Fourteen Idlies( Saravana Bhavan style)

There is something magical about restaurant food. Each restaurant has it’s own secret recipes. I always used to wonder what it could be.
Even the simplest dish like idli and sambar tastes awesome in some restaurants. Am particularly fond of Saravana Bhavan’s very famous dish- Fourteen Idlis, specially the sambar.
I had planned to make Idli and sambar for breakfast. Been wanting to make fourteen idlis for sometime. It never happened( no particular reason).
Today, when I started the preparation for making sambar, I thought I will try to make the restaurant style. Having in mind the taste, texture and colour, I decided on the ingredients. Long while ago, one of my very good friend had told me that in restaurants coconut is not used much to make sambar. Instead khuskhus was used. That was the only clue I had.
Rest of the recipe in my own creation.
After I made the sambar, I was happy with the texture and colour and taste. But I wanted to know my family’s opinion. I was too happy when they all said that sambar indeed tasted like the restaurant one.
Happily sharing with you all the recipe. Hope you all will like it too:)

Ingredients

Button Idlis( small Idlis)- as required

For sambar
Tuvar dal( tuvaram paruppu)-
3/4th cup
Yellow Moong dal( pasi parruppu)- 1/4thcup
Tamarind- big lemon size soaked in 1 cup of water.
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Grated jaggery- 2 tsps
Onions- 2( medium sized)
Tomatoes-2( small)
Carrot- 1
Brinjal- 2
Radish- 1
Cordiander seeds- 4 tsps
Chana dal- 3 tsps
Khuskhus- 2 tsps
Jeera- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4th tsp
Whole pepper – 1/4th tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4tsp
Red chillies- 8-9
Mustard- 1 tsp
Oil- 3 tsps
Hing- 1/4th tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4th tsp
Curry leaves- few
Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp

Method

Wash both tuvar and moong dal well and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Once the steam subsides, remove the dal, mash it well and keep aside.
Squeeze well and extract tamarind juice.

Chop all the vegetables.
Keep aside one chopped onion and tomatoes.

Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a small kadai. Add coriander seeds, chana dal, khuskhus, jeera, red chillies, pepper and fenugreek. Roast till it gives a good aroma and dal becomes golden. Remove and keep it aside.
In the same kadai, again add 1/2 tsp of oil. To ghz hot oil, add 1 chopped onion. Sauté till becomes pink and them add tomatoes. Sauté till the tomatoes become soft.

Cool and grind along with the roasted spices to a smooth paste.

In a pan, add tamarind extract, salt to taste, jaggery , turmeric powder and the chopped vegetables.
Let it cook till the raw smell of tamarind goes and the vegetables become soft.

Now, add the ground masala and the mashed dal to the tamarind mixture. Mix well. Check the seasoning. Add the required amount of water( 21/2- 3 cups) to correct the consistency. Let it simmer till it starts boiling.
Heat 2 tsps of oil. Add mustard. When it starts spluttering add fenugreek seeds and hing. Add the tempering to the sambar and serve hot.