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    Home » Recipes » Curries & Stir Fries

    Published: Jun 17, 2013 · Modified: Aug 23, 2020 by Usha Rao

    Fresh Fenugreek Leaves & Cooked Dal Stir Fry

    Jump to Recipe

    For this week’s marathon, my theme is picking two ingredients from a given list and cooking with those two ingredients from a cookbook. For today, my ingredients are greens and toor dal. My greens are fresh fenugreek leaves aka menthi koora. Here the fresh fenugreek leaves are stir fried with pre-cooked toor dal. This is a very quick recipe provided the dal is pre-cooked. Also, this recipe doesn’t require onion and garlic, and is an excellent recipe for people who do not eat onion and garlic for religious purposes. This recipe is from Cooking at Home with Pedatha.

    Menthi Aaku Pappu Koora in a brass bowl

    As it is said, some habits die hard. I tweaked or rather skipped a few ingredients to suit my palate. I skipped sugar, asafoetida, wheat flour and coconut in this recipe. Rest of the recipe I followed as given.  After tasting the fry, I think I can guess why Pedatha must have added sugar and wheat flour to the recipe.  Fenugreek is a bitter leaf and some people might not like it's flavor.  My stir fry was a little bitter but I like fenugreek leaves in curries and stir fries, and in fact my mom and most of my maternal family add fenugreek leaves to pretty much all the curries & stir fries they prepare.  I am us to it's flavor.  If one is trying this herb for the first time, I would strongly recommend adding little bit of sugar to the stir fry.

    Fenugreek Dal Stir Fry in a brass serving bowl

    In the US, a bunch of fenugreek is usually pretty big. I used one bunch and it was about 3 cups of leaves after plucking the leaves from the bunch. The recipe called for 2 large bunches, which is about 4 cups of leaves after plucking. I proportionately scaled down the recipe and rest of the ingredients required for 3 cups of leaves.

    Methi dal subzi

    Menthi Koora Pappu Recipe

    Source: Cooking at Home with Pedatha
    Total Time: 35 - 40 minutes
    Preparation: 15 minutes
    Cooking Time: 20 – 25 minutes (includes time to pressure cook dal)
    Serves: 2-3

    📖 Recipe

    Fenugreek Dal Stir Fry, Fenugreek Leaves Cook Toor Dal Stir Fry, Menthi Aaku Pappu Koora, Cooking With Pedatha

    Menthi Pappu Koora ~ Fenugreek Toor Dal Stir Fry

    Fresh fenugreek leaves cooked with dal is a dry curry from Andhra cuisine.
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    Course: Side Dish
    Cuisine: Andhra Cuisine, Telugu Cuisine
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
    Servings: 2
    Calories:
    Author: Usha Rao

    Equipment

    • Cutting Board
    • Knife
    • Pressure Cooker
    • Frying Pan or Kadai

    Ingredients

    • 1 large bunch Fenugreek Leaf or 3 cup plucked Fenugreek Leaves
    • ⅓ cup Toor Dal
    • ¾ tablespoon Wheat Flour I did not use it
    • 1 ½ teaspoon Jaggery or Sugar opt
    • ¾ tablespoon Oil I skipped ghee and used 1 ½ tbsp. Oil
    • ¾ tablespoon Ghee ~ Clarified Butter skipped this and used 1 ½ tbsp. oil
    • 2 teaspoon Urad Dal
    • 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
    • 4 Dry Red Chilies
    • 4-5 Curry Leaves
    • 1-2 Green Chilies split into two
    • ½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
    • ¼ cup Cilantro

    Instructions

    • Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker with ¾ cup water until cooked. Dal should not be mushy. I cooked it for 4 hisses on high flame. Dal can also be cooked on stove top but will take longer to cook.
    • Pluck the fenugreek leaves with tender stems and chop it roughly.
    • Dry roast wheat flour until its aroma rises. Add sugar or jaggery and keep aside. I skipped this step.
    • Take 1 ½ tbsp. oil in a pan and heat it. I skipped ghee and instead used oil. If using ghee, heat only ¾ tbsp. oil.
    • Add urad dal, mustard seeds and when urad dal turns brown, reduce the heat.
    • Add curry leaves, dry red chilies and when chilies change color, add fenugreek leaves and green chilies. Cover and cook until fenugreek is cooked. This will take about 3-5 minutes.
    • Add salt, dal, wheat flour & sugar/jaggery mixture (if using) and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the dal and greens are well incorporated and cooked.
    • Add cilantro and turn off the heat. If using ghee, add it before turning off the flame.
    • Serve hot with rice and may be some rasam.
    Tried this recipe?Share a photo! Mention @usha_myspicykitchen or tag #Usha_MySpicyKitchen!

