefer a mild spice
1 teaspoon black peppercorns/milagu
¼ teaspoon methi seeds /fenugreek seeds/venthayam
½ teaspoon raw rice
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 sprigs curry leaf
5 cups water used in batches
2-3 tablespoon ghee/Clarified butter avoid if vegan & add cold pressed coconut oil

Tempering

3 tbsp Cold pressed groundnut oil any cooking oil can be used
1 teaspoon mustard seeds/kadugu
½ teaspoon hing/asafoetida
¼ teaspoon methi seeds /fenugreek seeds/venthayam

Final Garnish Tempering (optional)

2 teaspoon cold pressed groundnut oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds/kadugu
4-5 nos round red chilies
2-3 sprigs curry leaf
½ teaspoon hing/asafoetida

Instructions

Initial Prep Work

Measure rice and dal in a large bowl. Wash it 2-3 times with water until it runs clear. Soak rice and dal in water, in the same bowl until use. Usually 10-15 minutes.
Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water. Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Please check notes below.
Wash and chop all the vegetables required to make this sambar sadam. I have used ½ a radish, ½ a carrot, handful of french beans, ½ a potato, ½ a capsicum. 1 no drumstick, 10-12 cubes of yellow pumpkin.
Chop all the vegetables into chunks. We are pressure cooking this sambar sadam, so chopping the veggies too small will make them lose shape completely. I prefer chopping them into medium sized cubes,

Let us prepare the fresh masala

In a small pan, heat 2-3 drops of oil. Take chana dal, coriander seeds, black peppercorns ,red chilies and rice together and roast until the dal turns golden brown.
Keep the flame medium and roast, keep stirring it to avoid burning. Once the dal turns golden, take it off heat.
To this add fresh coconut, curry leaves and ginger. Let these ingredients roast in the residue heat. Transfer the contents to a flat plate. Let this cool completely.
When cool enough, take the roasted ingredients in a blender jar. I used my magic bullet.
Add the soaked tamarind along with the water and chopped tomatoes to this. Blend this into a smooth mix. Keep aside until use.

Let us Make Sambar Sadam

Plug in the instant pot and turn on the saute mode. Add oil given under tempering . When hot, splutter mustard seeds, hing and methi.
Add the chopped vegetables to this hot tempering and saute for a minute. Add turmeric powder and mix.
After sauteing the veggies for a minute or two. add ¼ cup of water to deglaze the instant pot, using a flat ladle, scrap the bottom nicely and stir.
Deglazing is very important as it helps to avoid Food burn while cooking in IP. When deglazing is done, it clears the bottom of instant pot from any stuck food particles while sauteing, which also adds nice flavor to the dish.
See Also
Deviled Beef Recipe Sri Lanka | Easy & Tasty Beef Fry - Homemade
Now add the freshly ground masala to this sauteed vegetables and mix. Add 1 cup of water to the blender, shake well and add that water to the instant pot.
Drain the soaked rice and dal and add it to the instant pot and mix well. Top this with remaining 4 cups of water.
Add salt, give it a good stir, scraping the bottom, just to ensure, nothing is stuck.
Add 2-3 generous spoons of ghee to the sambar sadam, mix nicely. Close the Instant pot. Check the vent position, it should be sealed.
Cancel sauté mode. Turn pressure cook mode on, set the timer to 8 minutes at high pressure.
Once done, let the pressure release normally for 15 minutes. Then do a quick pressure release.
Carefully open the instant pot lid. Take a ladle and give the aromatic sambar sadam a good mix. It will soft, silky and creamy, skidding off the ladle as you mix

The Final Tadka (this is optional)

Heat oil mentioned under final tadka, when hot, splutter mustard seeds, add hing, curry leaves and broken red chilies to this.
Pour this sizzling tadka over the hot sambar sadam. Mix and serve the delish sambar sadam with appalam or crisps.
The tadka done at the end is purely optional. You can as well skip. Enjoy this delish sambar sadam hot

Serving Suggestions

The above amount serves 5 adults. We didn't have any leftovers. But if making for a gathering with other dishes, this quantity will definitely serve 8-10 people.
The sambar sadam absorbs liquid as it rest and tends to become more solid. If this happens, add hot water to this sambar sadam, adjust salt, add a good tempering, give a good stir and serve immediately.

