What to use instead of sambar powder
Quick answer
There is no single ingredient that replaces sambar powder, and none is needed — it is a blend, and SpiceHQ holds what is in it. 2 recorded versions give proportions, so the practical answer is to make it from the 9 components on the sambar powder page, leaving out whatever you do not have. A blend missing one of eight aromatics is still recognisably itself; a different blend is not.
All recorded options
Ranked by suitability. Ratios are given only where they are defensible, and always with their basis — by weight or by volume — because spice densities differ.
No single-ingredient replacement is recorded, because for this blend the answer is its own recipe rather than another product.