Tiffin sambar recipe (Idli sambar with toor dal) - Raks Kitchen (2024)

Tiffin sambar recipe, learn how to make south Indian style sambar had along idli, dosa and other tiffin items. Prepared with fresh ground sambar masala and toor dal.

Already I have a Tiffin sambar recipe with moong dal in my blog, posted almost 2 years back. That’s one version.

This is another version of the tiffin sambar perfect for idli. Also makes a great side dish for dosa, arisi upma and pongal.

This is my mom’s trademark recipe she makes for idli or other tiffin items when guests come. Few readers requested for this recipe.

🥕 Vegetables

Amma makes this sambar is always made with potato and shallots (chinna vengayam). It gives the maximum flavor, every ingredient complimenting each other.

But you can adapt this and make it with other veggies also. Other vegetables which works best are –

• Plain sambar without vegetables but with lots of shallots (vengaya sambar),
• Yellow pumpkin (parangikkai), is the next perfect vegetable which also gives a sweet touch to balance the tastes.
• Drumstick and brinjal are best flavor lenders to a tiffin sambar (idli sambar)
• You can also add carrots, capsicum, radish along to complement.

🧖‍♀️ Why this is best

There are few special things in this sambar.

Firstly, the freshly ground sambar powder (sambar masala), secondly a teaspoon of ghee and lastly a teaspoon of jaggery.

These things make this sambar smell heavenly and taste divine. The whole house will be filled with a pleasant smell when you make it.

That too along with hot steaming idli or dosa this smells really out of this world! Though it's a basic recipe, I wanted to blog this one with tips and tricks.

🍛 Serving suggestions

Do it the south Indian way - Pour generous amount of sambar over idli, dunk it and enjoy.

In fact, there is a restaurant famous for it, serving buckets of sambar (unlimited) with idli - Ratna cafe.

I used to like this sambar very much before marriage when mom makes. If it's this sambar, then I eat extra few idlis.

And I always love to pour the sambar over the idlis like they do in hotels those days. Because we rarely go to restaurants and always fascinated by things they do there.

Memories related

When I was kid, me and my brother are just contrast to each other in eating habits. What I like he hate to eat and what I hate he would love to eat.

Sometimes it becomes like a cold war, if he says I don't want to eat that vegetable, even though I too don’t prefer, to please my mom and to ‘verupethify’ my brother, I will eat it😁. And he too does that some times.

Eating style

Likewise, the way he eats is always very clean and neat. His plate will be looking very pleasing even while eating and after he finishes.

He even makes sure his hands look neat while eating, doesn’t let the food go beyond his fingers and reach his palm (he hates if it is so and will not mind washing his hands even if it happens in between by chance).

Too much right?! Obviously I am not like that. He even gives me a weird look if I ask my mom to pour the sambar over the idli.

Then what I do is mash the idlis along with sambar and make it look more like rice and eat (kozhachu adikradhu).

That’s his break point. He will leave the place or just will turn his back and eat. Fun memories!

Ok enough. Let's see how to make tiffin sambar idli sambar.

Recipe card

Step by step

Tamarind extract & Cook dal

1. To begin with, soak tamarind in warm water for 10 - 20 mins for easy extract.

Total tamarind extract measure 3 cups. So adjust water accordingly. Check my video for an easy alternate method. Or as in this recipe.

2. Wash the potato well and cut into 4.

3. Pressure cook toor dal along with potato for 3-4 whistles. Add 1 cup water, 2 pinches of turmeric, 2 pinches of asafoetida and few drops of sesame oil.

4. Once done, take out the potato, peel off the skin and break/ cut into bite size pieces.

5. Mash the dal smoothly. Set aside.

Fresh ground sambar masala

6. Meanwhile, roast the ingredients under ‘To roast’ table. You can roast everything together. But except jeera/ cumin seeds, which has to be added towards the end when the other ingredients gets the golden color.

Take care not to burn anything. So roast in medium flame with constant roasting. If anything gets burnt, the total dish will not turn out that good as this is the star ingredient!

7. Cool down and powder into a coarse powder. In between powdering, you might need to wipe the sides, lid of the mixer for even powdering. Set aside.

Prepare Idli sambar

8. In a kadai, heat oil and temper with the items given under ‘To temper table’ in order. Add asafoetida and give a quick stir.

9. Tip in onions and fry till transparent. Add tomatoes, green chillies and fry for a minute.

10. Start heating tamarind extract in a large vessel / pot in which we are making sambar.

11. Add the sauteed onion, tomato mix to it. Now add few torn curry leaves, coriander leaves, salt, turmeric, rest of the asafoetida and bring to boil. Then add the potatoes.

12. Boil for 2 minutes and add the sambar powder. Add it in a sprinkled way little by little with constant stirring to avoid any lump formation.

14. Let it come to a boil. Then add the mashed dal. If the dal is too tight, add more water to loosen it before adding it to sambar.

15. Now after adding the ground sambar powder and dal, the sambar tends to thicken.

So you might be needed to add some ¾ cup to 1 cup water to bring it to the right consistency.

16. Once it starts boiling, as a final touch add the powdered jaggery and mix well.

Finally, top with few more torn coriander leaves or curry leaves and mix in the ghee. Switch off the flame.

Serve with idli/ dosa or any tiffin items which goes well with sambar. I always love to have it along with plaincoconutchutneyandidli podi.