Sambar is a very popular lentil soup served with idlis or rice. There are many different ways of making it. I think every family has their favorite recipe for making this. This is my aayi’s version. We usually serve this with idlis . She usually adds only onions, potatoes and tomatoes while serving with idlis. She adds other vegetables to it while serving with rice. She makes this Sambar with Sambar Powder which she makes in big quantities and stores. You can also use any store bought sambar powder.
Sambar
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup toor dal
- 1/2 cup onion
- 1/4 cup tomato
- 1/4 cup potato
- 1 tea spn sambar powder home made or store bought
- Vegetables optional - carrot, green beans, drumstick etc
- A pinch turmeric
- Oil
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- A pinch asafoetida
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- Salt
Instructions
- Cook toor dal with turmeric. Cook potato, tomato and onion separately, I mean do not mix them with dal while cooking. (If you have the cooker vessels, use the down one for the dal and the upper one for vegetables. This way the dal cooks faster than the vegetables). Around 3-4 whistles are enough in cooker. (If using microwave, cook both separately one after the other).
- Mash the dal with a spoon. Add the vegetables to dal and add sufficient water (this sambar tastes good when the dal is cooked well and mashed well).
- Heat the dal, vegetables mixture. Add salt. When it starts boiling, add the sambar powder (Do not hold the entire packet of sambar powder on boiling sambar. The steam gets into the packet and the powder gets spoiled. So use spoon to take out the powder away from the boiling sambar and then add the powder). Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2-3mins.
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida and curry leaves (tear the curry leaves into two to increase the aroma). Add this seasoning to Sambar and immediately close the lid.
Sambar
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup toor dal
- 1/2 cup onion
- 1/4 cup tomato
- 1/4 cup potato
- 1 tea spn sambar powder home made or store bought
- Vegetables optional - carrot, green beans, drumstick etc
- A pinch turmeric
- Oil
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- A pinch asafoetida
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- Salt
Instructions
- Cook toor dal with turmeric. Cook potato, tomato and onion separately, I mean do not mix them with dal while cooking. (If you have the cooker vessels, use the down one for the dal and the upper one for vegetables. This way the dal cooks faster than the vegetables). Around 3-4 whistles are enough in cooker. (If using microwave, cook both separately one after the other).
- Mash the dal with a spoon. Add the vegetables to dal and add sufficient water (this sambar tastes good when the dal is cooked well and mashed well).
- Heat the dal, vegetables mixture. Add salt. When it starts boiling, add the sambar powder (Do not hold the entire packet of sambar powder on boiling sambar. The steam gets into the packet and the powder gets spoiled. So use spoon to take out the powder away from the boiling sambar and then add the powder). Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2-3mins.
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida and curry leaves (tear the curry leaves into two to increase the aroma). Add this seasoning to Sambar and immediately close the lid.
This week I am going to post some of the very basic recipes. So these posts are here to help newbie cooks in some small way. These will have more details than the normal posts to make cooking easy for newbies. Idli is one thing that I didn’t get right so many times. After continued efforts and focus, finally I am proud to say I can prepare good, soft yummy idlis .
I have seen in most of non-Konkani homes, idli is usually served with both sambar and chutney . But in Konkani homes(atleast in those which I have seen), it is served either with sambar or chutney. At my home, aayi would prepare both to keep the house calm. I liked sambar and my brother liked chutney , if one of these was not prepared, we would start fighting. So it became a habit and now we want sambar and chutney both with idlis (I think this is the difficulty of having two kids :D).
Idlis
Idli
Ingredients
- 1 cup urad dal
- 2 cups idli rava rice sooji or 2 cups rice
- Salt
Instructions
- Soak dal for around 4-5 hours.
- Grind it to a very smooth paste (Do not add too much water, just add as much as needed). Touch the batter and no pieces of dal should be felt. The more it is ground, the better. Once it is ground very soft, some bubbles can be found on the surface, the more the bubbles, the better is the batter.
- Wash the rava with water(if rava is prepared at home, no need to wash it again) and grind it for 5-6 seconds, do not grind more than that, just to make the rava a bit fine. Some people, do not grind the rava, but most of the times the ready made rava is too coarse and grinding it makes the idlis turn out softer.
- If idli rava is not available, use 2 cups of rice instead. Soak rice for around 4-5 hrs. Then let the water go by spreading it on cloth for around 30mins. When all water is gone, grind(without any water) to a coarse powder (of coarse sand consistency).
- If you have more time in hand, grind the dal previous day afternoon and mix the rava in the night. Add salt and mix well (When dal is completely ground, the rava can be added to mixer and ground 5-6 seconds as explained earlier to speed up the process. But make sure the dal is completely ground before adding the rava).
- Keep the batter in a warm place overnight. I keep it on warm gas stove, after all the cooking is been finished.
- Check in the morning if the batter is fermented. The volume would have increased. If it looks same as the previous day, it is better not to steam it, the idlis become like stone and everything has to be discarded. Instead make some dosas with the batter. There is no point in keeping it for one more night, because the idlis will become sour.
- Grease the idli stand with oil. Steam them for around 10mins (if using cooker, do not use the weight). Leave it for around 5-10mins before opening the steamer/cooker (or else, the steam falls on idlis and make them mushy).
Few more tips: – If you are on a higher altitude(mountain regions) and the idlis are not coming out as expected, try using dal , rice rava in 1:3(1 dal 3 rava ) proportion. This is the tip I got from Manisha while talking to her a few days back. Read Manisha’s comment below for more details. – If the batter becomes too thick or too watery, the idlis might not come as expected. Do a bit of trial and error to know the correct consistency. – If nothing works, try using dal : rava in 1:1 proportion, this was the tip I got from few people when I was not getting the proper idlis . – Sudha has mentioned a nice way to speed up fermentation. – Add a little cooked rice (say 1-2 tbsps) while grinding urad dal (once the urad dal is ground finely)in order to make the idlis softer & fluffier (Thanks Suchita for the tip).
Sambar
Prepare sambar as explained here .
Chutney:
Prepare the chutney as explained here .
Sometimes I make mini idlis and serve them dipped in sambar with a dollop of ghee on top.
