Idli-Sambar

This article will walk you through how to make Idli Sambar, a very tasty and satisfying comfort food with a mild tang that goes well with a soft battered idli. .It is made with lentils and mixed vegetables.

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Idli sambar is made in many ways in the southern part of India, in this article you will learn  about a new method of making idli sambar, it will taste just like the idli sambar made in the south of India.

This Idli Sambar recipe is very tasty and can be served with South Indian Tiffin dishes like Idli Dosa, Medu Vadda, Rava Dosa, Rava Idli, Uttapam and Pongal etc.

This is one of the very best tiffin sambar recipes. This is a hotel style tasty idli sambar recipe, it tastes great with soft and pre-made idlis. Idli sambar has been a favourite in many households. .

Planning and cooking idli sambar

1. If you want to make idli sambar for breakfast, then it is very important to take care of some important things, so make idli batter and ferment it for a long time.

2. When the batter gets fermented well the next day then you can steam the idli, while you cook the dal in the pressure cooker and cook the vegetables in a big pan.

3. You all know how busy morning time is for everyone, so you can prepare sambar powder a day in advance and keep it in the fridge, cook the vegetables the next day and make sambar.

4. To make idli sambar, you can make small idli or a medium sized idli.

5. While serving idli sambar, keep in mind that the sambar should be hot because the pleasure of eating hot sambar is different, if the idlis have cooled down, you can sprinkle some water on them and heat them in a microwave or oven or in a pan.

How to make Idli Sambar

Cooking lentils

1. Take 1/4 cup Arhar Dal and Masoor Dal in a bowl, you can also take 1/2 Arhar Dal in total.

2. Wash the pulses thoroughly with water 2 or 3 times and then put them in a pressure cooker of 2 litres capacity, you can cook these pulses on a griddle or in an instant pot. If you are cooking the pulses in a pan, then Keep in mind to soak the pulses for half an hour and then cook it by adding enough water.

3. Add ¼ tsp turmeric powder and 1.25 to 1.5 cups of water in the pressure cooker.

4. Pressure cook the lentils till they are soft, mushy and well cooked for about 7 to 8 whistles or 11 to 12 minutes on a medium flame.

5.  Open the lid once the pressure settles down naturally in the cooker. The lentils should have softened very well, so that they can be easily mashed.

6. Mash the lentils with a spoon or wired whisk and set aside.

7. Take 1 tablespoon tamarind and soak it in ¼ to ⅓ hot or warm water for 20 to 30 minutes.

8. Later squeeze the tamarind in the water and you get the tamarind pulp. You can even strain tamarind pulp and keep aside.

Making tiffin sambar powder

1.  In a heavy small frying pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil. Keep the flame to its lowest. First add mustard seeds. Mix and stir.

2. Then add the remaining whole spices – coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, chana dal (husked and split bengal gram). Mix and stir.

3. Then add the remaining whole spices – coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, chana dal (husked and split bengal gram). Mix and stir.

4.  Immediately add 5 Kashmiri red chillies or 5 byadagi chilies (broken and seeds removed).

5. Next add curry leaves.

6. Mix very well. On a low heat, stir non-stop and roast till the spices become aromatic. Your kitchen will smell fragrant while roasting these spices. Ensure that you don’t burn the spices.

7. Keep aside to cool.

8. Once the spices cool, grind them to a fine powder in a dry grinder or coffee grinder.

9. Keep the tiffin sambar powder aside.

Making Idli Sambar

1. Rinse and peel the veggies. Chop them and keep aside. You can use a mix of drumsticks, carrots, pearl onions, yellow pumpkin, radish, green beans, ash gourd, potatoes, brinjal (eggplant), okra etc.

   While cooking just remember to add the veggies that take more time to cook first and later add the veggies which take less time to cook.

   
   

2. For brinjals, chop them and add them to water so that no discoloration occurs.

3. In a pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil first. Keep the flame to a low or medium-low flame. Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.

4. Then add the urad dal (husked and split black gram).

5. Let the urad dal turn into a maroonish color.

6. Then add quartered onions or pearl onions (whole or halved), curry leaves and asafoetida (hing).

7. Stir and saute for 2 minutes on a medium-low flame.

8. Saute till the onions soften a bit

9. Then add the chopped tomatoes.

10. Saute tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium-low flame.

11. Next add veggies which take more time to cook like carrots, beans, potatoes, drumsticks etc.

12. Sauté for 4 to 5 minutes on medium-low flame stirring often.

13. Then add remaining quick-cooking veggies like brinjals, ladyfingers (okra), pumpkin etc now. Mix well.

14. Add the prepared tamarind pulp And Pour water.

15. Add salt as per taste and mix well.

16. Cover the pan and simmer on a medium-low flame until the raw aroma of the tamarind goes away and the veggies are almost cooked. If they are undercooked, then continue to simmer till they soften.

