Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu is one of the most comforting and flavourful dal delicacy in Andhra cuisine. This dal tastes very different and can be made very quickly with less ingredients. As the Yellow Cucumber/Dosakaya is somewhat bland in taste, it adapts the taste of all the seasonings you add to the dal, becomes flavourful and also gets cooked in no time considering the high water content in the yellow cucumber. The inside of this vegetable is crunchy and opaque when it is raw, but becomes soft and translucent when cooked in Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu.
Yellow cucumbers are very low in calories, have minimal amounts of fats and no cholesterol. They have very high water content and are know to have diuretic properties, and thus help in improving the kidney and bladder diseases. It is a tangy vegetable, which belongs to cucumber family. It is also an excellent source of Potassium and vitamin C. The skin is a good source of dietary fibre and has minerals such as silica and magnesium. It’s very good for diabetic patients.
When choosing your Yellow Cucumber/Dosakaya, make sure you get the one which is more yellow-orange than yellow-green because the more orange the vegetable the less likely that it is bitter. Yellow Cucumber/Dosakaya is generally used or added in sambar, soup, dal, and also used to prepare chutneys and pickles.
This was the best I could get!!
TIP: Before you start using yellow cucumber, taste a piece of it prior to cutting. Some cucumbers can be bitter. If they are bitter, after scooping the seeds, wash it well with water to get rid of the bitterness and then use it. n case the flesh is also bitter, discard it!!
Pressure cook lentils and vegetables, add the tempering, and delicious Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu is ready!!…simple right!! Well, you can replace Yellow Cucumber/Dosakaya with other vegetables like Ridge gourd, bottle gourd, and any greens like spinach etc. But the basic for any dal is the Tomato dal recipe, click here to get the recipe.
Off to the recipe for Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu !!
Step-by-Step Process in making Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu:
The process to make Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu involves 3 simple steps.
- Chopping
- Cooking dal along with veggies
- Tempering the dal
1. Chopping:
- Peel yellow cucumber/dosakaya and cut into small cubes.
- Slice onions into big chunks and chop tomatoes. Slit green chillies and set aside.
2. Cooking Dal with Veggies:
- First clean lentils and wash under running water with 2 to 3 exchanges of water.
- Transfer to a pressure cooker, add 2 to 2½ cups water, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, chopped onions and green chillies.
- In a separate bowl (pressure cooker safe), add tamarind, red chilli powder, tomato pieces and cucumber pieces.
- Place this bowl with veggies on the dal in the pressure cooker. (basically this bowl should be smaller and fit into the cooker with dal).
- Close the lid and pressure cook for 3 whistles over high heat and then simmer to low for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Open the pressure cooker once the pressure subsides.
- Mash the contents in the bowl with tomatoes first and then transfer it to the dal.
- Now mash up everything together. Add required salt. Add water to get the desired consistency, whether thick or runny. In case you leave it as such with out adding extra water, then skip the next step.
- In case you have added water, then bring to a boil over medium heat with constant stirring for 2 to 3 minuted and turn off the heat. Make sure the dal does not stick to the bottom, otherwise you get a burnt taste.
- Garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander.
3. TemperingYellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu :
- Grab all the required ingredients for the tempering. Crush or chop garlic pods.
- Heat oil/ghee in a small pan over medium heat. I’m using oil.
- When oil is hot enough, add 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. Turn off the hat and add curry leaves. Transfer the tempering to the dal and mix well.
Traditionally, this Yellow Cucumber Dal Or Dosakaya Pappu is served with rice along with a drizzle of ghee (clarified butter) over it. As I already mentioned in tomato dal recipe, this way single serve might consume more ghee than needed. Instead you can make tempering with ghee in place of oil if you son’t want to compromise on the taste of ghee. This way you will not miss the flavour of ghee also also cut down few calories.
Though it can be served with roti or paratha, white rice is the lustrous companion one craves for. It pairs well with Potato fry, Stuffed okra, Eggplant stir fry, Bhindi fry, Arbi fry, and my non-veg lovers can try it with Chicken fry, Masala Egg fry or even Chicken curry. As you can see today I have served today with potato fry.
Yellow Cucumber Dal Or Dosakaya Pappu
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
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.
You might want to check out other related posts from my blog-
Yellow Cucumber Dal or Dosakaya Pappu pairs well with any of the following sides-
And many more to come……Stay Tuned!!
Happy Cooking: 🙂
Cheers!!
Padma
What a unique combo!! Looks delicious!!
Thank you dear:)
The daal looks quite tasty.. i dont think we get yellow cucumber here… or maybe we do? I never really saw it …
Thank you Gauri….Not sure… but I think you must be able to find it:)
I will look out for sure to make this amazing recipe 🙂
Thank you so very much dear…very sweet of you:)
Looks tasty…
Thank you 🙂
Dal with yellow cucumber a different & delicious recipe………….must try.
Thank you dear:)..Please do try it..would love to hear your feedback:)
Dal looks droolicious Padma! I have never used yellow cucumber in dal before, but this sounds and looks astounding! 🙂
Thank you Anu..This is indeed my favourite dal!!
Looks very delicious. We do add other vegetables to dal but yellow cucumber is not something I have tasted. Would love to try it. Lovely shots!
This really tastes great..do try it out:)..Thank you!!
I doubt we have the yellow cucumber. Never seen too before. The curry is lovely as per our liking. Indeed a pleasure with rice.
I’m sure you must be getting in any Indian grocery stores…But trst me it tastes great dear…Thank you:)
comfort n best food
Thank you Smitha:)
Never made this dhal..with yellow cucumbers.. Looks yumm
Give it a try vani…It’s really good!!