How upliance makes chennai style sambar, step by step
- upliance, upliance
This cooks it.
- SAUTÉ
- CHOP
- STIR
- COOK
What is it?
upliance is a steel jar on a smart base with a touchscreen. It weighs, chops, sautés, stirs and cooks, and the screen tells you what to drop in next. The toor dal cooks in your pressure cooker on the stove; everything else happens in the jar. Scroll to watch it make Chennai sambar from above.
- You, 3 min
Pressure-cook the dal
Not in the jar?
Not this bit. Wash 50 g of toor dal twice, then put it in your pressure cooker with 600 ml of water. High flame, 2 whistles: about 10 minutes on the stove. Turn it off and let the pressure drop by itself while you prep and the jar makes the tadka. Keep all the cooking water: it goes into the jar with the dal and becomes the sambar.
- You, 12 min
Peel shallots, cut veg
How rough?
While the cooker whistles: peel 100 g of sambar onions (a dozen or so, the slowest bit) and leave them whole. Peel 5 garlic cloves and a 3 g piece of ginger. Pull the stems off 2 dried red chillies and 1 green chilli, and rinse 10 curry leaves. Cut 2 tomatoes and 100 g of small brinjals in 4, wash 1 drumstick and cut it into 8 pieces, and fine-chop 4 coriander stems for the end. Mincing the garlic and chopping the tomato and brinjal smaller is the jar's job.
- You, 30 s
Drop 1 of 5
What goes in
2 tbsp ghee, ½ tsp mustard seeds, 2 dried red chillies, ¼ tsp hing and 10 curry leaves, straight into the empty jar.
upliance, 30 sCrackles the tadka
Why first?
Every sambar starts with a tadka. With the crown off, upliance heats the ghee and stirs till the mustard seeds pop and the curry leaves and chillies crisp up, all in about 30 seconds.
You, 30 sDrop 2 of 5
What goes in
5 peeled garlic cloves, 3 g peeled ginger and 1 green chilli, whole, on top of the tadka. Lid and crown on.
upliance, 10 sMinces garlic, ginger, chilli
No knife?
No mincing by hand. With the lid and crown on, the blade turns the garlic, ginger and chilli into fine bits in about 10 seconds. Scrape the sides down once it stops.
- upliance, 30 s
A quick sauté
Only 30 seconds?
Crown off again. upliance stirs the minced garlic, ginger and chilli in the hot ghee for about 30 seconds, just till the raw smell goes.
- You, 15 s
Drop 3 of 5
What goes in
100 g of peeled sambar onions, left whole. Crown off.
- upliance, 5 min
Sautés the shallots golden
Why so long?
Sweet, soft shallots are what make a Chennai sambar. With the crown off so the moisture escapes, upliance keeps them moving in the ghee for about 5 minutes till they turn soft and golden at the edges. No standing and stirring.
- You, 30 s
Drop 4 of 5
What goes in
2 tomatoes and 100 g of small brinjals, each cut in 4. Lid and crown on.
- upliance, 5 s
Rough-chops tomato, brinjal
Just 5 seconds?
Just a few turns of the blade, so the tomato and brinjal end up in bite-size chunks, not a purée. Sambar should have pieces you can find. Scrape the sides down after.
- You, 1½ min
Drop 5 of 5
What goes in
Open the cooker once the pressure has dropped and tip in all the cooked dal with its water. Then 1 tbsp sambar powder, 1½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp turmeric, ½ tbsp tamarind paste and the 8 drumstick pieces. Lid and crown on.
- upliance, 33 min
Cooks the sambar, stirs itself
33MIN FREEleave the kitchenWhat's the jar doing?
Lid on, upliance mixes everything in, then cooks the sambar for about 33 minutes and stirs it as it goes. The drumstick and brinjal turn tender, the dal melts into the tamarind and sambar powder, and it all thickens into sambar. No standing over the pot. Make the rice, steam the idlis, set the table.
- You, 1 min
Coriander, ghee. Serve.
Finish
Stir the chopped coriander and ½ tbsp ghee into the jar, then pour the sambar into a bowl. Eat it hot with rice, idli, dosa or vada.
