Sambhaaryu Shaak
Gujarati cuisine is famous for its lengthy cooking process, recipes requiring multiple steps and many a times pre-preparation! But all this pays of quite well!!! 
Sambhaaryu shaak (sambharo = medley of spices) also known as akkhu bharelu shaak (akkhu = whole, bharelu = stuffed) is vegetables filled with a mix of spices.
Veggies normally used are potatoes, baby eggplant, raw banana, onion amongst the more popular ones and less popular ones being purple yam, sweet potato or suran. Its either a combination of one or two or may be even three of these veggies, or any one (mostly potato) by itself.
It requires a good amount of preparation with peeling and cleaning the veggies, making the sambharo, stuffing it and then cooking it. In my house it used to be a signature dish for Sunday lunch especially so when there is a gathering. Female members of the house will be instructed to come early and help with the preparation. In my mum’s house the kitchen was pretty huge, so everyone would sit in a circle with all the ingredients in the center. It was a sight to see and I wish I had a foresight at that time, I would have captured it!
The whole process would go in a fantastic rhythmic fashion: first one or two people peeling and coring the veggies, next one making slits in it and then another 2-3 people stuffing the veggies. Now stuffing the veggies is not an easy task here. It has to be done slowly so that the veggies do not just open up in a half. Cautiously the slit is held and the sambharo is stuffed inside. Meanwhile the other ladies are busy preparing the other delicacies.
You will need:
3-4 potatoes peeled (smaller the better)
1 big tomato finely chopped
2-3 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
For the Sambharo:
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp garam masala
4-5 tsp dhanya-jeera/ coriander-cumin powder (about 50% of your sambharo should be made up of this)
1-2 tsp besan
Juice of one lemon
2-3 tsp sugar (Gujju food is generally on the sweeter side!! If you don’t prefer it then you can omit the sugar and lemon completely.)
A handful of chopped coriander.
To make the Sambharo:
Peel and pound the garlic in a mortar-pestle. You can even grate it in the absence of M/P or use garlic paste, but somehow I have always felt that pounding does make a difference to it.
Now add all the other spices to it and mix well. In the end I would pound it again with the pestle for 1-2 min so that the spices blend in perfectly!
To prepare:
- Slit the potatoes on both slides, with slits being perpendicular to each other. (See the pic) I would not recommend making a criss cross on the same side as the veggies will often split open while cooking and you wont be able to enjoy it as a whole with spices stuffed in it.
- Gently open the slits and stuff them with the spices, you can take help of the spoon handle to help you push it till the end. You should have about a cup of sambharo remaining after you stuff all the veggies.
- You can cook this in a kadai or in pressure cooker, the latter being the faster version.
- In a pressure cooker, heat the oil, pop the mustard seeds and brown the jeera. Add in the tomatoes and let them soften for about 2 min.
- Keep about 2 tsp of sambharo and add the rest of it in the tomatoes. Mix it well and let it sizzle for a while mixing in between so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- Once it starts releasing a bit of oil, add in the stuffed potatoes, a glass of water and cook for about 3 whistles (will depend on the size of veggies).
- Once the pressure is released add in the remaining 2 tsp sambharo and give it a good boil.
- Serve with chapatti or rice.
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72 Responses to “Sambhaaryu Shaak”
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Coffee
Hi and welcome to The Cafe!
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Do come back for some more coffee…..
~ COFFEE!!
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I was waiting for this, looks fabulous.Hard work but worth it by the looks of it!:))
Love the gravy,bookmarked to try when I can focus on veggies more clear,don’t want to chop my fingers off!:D
LOL!!!! I really wonder how you are coming online and reading the posts!! Go and rest aunty!!
wow… ive seen brinjals and chillies being filled like that…not potato..very nice recipe coffee…. looks like its dum aloo… will give this one a shot
Do try them Rachana!!
waiting for this post….thank u………ccoked it just now for todayz lunch came out super good………..thank u so much
priya
I just posted a f ew mins ago……. how did u make it so soon!! ???
Those were potatoes?
niiiice !!!
YUP!! Thanks.
