21 November, 2006

Idli-Vada-Sambar

At last…. It’s a time for the Queen of South Indian breakfast dish: Idli-Vada with Sambar. I call idli as a queen because for some reason the title of king belongs to Dosas:) This Sunday we had Idli-Vada with delicous bowl of Sambar for breakfast. My hubby and my dad are big fans I have ever seen when it comes to Idli-Vada. The steaming fluffy and soft Idlis with little spicy and tasty Vadas dipped in delicious Sambar… Awww…. Nothing is better than that. I won’t talk a lot about it because I have got to post 3 recipes in one post:). So talk less and work more is today's theme ;) Here we go…

Idli-Vada-Sambar

Recipe for Idli:
Ingredients:
2 cups of Rice
1 cup Urad Dal
Salt to taste

Soft and Fluffy Idlis

Method:
Soak rice and urad dal separately in water for 2-3 hours.
First grind the urad dal to smooth paste. Remember that smoother the better.
Then grind rice to a coarse paste. Make sure that you don’t grind rice to smooth paste.
Mix them together adding required salt to slightly thick paste. The batter should be thicker than the dosa batter you prepare.
Keep it covered to ferment for overnight.
Next day pour a ladle of batter into idli maker and steam cook in medium flame for 15-20 minutes till they are done.
Let them cool for few minutes (3-4 minutes) before you take them out. This way the idli will be fluffy and soft.
Serve hot with Coconut Chutney and steaming bowl of Sambar.

Recipe for Vada:
Ingredients:
1 cup of Urad Dal
2-3 Green Chillies, chopped finely
¾ inch Ginger, chopped finely
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Delicious Vadas

Method:
Soak urad dal in water for 1-2 hours.
Grind them coarsely adding very little water. (Little means very little)
Add chopped coriander leaves, ginger, green chillies and salt as required.
Mix them well together with hands. Add little water if required.
Make small lime sized balls and press them slightly using your palm.
With your finger make a small hole in the center.
Deep fry them in hot oil till they turn into lovely golden brown colour.
Serve hot with Coconut Chutney and Sambar. Delicious….

Recipe for Onion Sambar:
Ingredients:
1 cup Small Onions
1/2 cup Thuar Dal/Red gram Dal
1 medium lime sized Tamarind
2 Tomatoes, sliced
2 Green Chillies, slit
Small bunch of Coriander leaves, Chopped finely
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard
2 Red chillies
1/4 tsp Hing/Asafetida
Few curry leaves
To Roast & Grind:
2 tsp Dhania/Coriander Seeds
11/2 tsp Urad Dal/Black gram Dal
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Channa/Bengal gram Dal
4-5 Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
1 Tomato, roughly chopped
1/4 cup of Grated Coconut
3 tsp Oil

Onion Sambar

Method:
Heat 1tsp of Oil and roast the above ingredients until golden.
Fry 1 onion and 1 tomato separately with little oil.
Grind everything with grated coconut to a smooth paste.
Heat Oil in a shallow pan and fry the small onion for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add enough water and boil it till soft.
Cook red gram dal in pressure cooker and mash well.
Mix cooked onion, mashed dal, tamarind extract, tomatoes, green chillies and ground paste with salt and enough water and bring it to boil.
When the sambar is thick enough remove from fire.
Heat oil and add mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and hing.
When mustard starts spluttering add this seasoning to sambar.
Serve hot Sambar garnished with chopped coriander leaves with Rice, Idlis or Dosas.

Idli-Vada-Sambar


Final Verdict:
You may be thousands of miles away from your country, but your roots are still deep down in your hometown. You may try different foods from different continents but the one which will always make you smile is the one from your mom’s kitchen. What better example can I give than the simple yet unbeatable taste of Idli-Vada with Sambar!!! Their simplicity takes your breath away and their taste wipes you off your feet, other than your loved one’s charm;) The pleasure you get from this type of dishes is only known when you try it out. It will surely bring back lot of good old memories.
Well… As expected you can never go wrong with Idli-Vadas. If you follow the instructions from your mom, step by step, then you will surely make a soft and fluffy idlis with yummy vadas. And not to forget the million dollar smile from my dear hubby:)

Idli-Vada-Sambar

49 comments:

  1. Your idlis look so soft.....and you are right about idlis being the queen of the breakfast scene.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi jayashree,
    idli is a queen in our home:) both my dad and hubby are big fan of idlis.. so i call them queen of their heart;)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your pictures are divine! Wish there was virtual way of eating those! I LOVE idlis so much, you have no idea.

