Idli Sambar (Hotel Style) | Tiffin Sambar

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Idli Sambar is a hearty, satisfying, comforting and a healthy meal of soft fluffy idlis served with savory, spiced and lightly tangy sambar – a vegetable stew made with lentils and assorted vegetables. It is a winning combination made for each other.

idlis in a plate served with sambar in a bowl

In the South Indian cuisine there are many ways the sambar is made. I share one such variation which gives you a flavorful sambar like the one served in South Indian restaurants and hotels.

This idli sambar recipe is super tasty and can be served with South Indian tiffin snacks like idli, dosa, medu vada, rava idli, rava dosa, uttapam and pongal etc.

This is also one of the best tiffin sambar recipe. This hotel style sambar tasted damn good with soft and fluffy idlis. Oh yes, idli sambar and vada sambar are all time favorite at home. Not to forget our love for dosa too.

This recipe was shared by a reader friend Priya who writes to me often. She was gracious enough to share her sambar recipe as well as this recipe.

This recipe is adapted from Revathy Shanmugam’s recipe and Priya was kind enough to translate and send me the recipe. I had the good chance of having email conversation with her through a common friend and Revathy ji is a gracious and humble person.

I made some changes in the recipe to suit our taste buds. This dish was loved by the family and so they would ask me to make it again.

Even today I make this sambar to go with idli or medu vada. You can also enjoy this with steamed rice for a comforting meal.

idlis in a plate served with sambar in a bowl

Planning and cooking idli sambar

1. Some preparations and planning in advance are required if you want to make idli sambar for breakfast. So make the idli batter and ferment it in the previous afternoon or late evening (for winters) or night (for summers).

2. When the batter is fermented the next day, you can steam idli when you pressure cook the dal and cook the veggies in a pot or pan. I usually pressure cook lentils first. Then roast the spices and make the sambar powder from scratch. When the lentils are cooking, I steam the idli and keep them stored in a casserole so that they stay warm. After making the tiffin sambar powder, I cook the veggies and then make the sambar.

3. On busy mornings, you can make the sambar powder a day before and refrigerate. Next day cook the lentils and veggies. Then make sambar.

4. For making idli sambar, you can either make small mini idli or the regular sized idli. Both taste good.

5. While serving idli sambar make sure the sambar is hot. The idli can be hot or warm. If the idli have turned cold, then sprinkle some water on them and warm them in a frying pan covered with a lid or in a microwave oven.

6. To make idli you can check my fail proof recipes

  • Idli recipe – soft idli recipe
  • Rava idli – quick and easy idli variety made with sooji or semolina

While serving idli sambar you can drizzle a bit of ghee on top. You can also top it with some chopped onions. Also garnish with some coriander leaves while serving.

Step-by-Step Guide

How to make Idli Sambar

Cooking lentils

1. In a bowl take ¼ cup each of tuvar dal (arhar dal or pigeon pea lentils) and masoor dal (red lentils). You can also just take overall ½ cup of tuvar dal.

As you see in the photo below pigeon pea lentils are yellow colored and they are split and without husk. The red lentils or orange colored lentils are also husked and split.

tuvar dal and masoor dal in a bowl

2. Rinse the lentils well in fresh water and then add them in a 2 litre pressure cooker.

You can also cook these lentils on stove top in pan or in an instant pot. If cooking in a pan, I suggest to soak the lentils in enough water for at least half an hour so that they cook faster.

tuvar dal and masoor dal in a pressure cooker

3. Add ¼ tsp turmeric powder and 1.25 to 1.5 cups of water in the pressure cooker.

turmeric and water added to pressure cooker

4. Pressure cook the lentils till they are soft, mushy and well cooked for about 7 to 8 whistles or 11 to 12 minutes on a medium flame.

cooking lentils in pressure cooker

5. Open the lid once the pressure settles down naturally in the cooker. The lentils should have softened very well, so that they can be easily mashed.

