Idli Sambhar

South indian breakfast mainly consists of Idli, Dosai, pongal and vadais...

Don't we drool over it even if we have it every second day.

Steaming hot idlis served with piping hot sambhar is a must have.....

Ingredients:

IDLI

4 cups idli rice (ponni) available widely in tamil stores.

1.5 cups Urad dal

2 tsp Methis seeds (for the lovely aroma and flavour)

2 tsp soaked aval (for softer idlis)

1.5 cup Raw rice (for brown dosas)

I follow this ratio and this is taken from Ms.Mullai's website (http://www.spiceindiaonline.com/)

Soak all the ingredients for 5-6 hours and grind. Add 4 tsp Kallu uppu for the batter. It gives better taste. Keep for fermentation.

Make idlis with the fermented batter.

For Sambhar:

Arachu Vitta Sambar
Oil – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves - few

Quartered shallots or sliced red onions – ½ cup
Toor dal – ½ cup

Moong dal – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1+1 tsp

Tamarind paste – 2 tbsp

Salt
Cilantro – 2 tbsp, chopped
Spice mixture
Oil – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp

Chana dal – 1 ½ tbsp

Dried red chillies – 8

Raw rice – 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Red onions – 2 tbsp, chopped

Tomato – ¼ cup,chopped
Heat oil and roast coriander seeds through coconut and grind with onion and tomato to a smooth paste. Alternately, you can grind 2 tbsp of sambar powder (homemade or store-bought) with onion and tomato.
Method
Pressure cook toor dal and moong dal until soft, with 1 tsp of turmeric powder.
In a sauce pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and lightly sauté shallots or red onions with curry leaves. The onions should turn just soft, but still crunchy. Remove and set aside.
In the same pot, boil tamarind paste, salt and the remaining 1 tsp of turmeric powder with 2 cups of water. When tamarind doesn’t smell raw anymore, add the cooked dal, ground spice paste and a cup of water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add sautéed onions and garnish with cilantro.

Taken from http://www.tastypalettes.com/

Serve hot