17. The veggies should be almost cooked before you proceed to another step.

18. Add the ground sambar masala powder which we have already prepared earlier and Mix very well.

19. Add the mashed dal.

20. Mix again very well. Also add 1 cup water or more to get the consistency you want. 

    The tiffin sambar served in the hotels is usually thinner. For idli, dosa and medu vada you can keep the sambar having a medium to thin consistency. For serving with rice, keep the tiffin sambar slightly thick.

21. Stir and simmer without lid for about 6 to 7 minutes or till it comes to a boil. Then switch off the flame. Stir at intervals so that the lentils do not stick at the bottom of the pan.

22. Meanwhile when you keep the dal for pressure cooking, you can steam idli. Both small-sized mini idli or large idli goes well with this tiffin sambar.

23. While serving, place the idli in a serving bowl. Pour sambar. Garnish with some coriander leaves. You can even drizzle a bit of ghee on top. Serve idli sambar hot.

    This tiffin sambar can also be served hot with idli, medu vada, uttapam or masala dosa. You can also enjoy it with steamed rice.

Idli Sambar Ingredients

For Cooking Lentils

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• ¼ cup arhar dal (husked and split tuvar dal or pigeon pea lentils)

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• ¼ cup masoor dal (husked and split red lentils)

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• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)

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• 1.25 to 1.5 cups water for pressure cooking – for a 2 litre cooker

For Tempering

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• 2 tablespoons oil (gingelly oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil)

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• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds

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• 1 teaspoon urad dal (husked and split black lentil)

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• 4 to 5 curry leaves

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• ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)

For Cooking Veggies

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• 1 large onion or 10 to 12 pearl onions or shallots or 90 to 100 grams onions

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• 3 medium tomatoes or 220 to 230 grams tomatoes

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• 1 to 2 drumsticks – scraped and chopped in 2 to 3 inch pieces

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• 1 medium carrot

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• 6 to 7 green beans or flat beans – chopped

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• 1 medium potato – optional

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• 4 to 5 okra – chopped

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• 6 to 7 small brinjals (baingan or eggplant) or 80 to 100 grams

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• 1 to 1.25 cups water or add as required

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• salt as required

For Tamarind Pulp

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• 1 tablespoon tamarind

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• ¼ to ⅓ cup warm or hot water

For Sambar Powder

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• 5 kashmiri chilies or byadagi/bedgi chilies or 4 to 5 dry red chilies – reduce depending upon the heat in the chilies

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• 11 to 12 large curry leaves or 16 to 18 small curry leaves

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• 1.5 tablespoons coriander seeds

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• 1 tablespoon chana dal (split and husked bengal gram)

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• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

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• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds

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• ½ teaspoon whole black pepper

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• ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi dana)

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• 2 teaspoons oil (gingelly oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil)

Other Ingredients

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• 1 cup water to be added later or add as required

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• few coriander leaves for garnish

Nutrition Facts

Idli Sambar (Hotel Style) | Tiffin Sambar

 

Amount Per Serving

Calories 372Calories from Fat 81

 

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g14%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Sodium 510mg22%

Potassium 2192mg63%

Carbohydrates 66g22%

Fiber 28g117%

Sugar 27g30%

Protein 14g28%

 

Vitamin A 3170IU63%

Vitamin C 116.9mg142%

Calcium 144mg14%

Iron 5.4mg30%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Tips for Best Idli Sambar

1. In the recipe freshly roasted and ground sambar powder is made. This ground sambar powder adds a lot of flavour and taste in the sambar. If you are short of time, then you can use any sambar powder you have and make this recipe. I also make a simple and quick sambar recipe where I add homemade sambar powder. Do note that the final taste of the sambar depends a lot on the type of sambar powder added. So use a good quality sambar powder or use your homemade sambar powder.

2. While roasting the spices for the sambar powder, roast in a heavy pan or a thick bottomed pan on a low flame. Stir non-stop so that the spices do not get burnt. The spices have to be roasted till they become aromatic and golden. Use fresh spices and make sure that they are not rancid.

3. Tomato is one of the key ingredients in this sambar and they add a lot of flavour to the sambar. So please do not skip adding tomatoes. For the veggies, add the ones that are usually added in sambar. Do try to add drumsticks if you can as in most hotel style sambar, drumsticks are added and they give a nice taste & flavour in the sambar. You can also add carrots, green beans, flat beans, ladyfingers (okra), brinjals, potatoes, pumpkin, ash gourd, onions etc.