Notes

Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Some tamarinds have good color but less sourness, whereas some have pale color but good sourness. The brand i tried this time had good color but less sourness for the amount i generally use. So take tamarind accordingly.
Do not miss Deglazing Step. Deglazing is very important as it helps to avoid Food burn while cooking in IP. When deglazing is done, it clears the bottom of instant pot from any stuck food particles while sauteing, which also adds nice flavor to the dish.
You can leave the IP to release pressure naturally. Since i made this for lunch, i did a QPR, after 15 minutes of natural pressure release. If you are making this in the morning just leave it release fully and open it whenever you want to serve.
Please check FAQ section for more

Side Dish Suggestions

My kids prefer Potato okra curry or simple potato podimas with this delish one pot sambar sadam.
You can make this crispy baby corn pakoda to go with your Instant pot sambar sadam.

Nutrition

Disclaimer

I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.

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FAQ on this Tambrahm Style Sambar Sadam

I don't have an Instant pot?

No problem at all, you can use a normal pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles and let the pressure release normally.

Can I add onion and garlic in this Recipe?

For personal reasons, recent years, we avoid cooking with onion and garlic. But if you like the taste, please go ahead and add shallots in the recipe. I have never tasted garlic in sambar sadam, so wouldn't recommend that.

Why rice is roasted and ground along with other spices?

Ground rice adds a creaminess to dish. Whenever we make araichuvitta sambar, ½ teaspoon of raw rice is roasted along with other spices and ground which gives a nice texture to the sambar.

Can I use Homemade sambar powder for Spice?

Freshly ground masala adds lots of taste and texture to this sambar rice. If you want to use your homemade sambar powder, then just add 2 teaspoon of sambar powder to fresh coconut, along with ginger, curry leaves and rice. Grind this to paste and use this instead.

Food Burn issue while making one pot meals in Instant Pot

Food burn happens when the food is stuck to the bottom of the pan. Deglazing is very important as it helps to avoid Food burn while cooking in IP. After sauteing the vegetables, add ¼ cup of water to the instant pot, use a long ladle and scrap bottom of the pan nicely, stir well.
When deglazing is done, it clears the bottom of instant pot from any stuck food particles while sauteing, which also adds nice flavor to the dish.

Sambar sadam turns solid or cakey?

While making one pot meals like sambar sadam, it is important to add good amount of liquid and seasonings. I have used 1 cup rice and ¾ cup dal, for this amount i have used almost 5-6 cups of water.
It is natural for this kind of one pot meal to turn little cake-y as it rests. If this happens, just before serving, add ½ to 1 cup of hot water, adjust salt, add a good tempering of red chilies and curry leaves, give a good stir and serve.

More Rice Varieties

Instant Tamarind Rice | Easy Puli Sadam | AraichaPuli Sadam
Peanut Rice | Peanut Podi Sadham | South-Indian Style Mixed Rice Recipe
Toor Dal Khichdi | Millet Khichdi | Samo Khichdi

Reader Interactions

Comments

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Vaishali
February 19, 2023 at 5:57 am

Priya , I loved this post ! So informative! I always mix left over rice with sambar, never added any vegetables.
I have bookmarked the recipe , perhaps will cook it for a Sunday Lunch when we all can enjoy home made South Indian meal. Loved the idea of fresh spices - definitely they will fill the house with aroma.
Reply
Radha
April 17, 2023 at 9:21 am

Looks heavenly! Who can say no to this irresistible comfort food. I am loving this Instant Pot version!
Reply
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
May 10, 2023 at 5:09 am

One pot rice always comes to the rescue. Love this quick and easy Instant Pot sambar sadam. Perfect for lunch box.
Reply