    Kudos,Trupti

    ReplyDelete
  4. ooh..one more thing, that Kadhi will have to wait, K is sick so he can't have that..had to make khichdi for him. :(
    Gonna make it in a couple days or so when he gets better.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey Supriya
    came here through ur comment on my blog.u've a good blog here,& especially the pictures of hte food r really mouthwatering.Thanks for sharing & visiting my blog

    ReplyDelete
  6. hey suppi man this looks devine ...vada's and idli's specially when its so chilling cold here i so much wish i could have vada's with spanking hot and spicy sambar....nice ...nice ....
    luv
    Seema

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice pictures. Looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh they are looking so tempting. I m a big-big fan of Idli-Sambhar and vada, and I make it very often at home.

    Nice pics Sia...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I will just say.....fantastic...you are gem, food and pics look devine...~soft smile~...peace...

    ReplyDelete
  10. All hail the queen! My mum makes this all the time. The only difference is the additional presences of coconut chutney. But I love your photos! what camera do you have?!?!
    Pravs.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely pictures Supriya
    You sure are an amazing cook

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Supriya,

    Your pictures look so professional! And the idlis look sooooooo soft :-)
    I love both your blogs! The other blog and some the posts made me LOL (the one on being jobless etc. etc.).
    You have so many recipes! I ahve to try them as soon as I come back :-)
    Keep them coming!
    Cheers
    Latha

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey Supriya,
    Great going on . I love bot h of these, specially Vada with hot sambhar. .... Yummy... let me grab 2-3 out of that. .:P

    ReplyDelete
  14. nameste sia
    good pic,never tried cooking
    but food blogs are good to visit
    cheers
    jhaji.

    ReplyDelete
  15. hi trupti,
    even i wish there was a virtual way to eat:) woha... mmmm... hopefully in future scientist may dicover the way fo doing it trupti;) he he he....
    and dont worry about khadi... let K get well... do pass my get well soon wishes to him and luv and kissies to sahil and siddharth:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  16. hi radhika,
    welcome to my blog dear:) i'm glad to now that u liked it:) hope it wont be ur last visit:) do keep in touch.. and plz no need to say thanks as i too am getting to try so many different recipes which haven't heard of b4:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  17. hi seems:)
    yup... u bet... u should have seen K's face, it was like christmas tree... he he he... he loves idli-vada and sambar:) weekends are best to enjoy our all time fav south indian breakfast(oops, brunch;)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  18. hi lakshmi,
    thanks a lot girl:) stay in touch...
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  19. hi nidhi,
    thanks dear:) glad to know that they look tempting:) yup...mom's r too good in making them, we stand no where in front of them:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  20. hi dilip,
    wow... what a compliment:) what can say!!! thanks dear..
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  21. hi praveena,
    he he he... thanks girl:) i'm not sure whether u like idlis or my photoes;) i use panasonic z70 camara(hope i got the right model number here, may be i need to heck it out) my hubby got this for our anniversary so that i can click photoes on and on for blog:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  22. hi sandeepa:)
    thanks for such a huge compliment:) i still feel that i'm a novice when it comes to cooking:) i need to improve a lotin many areas:) thanks a lot for all ur feedbacks and support:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  23. hi latha,
    so sweet of u:) my post on joblessness shows how jobless i used to be:) i just wrote what came to my mind at that instace:) glad to know that it made u laugh:) he he he... do keep in touch dear:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  24. hi pooja:)
    u can grab how much ever u want girl:) u r most welcome to my place at any time of the year:) go on... feel free to take any:) he hehe...
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  25. hi sanjay,
    welcome to my blog:) glad to know that u liked it:) give a shot to some of them as they are very simple and easy to cook:) do let me know if u try them:) and do keep in touch
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hey Supriya,idli vada sambar looks divine!oh how I love that combo.great photo too.

