[stargazer]

I have recently tried some authentic Indian sambar, and absolutely fell in love with the dish.  I want to try making it myself in the near future.  However, there is something about it that confuses me.

The variety I had was "drumstick sambar", which is made with an Indian vegetable called drumsticks (or Moringa).  The sambar I had was absolutely loaded with them, but there was one problem: I don't think that these were actually edible.  They basically seem to have the texture and taste of corn husks.  Are you supposed to eat these, or do you just discard them after cooking?  If the latter, how exactly do you go about doing it?  Since the dish is essentially like a soup, it's not the easiest thing in the world to pick out all of these "sticks" that are spread throughout it, and eating around them is tough!

I'm hoping that someone can enlighten me, because I feel kind of silly right now haha.

 

[cheflayne]

Sambar is a dish. Moringa drumsticks are an ingredient. Soup is a dish. Tomato is an ingredient. Not all soups have tomato in them, but tomato soup will have lots of them. Not all sambars will have drumsticks in them, but drumstick sambar will have lots of them. Hope this analogy helps.

Moringa drumsticks are indeed edible with the fresh,young, tender pods being the ones to seek out. Think green beans or similar bean pods, with the older and bigger ones being somewhat more fibrous.

 

[stargazer]

Sambar is a dish. Moringa drumsticks are an ingredient. Soup is a dish. Tomato is an ingredient. Not all soups have tomato in them, but tomato soup will have lots of them. Not all sambars will have drumsticks in them, but drumstick sambar will have lots of them. Hope this analogy helps.

Moringa drumsticks are indeed edible with the fresh,young, tender pods being the ones to seek out. Think green beans or similar bean pods, with the older and bigger ones being somewhat more fibrous.

Thanks for the reply. I know that not all Sambar has drumsticks, but I would like to try making it with them in it - I just wanted a bit of clarification beforehand. I think that I must have gotten some of the older/larger ones, because it was literally impossible to chew through! Thanks for the selection tip - I will try it when I go shopping and see how it works out.