Mini tiffin, Saravana bhavan style with mini idli, sambar, masala dosa, upma, kesari and chutneys. How to plan and prepare this special breakfast at home.
I had a long time wish ever since I started my breakfast menu series, but some how it took me so long to make this. Though the name is "Mini tiffin" and sounds kind of easy to say, this is definitely a time consuming spread with many items to prepare. If you have any day special, you can prepare this as brunch and treat someone. I would say potato masala, upma, kesari and mini idli does not consume much time as we are making very little portion only. But the chutneys and sambar is bit time consuming when you do along with such elaborate menu.
Just make sure you prepare everything in less quantity, it not only saves your time but also prevents from leftovers. Here I have mentioned for 3-4 people. Let's see how plan and make this mini tiffin (south Indian tiffin thali/spread).

This is just a post on how to plan and prepare this thali, for individual recipes of the items, please check the below links for the recipe post with step by step pictures!
Recipe links :

Mini tiffin

Recipe Cuisine: Indian | Recipe Category: Breakfast/ Brunch
Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook time: 1 & 1/2 hrs | Serves:3-4 | Author: Raks anand
Mini tiffin, Saravana bhavan style with mini idli, sambar, masala dosa, upma, kesari and chutneys. How to plan and prepare this special breakfast at home.

What all you need to prepare this menu?

Idli dosa batter
Onion
Tomato
Potato
Coriander leaves
Coconut
Semolina/ rava/ Sooji
Sugar
Ghee

Apart from other dry ingredients like toor dal (for sambar), oil, tempering items, cashews.

How to prepare mini tiffin:

Chopping work :
*Onion for sambar (I used small onion), red chutney, upma, potato masala.
*Tomato for sambar, red chutney
*Coconut for chutneys (I grate in bulk and freeze)
*Coriander for chutney, sambar, curry leaves for all items, green chillies for sambar, upma, potato masala, chutneys.
Now on to the stove work. First pressure cook toor dal (I keep tamarind inside too for easy extraction of pulp) and potato, placed in two different vessels.
While the you can prepare kesari and upma. You can make kesari the before day itself and reheat to serve. But I did the same day. Kesari takes less time than upma. So prepare first kesari and then upma.
Set both in hot pack or keep covered aside.
By now, cooker should be ready to open. Prepare sambar let it boil in one stove, while you make ready the potato masala for masala dosa.
Lastly grind chutneys and temper (together) for the chutneys. After you take some tadka for coconut and coriander chutneys, you can prepare the red chutney in it (as it needs a boil).
Once all are ready, Make idli and dosa hot to serve.

I took some video while preparing the menu, so could not note down the time exactly. I am sure this would take around 2 hours to get the plate with the spread ready.

How much quantity for 3-4 person? 1/3 cup toor dal for sambar, 1/2 cup rava for upma, 1/4 cup rava for kesari, 3/4 to 1 cup coconut for chutneys. 1 small sized onion and tomato for red chutney, 2 potatoes for masala dosa.

Happy Sunday 😊