cooked lentils in pressure cooker

6. Mash the lentils with a spoon or wired whisk and set aside.

mashing lentils with a spoon

Making tamarind pulp

7. Take 1 tablespoon tamarind and soak it in ¼ to ⅓ hot or warm water for 20 to 30 minutes.

TIP: If you don’t have dried tamarind then you can use about ½ tablespoons of packaged tamarind paste or as needed.

tamarind in water in a bowl

8. Later squeeze the tamarind in the water and you get the tamarind pulp. You can even strain tamarind pulp and keep aside.

squeezed tamarind pulp in a bowl

Making tiffin sambar powder

9. In a heavy small frying pan, heat 2 teaspoons oil. Keep the flame to its lowest. First add mustard seeds. Mix and stir.

You can use any neutral flavored oil.

mustard seeds in oil in a pan

10. Then add the remaining whole spices – coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, chana dal (husked and split bengal gram). Mix and stir.

spices added to pan

11. Immediately add 5 Kashmiri red chillies or 5 byadagi chilies (broken and seeds removed).

chillies added to spices mixture in pan

12. Next add curry leaves.

curry leaves added to spices mixture in pan

13. Mix very well. On a low heat, stir non-stop and roast till the spices become aromatic. Your kitchen will smell fragrant while roasting these spices. Ensure that you don’t burn the spices.

Once the spices are roasted well, you can also add 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh coconut or desiccated coconut. Mix the coconut and roast for 1 to 2 minutes and switch off the flame.

mixing and roasting spices in the pan

14. Keep aside to cool.

roasted spices mixture in the pan

15. Once the spices cool, grind them to a fine powder in a dry grinder or coffee grinder.

roasted spices taken in a grinder

16. Keep the tiffin sambar powder aside.

tiffin sambar powder in the grinder

Making Idli Sambar

17. Rinse and peel the veggies. Chop them and keep aside. You can use a mix of drumsticks, carrots, pearl onions, yellow pumpkin, radish, green beans, ash gourd, potatoes, brinjal (eggplant), okra etc.

While cooking just remember to add the veggies that take more time to cook first and later add the veggies which take less time to cook.

peeled veggies in a bowl

18. For brinjals, chop them and add them to water so that no discoloration occurs.

chopped brinjal in a pan with water

19. In a pot, heat 2 tablespoons oil first. Keep flame to a low or medium-low flame. Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.

crackling mustard seeds in a pan

20. Then add the urad dal (husked and split black gram).

urad dal added to pan

21. Let the urad dal turn into a maroonish color.

sauteing urad dal in pan

22. Then add quartered onions or pearl onions (whole or halved), curry leaves and asafoetida (hing).

onions and curry leaves added to pan

22. Stir and saute for 2 minutes on a medium-low flame.

sauteing the onion in the pan

23. Saute till the onions soften a bit.

sauteing the onion in the pan

24. Then add the chopped tomatoes.

adding tomatoes to the pan

25. Saute tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium-low flame.

sauteing tomatoes in the pan

26. Next add veggies which take more time to cook like carrots, beans, potatoes, drumsticks etc.

veggies added to mixture that take more time to cook

27. Sauté for 4 to 5 minutes on medium-low flame stirring often.

saute the veggies for 4 to 5 minutes

28. Then add remaining quick-cooking veggies like brinjals, ladyfingers (okra), pumpkin etc now. Mix well.

quick cooking veggies added to pan

29. Add the prepared tamarind pulp.

tamarind pulp added to veggie mixture

30. Pour water.

water added

31. Add salt as per taste and mix well.

salt added as per taste

32. Cover the pan and simmer on a medium-low flame until the raw aroma of the tamarind goes away and the veggies are almost cooked. If they are undercooked, then continue to simmer till they soften.