    ReplyDelete
  27. hi vini,
    u bet... its one of the best combination... that too in this cold winter, delicious:)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hey Supriya,
    Your comment at my blog got me here. How did I not come across your beautiful blog before? :)
    Idlis as well as Vadas look mouth-watering.

    ReplyDelete
  29. hi vaishali,
    welcome to my blog and glad to know u like it:) hopeing to see more of u:)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi Supriya,

    Hmmmm..Great South Indian breakfast is ready for me.Anyway it is breakfast time now for us...Let me start having.hehehe...

    Really Nic presentation ...

    ReplyDelete
  31. hi usha,
    please free to serve:) hope u enjoy ur breakfast:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  32. Awesome! Sia. great display.

    check out this link for my version

    http://trythisrecipe.blogspot.com/2006/11/sambar-for-idlis.html

    http://trythisrecipe.blogspot.com/2006/11/soft-idlis.html

    I haven't tried vada yet. I will follow your recipe. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  33. hi maythreyee,
    thanks a lot girl for sending me the links:) i will try the sambar u have put in ur blog next time when i make idlis and will let u know hw it turns out:)
    do give a shot for vada... very easy to make and tastes gr8 in this time of the year:)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Sai,

    Ur platter looks so tempting:)

    ReplyDelete
  35. hi tanuja,
    thanks for dropping by and welcome to my blog:)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  36. Supriya thanks for visiting my blog. I am glad I got to know you. The idlis looks delicious.
    Isnt it funny how we attribute genders to food as well? I dont know why but idli is very feminine and dosa masculine...hmmm the psychology of that will have to be studied :-D

    ReplyDelete
  37. Surpiya, pictures looks great and food too. Really tempting. Viji

    ReplyDelete
  38. hi ashwini,
    thanks a lot dear:) i know its bit strange the way we associate the food to gender:)

    hi viji,
    thanks gild... glad that they look tempting:) he he he...

    ReplyDelete
  39. It is not at all fair to post such lovely and yummy looking food pictures in front of us ... Too delicious to not get ravenously hungry :). Please keep them coming..

    Cheers,
    Nav

    ReplyDelete
  40. hi nav,
    thanks for stopping by:) glad to know that u like it:)
    cheers
    supriya

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi
    the way of presentation of this recipe is so cool though it is a common one. i liked it very much.i want to make it immediately a nd have it.nice looking pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  42. hi swapna:)
    thanks girl:) glad to know u liked the way i presented it:)
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  43. oops this is my favorite breakfast.Looks too good supriya.Nice pics

    ReplyDelete
  44. Yummy.....this one's a star in my household too. Hubby and 2yr old son love idlis dipped in sambhar. You have a very nice blog Sia. I adore your pics.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hi Sia ,
    I tried ur sambar recipie .It came out very well.Thanks for sharing the recipie

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi Sia ,

    I tried your samabar recipie .It came out nicely .Thanks for sharing the recipie .

    ReplyDelete
  47. Nice Mouth watering recipe best for any time meal

    ReplyDelete
  48. Nice Mouth watering recipe best for any time meal

    ReplyDelete

Namaste! I am Sia and welcome to Monsoon Spice, my virtual home. Thank you for all your comments, inputs and feedback. I really appreciate the valuable time you spent browsing through my recipe repertoire.

I hope you have found what you are looking for today. Feel free to leave any questions or queries you have on the recipes posted here. If you have any recipe requests, please drop a line at Ask Sia page. I will try to respond to all your queries as soon as possible to best of my knowledge.

I welcome all your valuable inputs and constructive criticism as long as it is meant to help and improve the blog. I reserve the right to delete any comments that are rude, abusive, written with the intent to advertise, contain profanity or considered spam.

I hope that you will stop by again to read my rants, learn new recipes and share your ideas. Have a good look around and enjoy your time here. Thank you once again!