Makes: 16 idlis
Ingredients for Idli:
- Rice – 1 cup
- Urad dal/ Split black gram – ½ cup
- Cooked rice – ¾ cup (alternatively you can use 1 cup of flattened rice, soaked and ground along with the raw rice and split black gram)
- Water – 1¼ cup + 2 tablespoons
- Salt to taste
Method for Idli:
- Wash and soak the rice and split black gram in water for 4-5 hours.
- Grind the soaked ingredients with the cooked rice to a smooth batter. Do not add the water all at once. Add ¼ cup of water at a time, blending well before the next ¼ cup of water. Continue adding the water and blending until you have a smooth batter of drop-consistency.
- Empty the ground batter into a large bowl (bearing in mind that you need space for it to ferment and rise in the bowl overnight) and leave it to ferment for 8-12 hours.
- A well-fermented batter like the one in the image below, helps. The duration of fermentation depends on the weather in your area.
- Grease an idli stand with ghee or oil. Pour in no more than ¼ cup of batter.
- Steam the idlis (without the pressure regulator) in the cooker for 5-8 minutes.
Ingredients for Sambar:
- Split pigeon peas and Yellow split gram – ¾ cup, washed, soaked for about 30 minutes
- Ginger – 1½”, chopped
- Fenugreek seeds – ¼ teaspoon
- Coriander seeds – 2 tablespoons
- Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon
- Tomatoes – 5, skinned, deseeded and chopped large or you can use 200 grams of shop bought tomato puree.
- Tamarind – a large lime sized ball soaked in ½ a cup of water
- Carrot – 2, cut into batons
- Drumstick – 3, slit down the middle and cut into 2 ” pieces
- Green Beans cut into 2″lengths – 1 cup
- Melted jaggery – 2 tablespoons (optional)
- Tomato – 1, cut into large cubes
- Salt – 1½ teaspoon
For the Sambar Powder: Roast the following until fragrant adding the ingredients one at a time. Cool, grind to a fine powder and bottle. The quantity of sambar powder you get should be sufficient to make sambar twice with the lentil quantities above. Alternatively, you can use a shop bought sambar powder.
- Cinnamon – 1″
- Yellow split gram – ½ teaspoon
- Split bengal gram – ½ teaspoon
- Split black gram – ½ teaspoon
- Coriander seeds-2 tablespoons
- Cumin seeds – 1 tablespoon
- Poppy seeds – ¼ teaspoon
- Pepper corns – ¼ teaspoon
- Kashmiri red chillies – 4, broken into large bits
- Fenugreek seeds – ½ teaspoon
- Star anise – 1 petal (deseeded)
- Mace – 1 blade
- Cloves – 2
- Cardamom – 1
- Asafoetida – 2 pinches
- Curry leaves – 6
Seasoning:
- Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Curry leaf – 1 large sprig
- Red chillies – 2 whole
- Asafoetida – a pinch
- Shallots – 4, sliced
Method for Sambar:
- Cook the lentils with 3 cups of water, ginger, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, tomatoes until mushy (use a pressure cooker if you have one). Cool, add the soaked tamarind, melted jaggery and puree with a hand blender. Set aside.
- To a large, deep casserole on high heat, add 3 cups of water + ½ teaspoon of salt + ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder and bring to the boil. Add in the drumstick, lower heat to medium, cover and cook until almost done. Next add in the carrots and beans and continue cooking until all the vegetable are done but not mushy. Empty the contents along with the leftover liquid in the casserole into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Put back the now empty casserole on medium heat and add in 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Add in the seasoning ingredients beginning with the mustard. Allow it to pop and then drop in the rest of the seasoning. Fry everything until the onions turn a nice golden-brown.
- Add 2½ tablespoons of the sambar powder and continue frying until the masala turns a deep brown, stir in the cooked lentils, vegetables and chopped tomato. Bring the sambar to a rolling boil. Cook for about 8 minutes and turn off the heat.
- Serve with idli or dosa.