Mini Idli with Tiffin Sambar - Reliving childhood memories

Whenever we used to visit a particular restaurant in my native, I would always go for mini idli with sambar.
The cute little idlis floating on a bowl of hot sambar and some ghee on top....I'm drooling when I'm descrbing it now also.I have enjoyed these in my childhood.I wanted to give the same joy to my son.

Last week a friend of mine had brought me mini idli plates from India While he enjoyed these mini cuties ,I enjoyed his facial expressions.Now feeling blessed as a MOM.

Now lets straight away head towards the recipe :)

For mini idli

Prepare the dosa batter as mentioned here.

Use mini idli plates instead of regular ones.

Tiffin Sambhar

Ingredients

Split moong dal            1/2 cup

Red onion                    1 chopped

Tomatoes                     2 big (chopped )

Turmeric Powder          1/4 tsp

Tamarind                      I marble size * see notes

Green chilli                   1 slit vertically
Salt                              to taste
Fresh coriander leaves   few.

To roast and grind

Dry Red chillies     3
Channa Dal           1 tsp
Coriander seeds     1 1/2 tsp
Coconut                 1 tbsp

Method

1. Dry roast the ingredients given under "to roast" and grind it to a fine paste with some water.Set aside.
2. Pressure cook the moong dal,onion,tomato,green chilli with salt,turmeric and 1 1/2 cups of water.
3. Once the steam is off the cooker , open the cooker and add tamarind extract and the ground paste.
4. Let it boil for 10 minutes.Check the seasoning and add fresh coriander leaves.Turn off the heat.

Serve it hot with a spoon of ghee on top.

Note

You can avoid tamarind , if you have tomatoes that are sour.