Sambhar Powder
from https://www.tarladalal.com/

Sambhar powder is a spice blend used throughout India, especially the southern states. As the name suggests it is used to make Sambhar, a broth made with vegetables and cooked lentils flavoured with tamarind pulp and sambhar powder. It is eaten with rice or snacks like dosa, idli and vada.

Each state in the South prepares it with a typical variation, adapted to its taste and environment. Likewise, every family has its own sambhar powder recipe, with ingredients proportioned according to the level of spiciness preferred by them. However, these days the availability of ready to use sambhar powder has made sambhar preparation easier and faster.

Some common ingredients in sambhar powder are toor dal, red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorn, fenugreek seeds, turmeric and dry curry leaves. The ingredients are either sun-dried for a few days or dry-roasted (individually) till aromatic, and then ground in a mixer-grinder or from a professional miller.

Culinary Uses
• Sambhar powder is used to prepare a south Indian delicacy called sambhar.
• In order to make sambhar, first the vegetables are cooked in water along with tamarind pulp, sambhar powder, turmeric powder, salt and asafoetida. Once the vegetables turn soft, cooked and mashed dal (and optionally a paste of coconut) is added to the mixture and cooked together for a few minutes. Finally, a tempering of mustard seeds, red chillies and fenugreek seeds in coconut oil is added to the sambhar, which is garnished with finely chopped curry and coriander leaves before serving.
• A wide variety of vegetables may be added to sambhar. Typical vegetables include okra, carrot, radish, pumpkin, potatoes, tomatoes, brinjal, and whole or halved shallots or onions.
• Sambhar powder can also be added to curries, vegetable dishes, soups or stews toward the end of cooking to impart a typical south Indian flavour to the dish.

For a recipe that makes a sambhar that is more like a paste, see Sambhar, a vegetable stew based on a broth made with tamarind and toovar dal (Yellow Split Pigeon Peas)

1/2 kg red chillies
1 kg coriander (dhania) seeds
200 gms toovar (arhar) dal, chana dal (split Bengal gram)
100 gms fenugreek (methi) seeds
100 gms urad dal (split black lentils)
100 gms black peppercorns (kalimirch)
200 gms turmeric (long variety)

Sun dry all the ingridientsfor 5 hours.

Then grind it in a mill into powder.

This will last you even for a year if you keep it air tight in a jar.