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Tomato Pappu or Tomato Dal

Tomato Pappu or tomato Dal is an Andhra style wholesome comfort food cooked with lentils to tickle your senses with fragrant spices.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Main Course
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

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
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons finely chopped coriander

Instructions

  • First clean lentils and wash under running water with 2 to 3 exchanges of water.
  • Transfer lentils to the pressure. 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 and tomato pieces.
  • Place this bowl on the dal.
  • 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 tomatoes and then transfer into the dal.
  • Now mash up everything together. Add required salt and a little sugar. 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. I wouldn't mind a crunchy papadam too.

Notes

Adjust spice levels to suit your taste.
Pressure-cooking dal saves time and retains nutrients.
Addition of sugar helps to balance out salt and sour flavours in a dish.
While cooking dal in a pressure cooker, do not bring tomatoes and tamarind (sour ingredients) in contact with lentils, otherwise the dal will not cook properly.
Usually most of them add either asafoetida or garlic in the tempering. It's believed they don’t pair together. But I love to use both.
Always use ripe tomatoes for dal.