The first impression was ,”wow..so rich and spicy-licious” and then you paralyzed me with your warning on the lengthy cooking process…..so now you owe me a meal with this as I cant take so much of effort :P
Shn
So I WAS right after all!
:razz:
I said Dum Aloo Gujarati( it’s the same as Sambhaaryu Shaak)
OMG, that looks so utterly gorgeously tempting… I’m so HUNGRY now!
One of these days I really ought to try my hand at time-consuming dishes like this instead of just wishing that someone would make it for me 
First time seeing a recipe like this. It looks good. And the sauce is to die for yum yum
First time seeing a recipe like this. It looks good. And the sauce is to die for yum yum forgot to add my site
Oh my looks so delicious, I am drooling !!
That would be simply yummy. The sambharo looks rich and spicy
My My… that’s fabulous. A definite must-try when I get my hand on small potatoes.
Hi this is looking amazing…….. Excellent recipe…..Nice picture….YUM!…YUM!
looks so tempting
sambhariyu shaak mara fav che, i make it lil dry!
those potatoes were stuffed!!! i have read this in tarla dalal, but never attempted to try. after that gorgeous pic, i’m tempted.
:slurp:
stuffed popatoes????
now i can shut all blogger who teased me to death calling me stuffing master :twisted: wonderful recipe coffee and i am very impressed with the way u take pics :razz: beautiful shot…
Bookmarked this to try. Looks fabulous and surely delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Shak looks delicious…The first photo looked as if it was vada sambar! Bur stuffing potatoes, then cooking it in a tasty gravy? Fabulous
Finally the recipe is out
! The pictures are so inviting…have to try this asap…just that i get so impatient doing all the prep work. :cry: but then, no pain-no gain, right ? :twisted:
SUPER DUPER!!!!!!!
ugghhhh :oops: I was wrong, I thought they were eggs in gravy..neways looks good to me, seriously! Stuffed aloo is new and that too making sambhar out of it! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Its not Sambhar my dear…… its sambharo… thats what we call the spices.
The shaak looks delicious!!
Thanks.
Coffee, I just ate my lunch and I seem to be hungry again! Simply delicious! How long did you take to make it?
Not more than 45 min from start to finish.
I love the idea of people many people getting together and making a dish! Lets get together and make some sambhaaryu shaak :). This is one of the yummiest pics i have seen in days :).
YUP!! Let get together!! So when should I come to pick u up at Singapore Airport??
looks delicious and all that work you put shows in the final product..delicious..
I agree!
Wow that looks yum ! And I am with mishmash on this
HMMM!!!
i was in fact planning to make the aloo curry that was already there on the list potato nu shak with potato so just made it.this is just similar except for stuffing….but i omitted besa as i didnt have it…
thanks bye…..
Oh OK! I was wondering how come you made it in almost 2 min!! :P
I am craving just looking at it, looks fantastic and the stuffing makes it even more awesome.
Yup! It sure does.
This looks delicious and comforting. Great recipe! (I adore potatoes, especially when cooked in spices!)
I agree with you!
Coffee the stuffing looks so delicious, I am try this
:roll:
Yup!! LEt me know how u like it.
Coffee, Not fair, Please dont tempt me so much… This is the yummiest thing I have seen. I love gujju food, love potatoes … This just has to be bookmarked for sunday lunch..
Thats the spirit!! Let me know how you like it.
Nice recipe! Though it is lengthy it is worth the trouble! looks delicious!!
:razz:
Its sure worth the effort……. and its not a lengthy process if you are just making for your small family.
My first reaction when I saw lengthy process was ” I’ll ask my gujju friend to make it for me!”
Poor girl! But I love this medley of veggies, yum!
No Poor Girl!!!
I don’t shy away from lengthy food preparation….. I know whats the result after that. 
Now I’ve to find a Gujju friend here fast!
AWWW Commmm-on! I am sure you can do better than that!!
What a gorgeous dish! And yes, you can see the way it has been made with love and care. I think this is going to be my next big Sunday lunch project
i’ve eaten this. absoluely delish. actually, i’ve never met a gujju dish i did not like. its my favourite indian cuisine.