cooking veggies in the pan closed with the lid

33. The veggies should be almost cooked before you proceed to another step.

cooked veggies in the pan

34. Add the ground sambar masala powder which we have already prepared earlier.

Add the ground sambar masala powder

35. Mix very well.

mix the ground sambar masala powder

36. Add the mashed dal.

add the mashed dal

37. Mix again very well. Also add 1 cup water or more to get the consistency you want. 

The tiffin sambar served in the hotels is usually thinner. For idli, dosa and medu vada you can keep the sambar having a medium to thin consistency. For serving with rice, keep the tiffin sambar slightly thick.

mix well

37. Stir and simmer without lid for about 6 to 7 minutes or till it comes to a boil. Then switch off the flame. Stir at intervals so that the lentils do not stick at the bottom of pan.

simmer idli sambar for 6 to 7 minutes

38. Meanwhile when you keep the dal for pressure cooking, you can steam idli. Both small-sized mini idli or large idli goes well with this tiffin sambar.

steam idli for idli sambar

39. While serving place the idli in a serving bowl. Pour sambar. Garnish with some coriander leaves. You can even drizzle a bit of ghee on top. Serve idli sambar hot.

This tiffin sambar can also be served hot with idli, medu vada, uttapam or masala dosa. You can also enjoy with steamed rice.

serve dli with sambar in a bowl

Expert Tips for Best Idli Sambar

1. In the recipe freshly roasted and ground sambar powder is made. This ground sambar powder adds a lot of flavor and taste in the sambar. If you are short of time, then you can use any sambar powder you have and make this recipe. I also make a simple and quick sambar recipe where I add homemade sambar powder. Do note that the final taste of the sambar depends a lot on the type of sambar powder added. So use a good quality sambar powder or use your homemade sambar powder.

2. While roasting the spices for the sambar powder, roast in a heavy pan or a thick bottomed pan on a low flame. Stir non-stop so that the spices do not get burnt. The spices have to be roasted till they become aromatic and golden. Use fresh spices and make sure that they are not rancid.

3. Tomato is one of the key ingredient in this sambar and they add a lot of flavor to the sambar. So please do not skip adding tomatoes. For the veggies, add the ones that are usually added in sambar. Do try to add drumsticks if you can as in most hotel style sambar, drumsticks are added and they give a nice taste & flavor in the sambar. You can also add carrots, green beans, flat beans, ladyfingers (okra), brinjals, potatoes, pumpkin, ash gourd, onions etc.

4. Both tuvar dal and masoor dal are added in the sambar served in hotels. If you do not have masoor dal, you just add tuvar dal. You can also add some moong dal in combination with tuvar dal and masoor dal.

5. Tiffin sambar is usually served with the tiffin snacks – idli, dosa or medu vada. but you can also serve this sambar with steamed rice. Do give this recipe a try next time you make idli, dosa or medu vada or even steamed rice.

More sambar variations

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idli sambar

Idli Sambar (Hotel Style) | Tiffin Sambar

Idli sambar is a super delicious hotel style tiffin sambar that is served with idli. Apart from idli, this sambar can also be served with dosa, vada and Pongal. The hallmark of this idli sambar recipe is the addition of freshly roasted and ground spices. Tomatoes are also added and is a key ingredient in this recipe which gives a good taste in the sambar.
4.77 from 42 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Cuisine South Indian
Course Side Dish
Diet Vegan, Vegetarian
Difficulty Level Moderate
Servings 5
Units

Ingredients

For cooking lentils

  • ¼ cup arhar dal (husked and split tuvar dal or pigeon pea lentils)
  • ¼ cup masoor dal (husked and split red lentils)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
  • 1.25 to 1.5 cups water for pressure cooking – for a 2 litre cooker

For tempering

  • 2 tablespoons oil (gingelly oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil)
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon urad dal (husked and split black lentil)
  • 4 to 5 curry leaves
  • ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)

For cooking veggies

  • 1 large onion or 10 to 12 pearl onions or shallots or 90 to 100 grams onions
  • 3 medium tomatoes or 220 to 230 grams tomatoes
  • 1 to 2 drumsticks – scraped and chopped in 2 to 3 inch pieces
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 6 to 7 green beans or flat beans – chopped
  • 1 medium potato – optional
  • 4 to 5 okra – chopped
  • 6 to 7 small brinjals (baingan or eggplant) or 80 to 100 grams
  • 1 to 1.25 cups water or add as required
  • salt as required

