South Indian Tiffin Sambar (Restaurant Style)

Tiffin sambar is prepared in every household of south India to pair it with south Indian breakfasts like dosa ,Idly, mini idly, ven pongal etc.In this recipe cooked vegetables and lentil are mixed with  tangy spicy coconut gravy.I just love the sambar served along with mini Idli @ Hotel Ajantha , MG road Bangalore. I was browsing through the net for hotel style sambar and found so many varieties !!. After all my experiments, I am here today to share special version of sambar recipe with you all. To be frank , I couldn't match the exact taste of hotel sambar but this sambar has come out very tasty and yummy. Without wasting any time , let me directly jump to detailed recipe....

Preparation Time: 25-30 minutes

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal 
8-10 baby onion
1-2 medium size carrots , chopped
1 medium size potato, chopped into cubes
1 medium size tomato 
lemon size tamarind
1 tsp jaggery powder (optional)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves(optional)
salt to taste

for roasting:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp channa dal 
1-2 red chillies
2 tbsp fresh grated coconut
1 tsp cooking oil

for seasoning:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
1 tbsp cooking oil /ghee


How To Prepare?

• Pressure cook the toor dal and keep it ready.
  
• Soak the tamarind in hot water. Squeeze and keep the tamarind water ready.
• In a pan/kadai, roast all the ingredients mentioned under "for roasting" using tsp of oil till you get nice aroma and keep it aside.After it cools down , grind them into a fine powder.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• In another kadai/pan, heat 1 more tbsp oil. Prepare the seasoning using all the ingredients mentioned under "For seasoning". As soon as mustard seed pops out ,add baby onions. Saute them for about 2-3 minutes. Now add chopped tomatoes and continue to fry till raw smell of tomatoes vanish. Now add potato cubes and carrots. Continue sauteing till carrots n potatoes are half cooked.
  
• Now , add these half cooked vegetables to the cooked dal. You can use either cooker ( if you are cooking directly in stain less steel cooker) or use heavy bottomed kadai. Continue to cook in a medium flame for about 8-10 minutes.
  
• Now add ground masala powder, salt, tamarind water and jaggery. Bring the samabar to a boil. Let it boil for another 5-6 minutes.Add coriander leaves at the end and switch off the flame.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Serve this delicious sambar with any south Indian breakfast like mini Idly/idly/ven pongal /dosa.
  

                     

Notes/Alternative:

• You can use 1/2 moong dal and 1/2 toor dal .
• You can skip potatoes as I did [ you can see in the pic].
• After you switch offf the flame, adding the seasoning at the end gives a better taste to the sambar.

Thanks for going through my recipe , your feed back is always welcome :-)

Kindly share it with your friends and family if you like the recipe ...