    Ingredients:

    • 1 large bunch Fenugreek Leaf or 3 cup plucked Fenugreek Leaves
    • ⅓ cup Toor Dal
    • ¾ tbsp. Wheat Flour (I did not use it)
    • 1 ½ tsp. Jaggery or Sugar (opt)
    • ¾ tbsp. Oil (I skipped ghee and used 1 ½ tbsp. Oil)
    • ¾ tbsp. Ghee ~ Clarified Butter (skipped this and used 1 ½ tbsp. oil)
    • 2 tsp. Urad Dal
    • 1 tsp. Mustard Seeds
    • 4 Dry Red Chilies
    • 4-5 Curry Leaves
    • 1 – 2 Green Chilies split into two
    • ½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
    • ¼ cup Cilantro

    Preparation:

    • Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker with ¾ cup water until cooked. Dal should not be mushy. I cooked it for 4 hisses on high flame. Dal can also be cooked on stove top but will take longer to cook.
    • Pluck the fenugreek leaves with tender stems and chop it roughly.
    • Dry roast wheat flour until its aroma rises. Add sugar or jaggery and keep aside. I skipped this step.
    • Take 1 ½ tbsp. oil in a pan and heat it. I skipped ghee and instead used oil. If using ghee, heat only ¾ tbsp. oil.
    • Add urad dal, mustard seeds and when urad dal turns brown, reduce the heat.
    • Add curry leaves, dry red chilies and when chilies change color, add fenugreek leaves and green chilies. Cover and cook until fenugreek is cooked. This will take about 3-5 minutes.
    • Add salt, dal, wheat flour & sugar/jaggery mixture (if using) and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the dal and greens are well incorporated and cooked.
    • Add cilantro and turn off the heat. If using ghee, add it before turning off the flame.
    • Serve hot with rice and may be some rasam.

    Recipes I posted this day in 2008: Mutton Shorva
    Recipes this day in 2011: Red Bell Pepper Chutney
    Recipes this day in 2012: Flan ~ Caramel Pudding

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    • A bowl of beerakaya kandi kaya kura.
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    • Bowl of karela fry.
      Kakarakaya Kura ~ Bitter Gourd Fry
    • Bowl of tomato shorva.
      Tamata Shorva

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    1. preeti says

      June 26, 2013 at 10:34 am

      Delicious dal stir fry... awesome

      Reply
    2. Manju says

      June 24, 2013 at 8:59 pm

      Love this type dal with greens, we use do like gravy, will try this dry version too.

      Reply
    3. harini says

      June 22, 2013 at 8:00 pm

      Awesome pictures, Usha. Heard lot of reviews about he book but haven't laid my hands on the book yet.

      Reply
    4. sushma says

      June 19, 2013 at 10:05 am

      Looks delicious Usha. Lovely presentation

      Reply
    5. Sandhya Ramakrishnan says

      June 18, 2013 at 11:13 pm

      Love your presentation! Beautiful bowl! Also I have never made dry curry with dal. looks delicious and colorful!

      Reply
    6. Sapana says

      June 18, 2013 at 7:47 am

      Looks healthy and flavorful...

      Reply
    7. Srivalli says

      June 18, 2013 at 3:11 am

      Even we don't use wheat flour or sugar, somehow can't imagine our dishes to be sweetish..:)..lovely pictures.

      Reply
    8. shama says

      June 18, 2013 at 2:14 am

      too tempting dear

      Reply
    9. Akila says

      June 17, 2013 at 9:54 pm

      wow healthy dish.. Loved ur clicks

      Reply
    10. Pavani says

      June 17, 2013 at 5:26 pm

      I love that book. I made this curry too, but without any changes. I like greens cooked with dal especially in a dry curry like this.
      Nice clicks. I like your cute 'ginna' too.

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        June 19, 2013 at 11:22 pm

        Thanks Pavani! I bought that ginna 1 1/2 years ago and using it for the first time.

        Reply
    11. Priya says

      June 17, 2013 at 4:58 pm

      Omg, stir fry looks extremely healthy,nutritious..An excellent side dish to relish with rotis as well.

      Reply

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    Hi, I am Usha! Welcome to my space. I am the content creator and photographer here. I love cooking and all the recipes on the site are tried and tested in my kitchen.

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