Idli sambar recipe – A quick tiffin sambar recipe that goes good with idli, Instant Rava idli, medu Vada, khara pongal, Crispy dosa and most other South Indian breakfast. On most weekdays, we eat the typical South Indian breakfast like idli, dosa and pesarattu since they are high in protein and healthy as well. Sometimes I make mini idli for dinner when the kids ask for it. This sambar along with the mini idli and ghee is one of my kids’ favorites.
There are few different ways a sambhar is made, one of them is the South Indian sambar which i shared before. But today’s recipe is made in a very simple method using quick cooking veggies like shallots, carrots and beans. Hence it doesn’t take much time to prepare and can be made even in the early morning.
I am also sharing how to make instant sambar powder just enough for this recipe. I always make this tiffin sambar with homemade powder.
The taste and aroma of a sambhar depends on the powder used. So if you like to use a ready powder, use one that has a good aroma. You can also make the powder from this sambar powder recipe.
For more sambar recipes
Drumstick sambar
Andhra pappu chaaru
Idli sambar or Tiffin sambar recipe
Idli sambar recipe | How to make idli sambar | Tiffin Sambar Recipe
Easy Idli sambar or tiffin sambar recipe - a quick cook idli sambar made with fast cooking veggies. Idli sambar is served south Indian breakfasts like idli, dosa, vada, pongal and can also be eaten with rice.
Ingredients (240 ml cup used)
Ingredients for idli sambar powder
- 1 tbsp chana dal or bengal gram
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- ½ tbsp urad dal or skinned black gram
- ½ tsp cumin or jeera
- ¼ tsp methi seeds
- 3 red chilies (adjust as needed)
- 2 tbsp coconut grated fresh (optional)
other ingredients for idli sambar recipe
- ¾ cup dal or lentils (refer notes)
- 2 cups water to cook dal
- 2 tbsp tamarind (use as needed)
- Salt as needed
- 12 to 15 shallots or sambar onions
- 6 to 8 beans
- 1 medium carrot
- ½ cup pumpkin cubed (optional)
- 1 large tomato ripe
- 1/8 tsp turmeric or haldi
- handful coriander leaves with stalks chopped
- 4.5 cups water (adjust depending on quality of dal)
tempering for idli sambar
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 1 red chili broken
- ¾ tsp cumin or jeera
- ¾ tsp mustard
- pinch methi or fenugreek seeds
- pinch hing or asafoetida
How to make the recipe
Preparation for idli sambar
- Wash and pressure cook dal with 2 cups of water for 2 whistles or until soft. Or cook in a pot until soft. Mash it and set aside. If you like the hotel style tiffin sambar, you can also add pumpkin to the dal for cooking. Mash everything together and set aside.
- Soak tamarind in little hot water, squeeze and extract the pulp. Keep this aside.
making tiffin sambar powder
Dry roast red chilies, chana dal and urad dal on a medium flame until lightly golden.
Next add coriander seeds and roast until a nice smell comes. Remove to a plate.
Saute methi seeds until slightly dark then add cumin. When the cumin turns aromatic remove to a plate. Cool these completely and make a fine powder.
How to make idli sambar
- Add oil to a pot and heat up.
Throw in the cumin, mustard and methi. When they pop add red chilies, curry leaves and hing.
- When the leaves turn crisp, set aside half the tempering if you wish to add at the end.
- Add veggies and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and saute until soft.
Sprinkle sambhar powder and saute for a minute without burning.
- Pour water and cook until the vegetables are soft cooked.
Next pour filtered tamarind and dal. Stir and bring it to a boil.
- Add the rest of the tempering and coriander leaves. When it begins to bubble. Switch off.
Serve idli sambar hot with idli, dosa, uthappam, pongal.
Recipe Notes
Recipe notes for idli sambar
You can make this idli sambar recipe using toor dal alone or ½ cup toor dal ,¼ cup moong dal. Hotel style sambar is made using masoor dal. You can use whatever you like.
Preparation idli sambar recipe
1. Pressure cook dal for 2 whistles or until soft. You can also add a piece of red pumpkin to the dal. When the pressure goes off, mash it well to very smooth. If using red pumpkin, mash that as well to smooth. That lends a unique sweet flavor that we often find in South Indian Hotels.
2. On a medium to low flame, dry roast red chilies, chana dal, urad dal until light golden.
3. Fry coriander seeds until they begin to crackle. Remove to a plate. Then add methi. Fry until the methi seeds turn slightly dark. Then add cumin. If using coconut you can add it now and saute for a minute. This time i did not have so i skipped it. Cool this and make a fine powder.
4. Soak tamarind in hot water, you can also use tamarind paste as needed.
How to make idli sambar
5. Heat oil in a pot. Add cumin, mustard, methi seeds. When they begin to splutter, add curry leaves and red chilies. Saute until the red chilies turn crisp. Add hing. I set aside half of this tempering to add at the end.
6. Add shallots, carrot and beans.
7. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Add chopped or mashed ripe tomatoes, turmeric and salt.
9. Saute until the tomatoes turn mushy. Since they are fine chopped they get cooked fast.
10. Add sambar powder, saute for a minute without burning. this brings out the aroma of sambar powder.
11. Pour water and add a bit of jaggery. It is optional to use jaggery.
12. Cook until the veggies are soft cooked. Filter tamarind to the pot. If you do not like the flavor of tamarind, you can boil the sambar for a while before adding the dal.
13. Add mashed dal to the pot. Dal must be mashed completely. Mix and allow to bubble.
14. This step is optional. Add the tempering that was set aside along with coriander leaves. When the sambar begin to bubble, switch off the stove.
You may want to check this detailed recipe of soft idli. I usually make mini idli or the regular idli to go with this sambar. But this also goes well with other breakfasts like pongal, dosa, uthappam , vada .
Place the idlis in a deep serving bowl or plate. Add ghee and then pour the sambhar. Serve hot.
Jyoti says
Tried this today for the first time. I usually make plain moong dal sambar without sambar powder for tiffin. But this tasted awesome just like restaurant sambar. Awesome recipe. I will prepare this more often. Thank you!
swasthi says
Welcome Jyoti
Thanks for the comment. Happy to know it turned out good.
🙂
Maria says
Which red chilly is used to make sambar powder . Is it Kashmiri
swasthi says
Maria,
I use kashmiri red chilies. Even byadgi or any other less spicy one is better to get a good color yet taste very mild and not very hot
Risa says
I tried the Kerala rasam without powder recipe, it turned out great. Then I tried this Sambhar recipe – my husband and I enjoyed it very much. Satisfied my pregnancy cravings 🙂
Thanks!!