Well I know about the stuffed eggplant, okras and bitter gourd but I didn’t know you could do the same with potatoes. This is so enlightening, Coffee. Thank you.
wow coffee looks gorgeous! the gravy is looking so nice and yummy!
Hi Coffee,
Finaly the your recipe is out… I was waiting from the day i had a look at that Picture…it was sooooo tempting that i Googled for it…. but
Anyway its yummy.. i love stuffed veggies & specially Potato.. will try soon. And also love to visit your blog.
THANKS
I love all Gujarati food… and I plan to try this soon… with eggplants maybe. We had hash browns for breakfast yesterdaya nd potato pancakes this morning… that’s enough potato for some time to come
It is always great to remember occasions of a grand family meal prepared with a bunch of aunts busy in the kitchen. With our generation we are losing out a bit, what with smaller families, separated by continents at times…
This looks like a wonderful dish to try. While the Southern states are well represented on the blogosphere, some others are fewer. Great to see this traditional Gujju recipe…if only I could extract more from my cousin’s wife…You will share more, right, Coffee?
potatoes cut perpendicular is such a better way to cook i tell you. i have also made oondhiya earlier - while the brinjals were no problem whatsoever, small potatoes slit into fours were hard to keep together. made this shaak on saturday for lunch (skipped the garlic and ground fresh coriander with the sambharoo instead) and it was soooooooooooooo yummy.
Coffee!!! Yo
u go girl…..tune is gujju ka dil khush kar diya:) man, u’ve inspired me to add some of my mom’s traditional gujarati recipes on my blog yaar!!!
thanks a bunch!
Hi Coffee, thank you for sharing this delightful dish and your recollections of its preparation. You’re inspiring me to get back in the kitchen
Where are you ? hope you are doing fine???
First sight at the pic i thought those r eggs
but i was wrong :twisted: those r potatoes and the recipe is good i would love to try it.
coffee, The sambharo looks rich and spicy, I’m going to try it soon.
Hi Coffee,
Wonderful dish.Looks fabulous!!!!! I will try this soon and let you know. Thanks for sharing. :
Looks delicious. I could do with having a few aunties cook it for me for Sunday lunch!!
This looks very delicious.
Hi coffee
the dish looks great!!lovely recipe!!
Hi Coffee,
I love the pictures of your curries. They look so fabulous I am always ashamed to post mine…. I have all your curry recipes bookmarked, it is one hell of an eye feast…
Coffee, I can’t take off my eyes from the yummy pictures
.. wow.. lovely recipe dear.. 
Heyy!! you alright?? Hope everything is fine at ur end.
Take care
Shn
kyan’ che coffee? kai khabar nathi? busy che? tari vaat jouu chu
stuffed potatoes!!! WOW!!! lovely recipe…
where is the caffeine goddess?
Hey Coffee, where are you?
Never had sambharyu shaak before…thats quite a lovely presentation Coffee:). I made focaccia bread yesterday for WBB…i know its too late…but can i submit it for the event?
Where are you hiding these days? :roll:
Hey…long time no new post. I hope you are doing fine.
Hi there you have a great blog,lovely recipes. Feel free to visit my blog too
Jeena xx
click here for food recipes
That looks absolutely Gorgeous. Worth trying.
Hi Coffee,
I sent you an entry for MBP-Bread… just wanted to make sure you got it since quite a lot of my mail has been heading for the Spam folder.
Hope you are doing good and will soon be able to whip out more lip-smacking recipes and pics.
Haven’t cooked a lot of gujju food as yet, this looks like the perfect recipe to try out. Will let you know how it goes!
helloooooooooooooooo………..you there coffeeeeeeeeee?
Ritalin….
Ritalin. Motivation and ritalin. Ritalin for adults….
hi, ur dish looks good,but other than potato can’t it be done in any other vegetable.
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Wow! I have to make this later this week!
I’m wondering how you get such a luscious looking thick gravy with only 2 tsp besan in the masala…
[…] 1 cup stuffing masala - same as that for Sambharyu Shaak. […]