Easy Hotel Sambar Recipe – How To Make Restaurant Style Idli Sambar

• Toor Dal – 1/4 cup
• Moong dal – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Cooking oil – few drops
• Water – 2 cups
• Big onion – 1 no (cubed) Or shallots/small onion – 10nos
• Ripe tomato – 2 nos (Small sized, Do not chop it, use whole tomato)
• Asafetida/Hing – a big pinch
• Curry leaves – few
• Grated jaggery – 1/2 tsp
• Besan flour – 1 tsp

To temper

• Cooking oil or ghee – 1 tbsp ( Use ghee for best taste)
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Methi seeds – 1/8 tsp( 5nos)
• Cumin seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
• Dhania powder – 1 tsp

Ghee  – 1 tsp & coriander leaves – to garnish


** Skip onion to make no onion, no garlic idli sambar
** Use 3 pumpkin cubes along with dal to get natural sweetness in sambar.
**Add mixed vegetables like carrot & potato with dal to make it more healthy.Use one tomato if its bigger in size or sour in taste .

• Wash and take the toor dal, moong dal in a pressure cooker base. Add 2 cups of water and let it soak for few minutes till you chop onions. Chop the onion and add to the cooker. Add 2 small or one big whole tomato ( Do not chop the tomato because dal may not cook mushy), turmeric powder, curry leaves, hing and few drops of cooking oil. Add enough water and cook the dal in low flame for 2 whistles. Remove the lid after the steam is released. Mash the dal + tomato very well. Make sure dal is well cooked and mashed well.

• Dilute besan flour in 1/4 cup of water and add to the cooked dal ( ** Adding besan flour helps to get a creamy texture to this sambar and blends well with dal).  Add jaggery. Mix well. In a kadai, heat ghee.  Keep the flame low. Splutter mustard seeds, methi seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds & sambar powder, red chilli powder and dhania powder. Saute for few seconds without burning sambar powder. Do not change its color. 
• Add the mashed dal + besan flour mixture to the kadai. Boil the sambar for  few minutes by adding chopped coriander leaves and 1 tsp ghee. Check for taste, Add salt or red chilli powder if  needed for spicy taste. Boil for one more minute. Switch off the flame, cover the sambar with a lid and give a standing time of one hour before serving. This sambar thickens when it cools down.So add 1/2 cup water to adjust its thickness and check for salt. Reheat it if you wish and then serve.
  
• Enjoy with hot idli, dosa & pongal. Drizzle a tsp of sesame oil or ghee if you like !