Sāmbār, or sambhar, is a lentil-based vegetable spiced curry or stew, cooked with pigeon peas and tamarind broth. It originates in South Indian cuisine and is also eaten in other parts of India.
History
The recorded history of sambar is vague.
According to food historian K. T. Achaya (1994), the earliest extant reference to sambar, as "huli", can be dated to the 17th century in present-day Karnataka. Kanthirava Narasaraja Vijaya, a 1648 text by the Kannada scholar Govinda Vaidya, mentions huli (puli) (literally "sourness"), a curry similar to the modern sambar, made with vegetables and toor dal.
According to a legend, sambar was first made in the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom during the reign of Shahuji I (r. 1684–1712). Sourish Bhattacharyya, in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine (2023), notes that the fathers of Shahuji I and Sambhaji were half-brothers and not on good terms, which reduces the credibility of this legend. However, Bhattacharyya adds that it is possible that Shahuji named the dish after Sambhaji as part of his attempts to establish cordial relations between the two families. In Tulu-speaking areas of coastal Karnataka, coconut is predominantly used to prepare koddel (sambar). Grated coconut is ground with spices to form a paste which is added to boiled vegetables. In Kannada-speaking areas it is called huli.
See also
- Kuzhambu
- Cuisine of Andhra Pradesh
- Cuisine of Tamil Nadu
- Cuisine of Maharashtra
- Cuisine of Karnataka
- Kerala cuisine
- Udupi cuisine
- South Indian cuisine