This Summer, I tried my hands on some home grown methi as it’s difficult find fresh ones in the Indian stores here. I was quite successful I must say. Very happy with the result and I’m going to do this more often. They are very easy to grow at home and there are several different recipes that we can make with them. Today, I’m sharing one such recipe prepared with Methi/fenugreek leaves. This Menthi Kura Pappu Recipe, aka Methi Dal is such a simple, healthy, delicious & nutritious protein packed recipe cooked with fresh fenugreek leaves and lentils.
The most time consuming part of this whole recipe would be to clean the fenugreek leaves. Make sure to wash the leaves very well to get rid of the dirt as the leaves grow very close to the soil and they can be quite muddy.
The best part of Methi dal is that it can be made using any kind of lentils, be it moong dal, tur dal or masoor dal and the procedure remains the same except for the different cooking times of various lentils. Fresh Methi leaves also has many health benefits, so, including them in the diet is quite beneficial.
Easy Steps to follow for
Menthi Kura Pappu Recipe/Methi Dal:
Prep Work:
- Cook lentils as you normally do. Click here to check out how to perfectly cook lentils. This is very useful especially if you are a beginner.
- Separate the leaves of the fenugreek and wash well to remove any dirt. You can also use the tender stalks. Chop methi leaves coarsely and keep it aside.
- Chop onions, tomatoes and green chillies and set aside.
Let’s start making Menthi Kura Pappu/Methi dal:
1- Heat a pan with oil over medium heat. Add dry red chillies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and 4-5 Fenugreek seeds.
2- Once the mustard seeds splutter, add few garlic pods and curry leaves. Optionally, you can also add ginger grate at this stage.
3- Give it a stir for few seconds and then add thinly sliced onions and slit green chillies. Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
4- Now, add roughly chopped tomato and sauté until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
5- Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
6- Mix well and sauté for about 2 minutes.
7- To this, add finely chopped methi leaves.
8- Give it a nice stir until the leaves shrink. Sauté an extra 2 minutes if you want the bitter taste of the methi leaves to reduce.
9- Now, add in the cooked dal and tamarind extract.
10- Mix well and add enough water to get the desired consistency.
11- Adjust salt and add a teaspoon of sugar.
12- Bring it to a boil. If the dal becomes too thick, you can add some more water and adjust consistency.
13- Turn off the heat after 5 minutes.
- Serve with rice, roti or paratha. If serving with rice, enjoy with a dollop of ghee…It will taste out of the world ????.
- You can also follow THIS method of making the dal….Just like how I make Spinach Dal/Palak Dal/Palakura Pappu.
Menthi Kura Pappu Recipe - Methi Dal
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 2 Dry Red Chillies
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 5 Fenugreek Seeds
- 6 Garlic Pods peeled
- 1 Sprig Curry Leaves
- 1 Large Onion thinly sliced
- 2 Green Chillies slit
- 1 Large tomato Roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1 cup fresh Methi Leaves cleaned & coarsely chopped
- 3/4 cup Cooked Tur dal
- 1 Tablespoon Tamarind extract
Instructions
- Heat a pan with oil over medium heat. Add dry red chillies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and 4-5 Fenugreek seeds.
- Once the mustard seeds splutter, add few garlic pods and curry leaves. Optionally, you can also add ginger grate at this stage.
- Give it a stir for few seconds and then add thinly sliced onions and slit green chillies. Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
- Now, add roughly chopped tomato and sauté until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
- Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Mix well.
- To this, add finely chopped methi leaves and give it a nice stir until the leaves shrink. Sauté extra 2 minutes if you want the bitter taste of the leaves to reduce.
- Now, add in the cooked dal and tamarind extract.
- Mix well and add enough water to get the desired consistency.
- Adjust salt and add a teaspoon of sugar.
- Bring it to a boil. If the dal becomes too thick, you can add some more water and adjust consistency.
- Turn off the heat after 5 minutes.
Recipe Video
Notes
- For Cooking Dal: Cook half a cup of Tur dal with 1 1/2 cups of water in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles, simmer for 5 minutes and turn off the heat. Open the lid once the pressure subsides and mash the dal. Click here for detailed instructions.
- Any dal can be used in place of toor dal. Adding oil while pressure cooking helps to quickly tenderize the dal.
- You can adjust dal quantity to your liking.
- Methi does come with bitter flavour in it and there are many ways to get rid of the bitter flavour. My preferred way is to sauté methi in the masala for longer time after adding it to the pan.
- Do not add methi more than required, otherwise the taste of the dal may turn bitter at times.
Check out other Lentil Recipes and Andhra Recipes from blog!!
Many more to come!!…..STAY TUNED!!
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Happy Cooking 
Cheers!!
Padma.
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