For tamarind pulp

  • 1 tablespoon tamarind
  • ¼ to ⅓ cup warm or hot water

For sambar powder

  • 5 kashmiri chilies or byadagi/bedgi chilies or 4 to 5 dry red chilies – reduce depending upon the heat in the chilies
  • 11 to 12 large curry leaves or 16 to 18 small curry leaves
  • 1.5 tablespoons coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoon chana dal (split and husked bengal gram)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ½ teaspoon whole black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
  • 2 teaspoons oil (gingelly oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil)

Other ingredients

  • 1 cup water to be added later or add as required
  • few coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions
 

Cooking the lentils

  • Rinse both the lentils well and then add them in a 2 litre pressure cooker with 1.25 to 1.5 cups water and ¼ tsp turmeric powder.
  • Pressure cook the lentils for 7 to 8 whistles or 11 to 12 minutes until the lentils have softened and well cooked. 
  • You can also cook the lentils in a pan on a stove top or in the instant pot. I recommend to soak the lentils for about 30 minutes in enough water prior to cooking them in a pan. This helps in the faster cooking of the lentils.
  • Once the pressure settles down naturally in the cooker, open the cooker. Mash the lentils with a wired whisk and spoon. Keep aside.

Making sambar powder

  • In a small and heavy frying pan, heat 2 teaspoons oil. Keep the flame to a low. First, add the mustard seeds. 
  • Then add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, chana dal (bengal gram), fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and dry red chillies. 
  • On a low flame stir non-stop and roast till the spices become aromatic and golden.
  • Keep aside to cool. Don’t burn the spices.
  • Once the spices cool, grind them to a powder in a dry grinder or coffee grinder. Keep aside.

Preparation for idli sambar

  • Soak the tamarind in warm water for 25 to 30 mins.
  • Later squeeze the tamarind in the soaked water and extract the tamarind pulp. You can strain tamarind pulp and keep aside.
  • Chop all the veggies. Quarter the onions or halve the pearl onions. Peel and dice the carrots and potatoes.
  • Dice the brinjals and add them in water to prevent discoloration.
  • Chop the tomatoes in small pieces.

Cooking veggies

  • In a pan, heat oil first. Add the mustard seeds and let them begin to crackle. Then add the urad dal and sauté till they turn to a maroonish color.
  • Add quartered onions or halved pearl onions, curry leaves and asafoetida. Stir and saute for 2 minutes till the onions soften a bit.
  • Add the tomatoes, salt as required and continue to saute for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium-low flame.
  • Then add the veggies which take a longer time to cook (carrots, beans, potatoes, drumsticks etc) and saute for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium-low flame.
  • Then add remaining quick-cooking veggies like brinjals, ladyfingers (okra), pumpkin etc now. Stir and mix. 
  • Add the tamarind pulp and 1 to 1.25 cups water. 
  • Season with salt as per taste. Mix well. 
  • Cover pan and simmer until the raw aroma of the tamarind goes away and the veggies are almost cooked. 
  • If the veggies are undercooked, then continue to simmer till they are almost cooked. 

Making idli sambar

  • Add the ground sambar powder which we have already prepared. Mix well. 
  • Add the mashed dal.
  • Add 1 cup water or as required depending on the consistency you want. The sambar which is served in the hotels is on the thinner side. For idli, dosa and medu vada you can keep the sambar having a medium to thin consistency. For serving with rice, keep the tiffin sambar slightly thick.
  • Stir and simmer without lid for about 6 to 7 minutes or till it comes to a boil. Stir at intervals. 
  • Check the taste and add more salt if required.
  • Meanwhile when you keep the dal for pressure cooking, you can steam idli. Both small-sized mini idli or large idli goes well with tiffin sambar.
  • While serving place the idli in a serving bowl. Pour sambar. Garnish with some coriander leaves. You can even drizzle a bit of ghee on top. Serve idli sambar hot.
  • You can also garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with medu vada, idli, dosa, uttapam or even with steamed rice.

