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Yellow Cucumber Dal Or Dosakaya Pappu

Mild flavoured and most comforting dal delicacy in Andhra cuisine is prepared by cooking lentils with watery yellow cucumber and spices. The bland taste of the cucumber adapts the taste of all the seasonings you add to the dal.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 4 to 6
Author: Padma

Ingredients

  • To Pressure cook:
  • 1 cup Pigeon peas split lentils Tuvar dal/Toor dal/Kandhi pappu
  • 2 to 2½ cups water to pressure cook lentils
  • ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
  • 1 large onion chopped to big chunks
  • 3 green chillies slit or broken
  • Gooseberry size Tamarind
  • 1 to 1½ teaspoon Red chilli powder
  • 3 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
  • 1 Yellow Cucumber/Dosakaya peeled and cubed (You can use the peel if you wish)
  • For the Tempering:
  • 1 to 2 Tablespoons oil or Ghee
  • 3 to 4 garlic pods crushed or chopped
  • 2 Dry red chillies
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • A sprig of curry leaves
  • Other Ingredients:
  • Required salt
  • 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander

Instructions

  • First clean lentils and wash under running water with 2 to 3 exchanges of water.
  • Transfer lentils to the pressure cooker. Add 2 to 2½ cups water and ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.
  • To this add chopped onions and green chillies.
  • In a separate bowl (pressure cooker safe), add tamarind, red chilli powder, tomato pieces and Yellow cucumber/Dosakaya pieces.
  • Place this bowl on the dal in the pressure cooker.
  • Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles over high heat. Then simmer to low for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
  • Open the pressure cooker once the pressure subsides. First mash the contents in the bowl with cucumber and tomatoes and then transfer into the dal.
  • Now mash up everything together. Add required salt. Add some more water depending on the desired consistency. In case you leave it as such with out adding extra water, then skip the next step.
  • In case you have added water, bring the dal to a boil over medium heat with constant stirring for 2 to 3 minutes and turn off the heat. Make sure the dal does not stick to the bottom.
  • Transfer dal to a bowl and add finely chopped coriander.
  • For the tempering: Crush or chop garlic pods. Heat oil/ghee in a small pan over medium heat and dd garlic. Once garlic starts to turn light brown add red chillies, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add a pinch of asafoetida. Now turn off the heat and add curry leaves. Transfer the tempering to the dal and mix well.
  • Serve with hot steaming rice along with a drizzle of ghee. It pairs perfectly with a Potato fry or a chicken fry or just with a crunchy pappad.

Notes

1. Adjust spice levels to suit your taste.
2. Pressure-cooking dal saves time,energy and retains nutrients.
3. While cooking dal in a pressure cooker, do not bring cucumber, tomatoes and tamarind (sour ingredients) in contact with lentils because the dal will not be fully cooked.
4. You can reduce tamarind if the yellow cucumber and tomatoes are very sour.
Usually most of them add either asafoetida or garlic in the tempering. It's believed they don’t pair together. But I love to mostly use both.
5. You can also prepare the dal without tomatoes.
6. Check the cucumber for bitterness before cooking.
7. For readers residing in Germany: You can substitute schmorgurken for yellow cucumber, which is almost close to the taste of Indian yellow cucumber.