I still remember the taste of mylapore mess tiffin sambar that I used to eat. Oh my god. It was a heaven. The color, texture, consistency, smell and white soft idly with crispy vadas. Still mouthwatering. I always insist my mom to make this sambar and demand only this. This is an easy recipe we can make for breakfast dinner. Sometimes I like to have with steamed rice and ghee also. Accompany appalam or fryums with it.

Okay, let’s see the tiffin sambar in hotel / Restaurant style recipe.

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Serves:  4

Ingredients needed: 

• Toor dal/ Tur dal / Thuvaram paruppu – 1/2 cup
• Moong dal/Paasi paruppu – 1/2 cup
• Small Onions – 10 nos or 1 big onion
• Tomato – 1 chopped
• Green chilli – 4
• Tamarind – small piece/small gooseberry sized ball
• Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Salt as needed
• Vegetables of your choice
  • Brinjal – 3
  • Potatoes – 3

For Masala powder: (Dry roast and Grind)

• Raw rice – 2 tbsp.
• Coriander seeds/malli – 1 tbsp.
• Channa dal /Bengal gram /Kadalai parupppu – 1 tbsp.
• Fennel seeds/Jeeragam – 1/2 tbsp.
• Fenugreek seeds/vendhyam – 1/4 tbsp
• Whole black peppercorns/milagu – 1/4 tbsp
• Red chilies – 6 (adjust as you need)
• Ghee – 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

For the seasoning:

• Oil or Ghee – 1 tsp
• Mustard – 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaves – few

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook Tur dal+ Moong dal for 3 -4 whistles (2 to 2 ½ cups of water for 1 cup of dal), a pinch of asafetida powder , turmeric powder and few drops of oil.  Mash it once done and keep aside.
2. Soak Tamarind in hot water for 15 minutes and extract the juice
3. Peel small onions, Chop tomatoes and keep all the ingredients ready

Masala preparation: –

• Heat a tsp of ghee in a pan; Once ghee is melted add all the ingredients listed under “For Masala powder”. Roast it until a nice aroma comes and when you hear splutter sound. Be careful not to burn it
• Once it is cool, grind it as a powder
• Note: If you are going to use the entire masala powder now, you can roast it in a ghee. Or if you want to grind more and store it for future use, avoid ghee and dry roast only

Method:

1. Heat an oil in the cooker pan; add onions, tomatoes and green chili. Give a quick stir with little salt
2. Add brinjal and potatoes. Sauté for 5 mins
3. Add cooked dal mix, and water as needed and bring it to boil
4. Add Tamarind extract and pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles
5. Once the pressure subsides, open the lid.
6. Take another pan, add ghee, mustard, Urad dal, cumin seeds, and curry leaves and pour it over the sambar
7. Add grounded masala powder to the sambar and Let it boil for 10 minutes in a medium flame and Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Notes:

1. Vegetables can be of your choice. You can even try it without any veggies. It works: )
2. Adjust red chilies as per your red chili hotness and your need
3. You can add more water if you want sambar to be in watery consistency.
4. Since I am making this as a tiffin sambar, I prefer to add both moong and Tur dal. If you want, try it only with Tur dal also
5. Ghee flavor is very important for tiffin sambar.

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