Sambar for Idlis

Hello everyone, we are back from our trip home and enjoyed it thoroughly inspite of the unrelenting heat. It was great to be around for the mango season and every variety tasted so sweet and delicious in comparison to the ones we find here, even the ones my mom declared as 'ok, not too good' were received with oohs and aahs by us. We also had massive amounts of mango icecream and refreshing 'ilaneer' (tender coconut water). And during our short trip to Singapore, we sipped (and chewed) cups and cups of bubble tea, attacked the roti paratas, claypot dishes and many of the favorites I missed all these years.

It's good to blog again .... and I intend to blog-hop and catch up on the many posts I've missed...

Coming to the recipe of the day... though my well loved, oft-used sambhar recipe is simpler than this version and requires no grinding, this recipe results in a very flavorful complement to idlis and is worth the extra effort that it demands, so wanted to share this.

This is a Mallika Badrinath recipe with some modifications...

SAMBHAR FOR IDLIS

Ingredients:

Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
Small Onions - 1/2 cup, peeled (OR) 1 red onion - sliced thinly into 1 inch pieces
Red Radish - about 8 or so, sliced into thin rounds
Green Bell pepper (capsicum) - 1/2, cut into 1 inch cubes
Tomato - 1 medium
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized, soaked in warm water and juice extracted
Green chillies - 2, slit vertically
Salt, to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Musard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a few pinches
Curry leaves - few

To Roast & Grind:
Coriander seeds - 2.5 tsp
Urad Dhal - 1.5 tsp
Cumin seeds - 0.5 tsp
Channa Dhal - 2 tsp
Red Chillies - 8
Fenugreek (methi seeds) - a pinch
Black Pepper - abt 8
Pottukadalai (Dalia) - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1 small to medium, sliced
Tomato - 1 small, chopped
Coconut - 2 to 3 tbsp, grated

Method:
1) Cook toor dhal in a pressure cooker with some turmeric and asafoetida with sufficient water till soft. I normally pressure cook the sliced radishes as well.

2) Heat a tsp of oil and fry coriander seeds, urad dhal, cumin, channa dhal, red chillies, pepper and methi till golden. Next add the sliced onion and when browned a bit, add the tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes with a pinch of salt. Finally, grind the above (when cooled a bit) with the pottukadalai (dalia) and coconut to a smooth paste with little water if necessary.

3) In a big pot, heat oil and season with mustard seeds, urad dhal, hing and curry leaves, add the onions and g. chillies and fry till pink. Now add the capsicum with some salt and when tender add the chopped tomato as well.

4) Add some water and allow this to cook till the vegetables are tender. Now add the tamarind exract, mashed dhal, cooked radish and the ground paste with sufficient salt and water. Allow this to boil until thick enough.

5) Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and swirl in a tsp of ghee at the end for aromatic, yummy sambar and serve with soft, spongy idlis or crisp dosais for a satisfying meal.