30 Idli Sambar Recipes | South Indian Idli Sambar Varieties | Sambar For Idli, Dosa, Pongal

• Moong dal
• Toor dal
• Tomato
• Brinjal
• Roasted gram dal
• Onion
• Tamarind
• Coconut
• Green chillies
• Red chillies
• Dhania seeds/ powder
• Chilli powder
• Sambar powder
• Salt & water
• Mixed vegetables

To temper

• Cooking oil / ghee
• Mustard seeds
• Urad dal
• Cumin seeds
• Hing/Asafetida
• Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves – to garnish

• Generally Idli sambar should be less tangy. So use less tamarind, may be small gooseberry size to make sambar for 2-3 persons OR you can use just 2 tomato instead of tamarind.

• 
  We should add more dal for idli sambar ( Say 1/3  – 1/2 cup for 2-3 persons) if you don’t add roasted and ground fresh powder ( Idli sambar powder).If you add Idli sambar powder, 1/4 cup dal is enough.

• Idli sambar should not be too spicy.It should be drinkable.So use less chillies.

• Toor dal or moong dal used in the sambar should be cooked really well, soft and mushy. Use 1:4 ratio of dal and water, add a few drops of cooking oil in the pressure cooker. If you wish, you can soak the dal for 20 minutes at the time of chopping other vegetables like onion, tomato, carrot, potato etc.

• Cook in low flame for 2 whistles. Mash the dal with a whisk once the pressure is down. The base of sambar lies in how well the dal is cooked. Suppose if the dal is not mushy, sambar will become watery and dal looks separately in the sambar. To trouble shoot this problem, u can mix 1-2 tsp of besan flour with 1/4 cup of water and add to the dal while boiling. It will help you to give a good base to the sambar. But remember to boil the sambar till the raw smell of besan emanates.

• Vegetables like Drumstick and Pumpkin is essential for Dal based idli sambar. In hotels, they do add drumstick in small pieces. But you should not cook drumstick along with dal. It should be cooked separately. I usually cook few drumstick pieces in a small tiffin box without adding water. It will get cooked well without losing its shape. Few pieces of pumpkin is added to give natural sweetness to sambar. But do not add more. Just 2-3 chunks would be enough for 1/2 cup of dal. Apart from these vegetables, you can add few pieces of Potato & carrot too. I feed the carrot & potato pieces to my daughter.

• If you don’t have pumpkin in hand, you can use a small berry sized jaggery ( Sundakkai alavu)

• Use small onions/sambar onions for best taste.

• Try to temper the sambar in ghee. Ghee gives a great flavor to the sambar especially if its dal based. For making brinjal sambar, you can use sesame oil/Gingely oil/Nalla ennai.

• If you don’t like to temper in ghee for dal based sambar recipes, do it using cooking oil and add a tbsp of ghee over the sambar at the end, close it with a lid and rest for 30 minutes to one hour before serving.

• Generally idli sambar tastes the best when you give a resting time of an hour. For guests, I usually prepare the sambar well in advance and reheat it at the time of serving.

• To make hotel style sambar, freshly roasted and ground spice powder should be used. To make this powder, use more chana dal than dhania/coriander seeds OR equal quantity of chana dal and dhania. Never forget to use methi seeds while roasting spices. Some people add curry leaves and even coconut for variations.

• For tomato sambar recipes, adjust the number of chillies based on the ripeness of tomato.Generally Tamil nadu tomato ( Naatu thakkali) tastes sour than Bangalore tomato.

• For brinjal sambar recipes, adding tamarind is mandatory because brinjal has a slight bitterness naturally.To avoid this, tamarind should be added but in a minimum quantity based on the recipe.

• To make Kurma style side dish for idli, dosa you can either grind coconut + whole spices and add to the tomato, onion, vegetables base OR saute the whole spices before adding onions, tomato and proceed without coconut paste.

• Last but not the least, add a tsp of gingely oil while serving the sambar especially for tomato sambar and brinjal sambar. It adds a great taste to the sambar.

Hope you find these tips useful. Ok, Lets move on to the collection below 

DAL SAMBAR VARIETIES

 

  

  

   

 

  

    




BRINJAL SAMBAR VARIETIES


   
  


TOMATO SAMBAR VARIETIES


  
  
 


KURMA VARIETIES


 
 
  


IDLI SAMBAR POWDER