Video

Notes

  • You can add your choice of veggies.
  • This recipe can be halved or doubled too. 
  • Instead of tuvar dal (pigeon pea lentils), you can also use a combination of tuvar dal and masoor dal (pink lentils). Even moong dal can be used. 

Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)

Nutrition Facts
Idli Sambar (Hotel Style) | Tiffin Sambar
Amount Per Serving
Calories 372 Calories from Fat 81
% Daily Value*
Fat 9g14%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 510mg22%
Potassium 2192mg63%
Carbohydrates 66g22%
Fiber 28g117%
Sugar 27g30%
Protein 14g28%
Vitamin A 3170IU63%
Vitamin C 116.9mg142%
Calcium 144mg14%
Iron 5.4mg30%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This Idli Sambar Recipe is from the blog archives (May 2014) has been republished and updated on 1st June 2021.

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Welcome to Dassana's Veg Recipes. I share vegetarian recipes from India & around the World. Having been cooking for decades and with a professional background in cooking & baking, I help you to make your cooking journey easier with my tried and tested recipes showcased with step by step photos & plenty of tips & suggestions.

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128 Comments

  1. If you are looking for a good recipe of idli sambar, then look no further. It tastes awesome with mini idlis when drizzled with hot ghee. While serving mini idlis, place them in a slightly deep serving bowl, dunk them in a liberal amount tiffin sambar, drizzle melted ghee and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Your kids will relish it and so will you.

  2. Hello,

    Tried this recipe and it was simply awesome. We ate it with rice too and it was pretty good. Thanks for sharing such wonderful recipes again!5 stars

  3. Hi,
    How much is 1 tbsp Tamarind… Is it Lemon size or gooseberry size?Do we have to add all the grounded sambar Masala to the above recipe? And I would like to know if I can simply double the recipe if am doing for 10 ppl?

    1. gooseberry size but one which is smaller than a lemon. yes the entire sambar masala needs to be added. you can double the recipe i think.

  4. Hi Amit, I made this sambar (1) today together with your coconut (2) and coriander (3) chutneys too. I used an instant store bought mix to make idlis and dhokla to see if I could cheat a little at least. Well suffice to say I won’t be using an idli instant mix again! Dhokla was actually quite good but more because I used your tempering (4) recipe.
    (1) was simply fantastic. The highlight of the recipe has got to be grinding your own masala; I did it by hand in a stone mortar and pestle. The aromatics were superb and my kitchen has never smelt so authentic. I didn’t use brinjal but put in slightly more potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. My wife came home, ate the dhokla at tea time and said she wouldn’t be eating dinner as she wouldn’t be hungry. Well, after she tasted the sambar and the chutneys she ended up eating dinner like a soldier. So thanks very much for taking the time to put this up online. May I ask though, why does the masala go in so late and not earlier?
    (2) and (3), were excellent accompaniments though I think I have to be careful to ensure the lemon I use is sour enough. Here in England the lemons aren’t as sharp as they should be.
    (4) was authentic too and tasted like a pukka Gujarati made it.
    All this of course means my local Kerala and Gujarati restaurants won’t be seeing me anymore!
    All the best. Rohit.

    1. thank you very much rohit for this lovely comment. i was smiling reading your narration. the idli and dosa mixes are not good. i have tried them when i was in a corporate job, working full time, to ease the their preparation time at home. but not like the ones we make at home. but rava idli is still better. even dhokla is good. the masala goes late as we have already sauteed it in the oil and its cooked to some extent. so we don’t need to add it earlier. thanks again.

