Radish (mullangi) sambar tastes as delicious as shallot (chinna vengayam) sambar as they both absorb the flavors of all the spices used in sambar. Hence I like to savour mullangi sambar not only with hot steaming rice but also with idli or dosa.

Mullangi sambar tastes good with aviyal and also it goes well with any kootu or poriyal regardless of being spicy or not. Here I have served radish sambar & rice with purple cabbage poriyal.

Health Benefits of radish:
Radish is a good source of Vitamin C (provides immunity), potassium (controls BP), folic acid (needed for pregnant women) & also contains an anthocyanin, a powerful anti-oxidant. You may click here for its nutrient values published by US Dept. of Agriculture. Although we can enjoy the benefits of radish to the fullest by taking them raw as salad or juice, I have listed below some of the important health benefits.Â

Since 95% of radish is water we can take radish as a salad to keep us hydrated during summer. Besides, radish salad acts as a good appetiser & a mouth freshener. Now let us prepare radish sambar or mullangi sambar as below and you may click here for my other kuzhambu recipes.
Radish Sambar Recipe:
Time taken: 30 min
Yields : 600 ml
Ingredients:
- Sesame oil or coconut oil – 1 tsp
- Asafoetida (hing) – a peanut sized block or ¼ tsp powder
- Fenugreek seeds (vendhayam) – ½ tsp
- Red chillies – 2 Nos.
- Curry leaves – 1 sprig
- Tamarind juice extracted from a lemon-sized tamarind – 400 ml
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp (or Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tsp)
- Radish (mullangi) – 2 Nos.
- Red gram (split pigeon pea or thuvaram paruppu) – ½ cup (100 g)
- Sambar powder – 1 tsp
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Chopped coriander leaves – a handful



How to prepare radish sambar :
- Wash lentils, soak them in water (1 cup) & set aside.
- Peel & slice radish into discs and add into lentils.
- Pressure cook lentils & radish after adding 1 cup of water (simmer for 10 min when it reaches high pressure).
- Mash lentils well after keeping radish aside.
- Extract tamarind juice (about 400 ml) and keep aside.





- Heat a cooking pan with oil.
- Add asafoetida block, fenugreek seeds, red chillies & curry leaves one after another and fry them in low flame.
- Pour tamarind juice and add turmeric powder & red chilli powder and bring it to a boil in medium flame.
- Add cooked radish & salt (½ tsp) and let it boil for a minute.
- Add cooked lentils & sambar powder.
- When they start to boil again, cover the pot and simmer for 2 min.
- Add remaining salt & chopped coriander leaves and stir well.
- Remove from heat and keep the pan closed (allowing sambar to get infused with the spices) for 5 min.
- Serve with rice, idli or dosa.
Cooking Tips:
- Radish may be cooked in tamarind juice rather than pressure cooking it along with lentils.
- If you are using store-bought chilli powder that are really hot, you can reduce it to 1 tsp.
- You may check out my sambar powder recipe here, it is useful to mask the sulphur odour of radish.
- If you are using iodised salt it is always good to add salt just before turning off the stove to prevent iodine being vaporised.
Variations:
- We can replace redgram (toor dal) with any other lentils like green gram (moong dal) or red lentil (masoor dal) for making sambar.

- We may add any other vegetables shown in the picture below into sambar in the following combination:
- onion, carrot, beans, potato & tomato
- drumstick, brinjal, mango & shallot
- ladies finger, brinjal, any green leaves & shallot
- pumpkin, broad beans (avarai), brinjal & shallot
- bitter gourd, tomato & shallot

Superb picture and dish presentation!
Thanks for stopping by.
This is new
Thanks so much for stopping by !
Wow.so much variation in one sambar.
Nice presentation and explanations.
Thanks !
Very details ! Simple and fast but result is very delicious, I hope I can do it like your photo. Nice 🙂 Thank you
Simple but STUNNER ??
Thanks, Jyo !
Looks good…….love to try it 🙂
Thank you !
Hooray for radish! They’re rarely cooked in the US, which I think is a real shame. I love the textures and flavors that brings out, but I usually roast mine. I’d love to try your approach next time.
I’m glad that this post motivates you to include radish frequently in your diet. Thank you so much !
Nice pictorial view
Thank you !
You’re welcome ?
Love the presentation here and the health benefits of all the spices! I think I need to take another trip to the Indian Food Market by my house and get the ingredients for this one!!! I’m hosting a family get together Thursday, this would be perfect!
Glad to hear this, thanks for stopping by !
Lovely presentation!
Thank you !
It looks delicious and very nice presentation!
Thank you !
I didn’t knew radish has so much of nutritional value…Awesome recipe..Loved it..Thank you for sharing this wonderful post !!
Yes, many of us are not aware of these health benefits! Thank you !
Ooooh! Yum! The pictures are beautiful and I bet it tastes amazing!
Yes, it really is ! Thank you !
All of the photos are great! But I especially like the photos of the finished dish! They are beautiful!
Thanks, and thanks for stopping by !
So colorful!! 🙂
Thanks, Christy ! 🙂
Love your pics. Especially as some of the spices are foreign to me. Thank you
Thank you !
Just the amount of photos used for this recipe is amazing and very detailed, thanks for sharing and I would love to try it out!
Thanks, chef !!
Delicious nd healthy ??
Thanks !
Love your detailed step by step pics. This sambar is my personal favourite. Radish is excellent for health too.
Yes, my fav. too ! Thanks Vidya !
Nice one!Thanks for sharing!
Thank you !
Each single step is explained with easy-to-understand photographs. This makes it very easy for us, but must be quite hard work for you. Thank you so much for all the efforts taken and one more brilliant recipe.
Many thanks for your appreciation !
Ahhh! I’m so going to try making this when it’s winter here. It will be radish season, then. Good stuff!
Thanks, and thank you for stopping by !
Well explained. Loved the variations part.
Thank you !
This sounds delicious, an unusual take on radishes. I love to find new recipes, especially as nice sounding as this one! 🙂
Thanks a lot !
This looks delicious!
Thank you !
Wow beautiful presentation!
Thank you, Diane !
Looks yummy.. megala ?
Thanks Ramya !
Loved yr sambar — detailed recipe is just awesome —
Thanks !
The final presentation is so beautiful!
Thank you !
The radish looks so tender and the sauce loos so very tasty. Lovely presentation. 🙂
Thank you !
Nice presentation Megala.Radish sambar looks great! and nice to know about all the health benefits!
Thank you Nisha !
Your blog is amazing… can’t stop looking at the food photos … (drooling 😉 ) 😀
https://outfitsandmakeupblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/bite-beauty-the-perfect-pair-amuse-bouche-lipstick-set-meringue-fig/
🙂 Thanks, and I will check your blog for sure ! Btw, thank you for stopping by !!
Interesting comparison with the shallots sambar
Thank you !
?
I love Mullangi sambar with its unbeatable taste and flavor!
Thank you !
Nice Recipe and Pics!
Thanks !
Very nice detailed description ma’am. I never tried of boiling raddish in pressure cooker thanks for the tip.
Thank you !
Welcome ?
Looks very delicious..nw a days I am learning south Indian recipes. So thank you for sharing this recipe.
Glad to hear this, thank you !
I love your pics accompanying the post. They are beautiful and self explanatory Megala ?
Thanks a lot, Radhika !!
Radish sambar!! ??? I love it!
Thank you !
Looks very tasty 🙂
Yes, it is ! 🙂 Thank you so much !
🙂
Dear Megala, I have nominated you for the Mystery bloggers Award 🙂
I am so happy for that ! Thanks a ton !
Your so welcome. 🙂