Wet grinder method

Clean and soak both the rices and Urud dal for 5-6 hrs separately. Grind the Urud dal first by adding enough water. You need to grind till it comes out like a butter. Remove, then grind rice to a fine paste, making sure you add required water in middle. Then add the urud dal paste to the grinder again and let it run for 5 more mins. Add salt.

Let it ferment for 10 hrs or overnight.

Next morning, first thing you can do is to mix the batter once again and let it rest. For best soft idlis, don't mix again when you pour into the moulds. Just gently pour down into each mould. Keep for 15 mins for getting cooked and serve hot with Vengaya Sambar!

Clean Toor Dal and pressure cook it with 2 drops of Oil and turmeric. Put it on for 2 whistles or till the dal is cooked. Remove and let it cool down.

Soak tamarind and extract pulp from it.

Soak Shallot (Sambar onions) for 5 mins, this way the skin comes out easily. We normally don't chop the onions very finely. It remains as big bulbs. Chop Onions and tomatoes.

Heat oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients. Then add chopped onions. Sauté till they are cooked, add tomatoes, Sambar powder and salt. Cook till the tomatoes are soft.

Then, add the tamarind pulp and water. Let it come to a boil. Then add the cooked toor dal. The dal should be well cooked.

Cook the sambar on high flame for 5 mins, then simmer for 10 mins till its cooked well.

Garnish with coriander leaves.