      1. Reference the masala, yes that makes sense and apologies in case I mixed up your first / last name? I tried idli batter yesterday, nightmare! I used 1/2 cup urad, 1.5 cups basmati and some fenugreek seeds. Washed and soaked for several hours then blended all together with enough water to make a paste. It was only 20 C degrees here during day so colder in night, so I put in Pyrex dish with lid in oven with pilot light on overnight. Ready for idlis in morning but no chance. Batter hadn’t risen. So oven went on at 95 degrees farenheight. A few hours later it had fermented and risen but just didn’t look right. All the water had been absorbed and mixture looked a little cooked. Salvage operation meant adding salt and mixing with spoon plus water until batter like consistency. Then steamed in idli maker for 15 minutes. Idlis tasted good but the texture was granular, a little incoherent and basically un-idli like. It would have fed babies very well. I then used remaining batter for uttapum which actually were good enough for feeling mildly proud if prior experience with idlis hadn’t taken place. It’s going to take practice and experimentation! Next time, I think I’ll try poha, idli/par boiled rice etc instead of basmati. I’ll also blend for a lot longer and may be put in a preheated oven to only ignite the reaction initially then revert to pilot light. Finally, I think even the amount of water I put into idli steamer may need careful thought. Or…..I could just move to Kerala and invoke the idli gods to bless my batter!

        1. fine. i guess the idli batter kind of cooked in the oven. thats why it looked like the water had been absorbed. the granular texture is also due to the fact that the slightly cooked batter getting mixed with water and then again getting steamed. making the batter takes practice. and in cold climates, it does take time to ferment. i would suggest to use a large casserole for the batter (allowing space and volume when the batter triples) and then wrap it with a warm kitchen towel and keep in the lighted oven. you can also keep the batter during daytime near a window sill or balcony to get some light from outside. the oven can be preheated but at lower temperatures like 80 degrees celsius. then switch off the oven and keep the batter. with practice the idli gods will bless you 🙂

          1. Thanks for the advise. I wonder why we simply don’t use yeast or baking powder? What are the pros and cons of using some kind of agent to ingnite the fermentation and rising?

          2. of course, you can use yeast. i forgot to mention in the previous comment. a couple of times the idli gods have been unhappy with me during winters. so after keeping the batter overnight, just 30 to 45 minutes before steaming, i add 1/2 tsp instant yeast. i dissolve them in a tsp of water and then add. cover and allow the batter to leaven. after 30 to 45 minutes, you will see nice bubbles in the batter. but with yeast the issue is that the batter keeps on getting leavened. if you keep the batter in the fridge, then it gets too much leavened, fermented and the yeasty aroma can be felt distinctly. so when i add yeast, i try to use all the batter in one go. with baking soda its better to have an acidic ingredient. like 1 tbsp to 2 tbsp of curd mixed with the batter. but with baking soda, the batter has to be used immediately for making idlis. the same rule applies to eno/fruit salt.

          3. Excellent advice again. I knew there would have to be some reasons why we all can’t simply cheat!

  5. Dear Dassana,

    The sambar turned out just amazing! Delecious! All the best to you n your husband for all the handwork you do, compiling the recipes with such beautiful simplicity. Keep up
    The good work and I Look forward to your recipes, always.

  6. Thanks Dassana for your reply. I get it just because it’s quick one pot method thats why you are adding boiled dal with veges. How about if we just boil the dal(raw) and veges(raw) together you think that would be good ,please advise, thanks

    1. welcome simmi. if you boil and dal veggies together, by the time the dal cooks, the veggies will become too soft and mushy. they can be mashed easily. so avoid cooking both veggies and dal together.

  7. Hello Dear Dassana
    Your vegetable sambar recipe and tiffin sambar recipe really looks delicious. I will try definitely vegetable Sambar . However I have one question on vegetable sambar as If you have already boiled dal in pressure cooker then why are you boiling it again with vegetables. Can I avoid boiling it again with veges or would it make some change to taste please advise, thanks4 stars

    1. welcome simmi. because this is a quick one pot method. if you want then you can remove the dal and don’t cook it again.

  8. I made this for dinner today and it turned awesome.thanks for the beautiful recipe.
    Whenever i want some receipe first i check just your site.5 stars