Tamata Pappu

Bowl of rice and tomato pappu in the forefront and a bowl of pappu in the background.

Tamata pappu is one of the basic dal prepared with toor dal and tomatoes. It is easy to cook and a go to recipe for quick meal fixes. Goes well with both rice and roties.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Andhra Cuisine, Indian, Telangana Cuisine, Telugu Cuisine

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Pressure Release 10

Servings

Calories 128kcal

Author Usha Rao

Equipment

1 Pressure Cooker
1 Potato masher or Spoon to mash dal
1 Cutting Board and Knife
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Saucepan or Frying Pan

Ingredients

Pre-Cook Dal

¼ cup Toor Dal
¼ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
Few drops of Oil
1 cup Water

Tamata Pappu

2 tablespoons Oil
¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
¼ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
5 Curry Leaves
1 small Onion sliced or diced
3 small Green Chilies cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon crushed Garlic Cloves
½ teaspoon Coriander Powder
¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
¼ teaspoon Chili Powder optional
¾ - 1 teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
1 large Vine Ripe Tomatoes diced (about 1 cup)
Cooked Toor Dal
1 cup Water
Coriander Leaves ~ Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

Pre-cook Dal

Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker, either on stovetop or using an electric pressure cooker. You can also cook toor dal in a pot on the stove top, which is time consuming.
Wash toor dal. If you have time, soak for 30-60 minutes.
Take all the ingredients listed under 'pre-cook dal' to a pressure cooker. Cook until dal is soft. In my stovetop pressure cooker it takes 7 whistles and then 5 minutes on low. In Instant Pot, it is 10 minutes on manual.
Let pressure release naturally, open the lid and mash the dal.
You pre-cook dal beforehand and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for few months.

Tamata Pappu

Heat oil in a saucepan or a saute pan, add mustard seeds and let the seeds splutter. Then add cumins seeds.
Saute green chilies, curry leaves in the same oil until curry leaves wither.
Saute onions until soft.
Add crushed garlic and saute for a few seconds.
Now add the spices; coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder (opt), salt and mix well. Roast for a few seconds.
Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are just soft but not mushy.
Add cooked dal and cook for a minute or two until spices blend in.
Add water to desired consistency, bring to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes until tomatoes are soft and blend into the dal. Dal should not be very thick and at the same time, not very watery either.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Add chopped cilantro / coriander leaves and turn off the fire.
Serve hot with roti or rice.

Notes

Cooking Time - of kandi pappu or toor dal could vary depending on the quality of pappu. It usually takes 8 minutes but this current batch takes 10 - 12 minutes. Soaking the dal for 30 minutes really helps.
Variation to Pre-Cooking Dal - you can cook dal along with tomatoes, few curry leaves, some of the garlic and few coriander leaves. Though curry leaves, garlic and coriander leaves are added when pre-cookings, these are added again when preparing tamata pappu.
One Pot Dish - I like preparing dal in two steps, pre-cook lentils and then preparing tomato dal. If one wishes to make it a one pot dish, skip pre-cook dal step. Prepare the tempering, roast tomatoes and uncooked dal for a minute, add water and pressure cook until dal is soft. Once pressure releases naturally, check consistency of the dal, add more water if required, bring to boil, boil for a few minutes, remove from fire and garnish with cilantro. In this method of preparation, if using chili powder, add after pressure cooking the dal.
Moong Dal - I used toor dal but moong dal can also be used. If using moong dal, use only green chilies for heat and no chili powder. You can use red chilies in tadka / tempering but I personally don't like red chiles. Even if I do use, I discard the chilies as soon as the dal is cooked.
Consistency of Pappu - We prefer thinner and flowing consistency pappu and hence used about 1 cup of water to dilute the pappu. My version is more like thick pappu charu. Use less water for a thick consistency pappu.

Nutrition