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Meghna’s Tomato Pappu

This is a thick, flavorful dal with a tart kick from tamarind. Eat it with pulau or plain basmati rice, and perhaps an additional protein like Indian Omelets or Chicken 65 (recipes for both on this site).
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
CourseEntree, Main Course, Vegetables
CuisineIndian, south indian
KeywordDal, pappu, tamarind, Tomato
Servings8 people

Equipment

  • A large pressure cooker, makes quick cooking of the dal
  • Food processor to finely dice the tomatoes if you have it, but I prefer to do by hand.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup yellow dal
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 1/2 tbsp salt, divided
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 cups tomatoes, finely diced about 6
  • 1 inch cube of tamarind pulp, reconstituted in hot water
  • 5 tbsp ghee or sunflower oil, or salted butter…. but ghee is the best
  • 3 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1.5 cups onions, finely diced about 1 large
  • 20 curry leaves at least :)

Instructions

  • Chop the tomatoes and keep aside (or wait until dal is cooking if you are using the food processor).
  • Boil some water to reconstitute the tamarind, pressing it with a fork to break it up in the hot water, and microwaving it to continue to soften and make a paste. Keep aside.
  • Put dal, turmeric, 1/2 tsp salt and 4 cups of water in a large pressure cooker, and when it reaches pressure, cook for 8 minutes and release using the quick release method.
  • While dal is cooking, chop onions and prepare spices and curry leaves.
  • By now the dal is likely done so when pressure is released, remove the cover, set heat back to medium, and add the tomatoes, and remaining salt. Stir to combine. Add the tamarind by pouring and pushing it through a fine mesh sieve. Add more boiling water if further reconstituting is needed, but don't add it until you taste later.
    Let it all cook for some time, stirring every so often and scraping the sides and bottom to ensure nothing sticks (and add water if needed).
  • While the tomatoes cook into the dal, heat ghee in a fry pan over medium heat, and when hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to sputter/pop, add the onions. Stir to combine, and cook until onions begin to become translucent, then add the curry leaves. Continue to fry until onions brown slightly. Turn off the heat and keep aside until the dal/tomato is ready.
  • When tomatoes have cooked into the dal, add the onion mixture to it and stir to combine. Continue cooking at medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Then turn the heat down to low and continue to cook a bit until the desired consistency (see note below), at least another 15 minutes to really meld the flavor.
    Taste it and adjust tamarind and salt accordingly.
    Cooked in the afternoon and kept warm in the pressure cooker, you'll barely need to reheat it for dinner. Or, even better, let it cool and pack it up into the fridge or freezer for another day.

Notes

  • Both in typical Indian homes and in restaurants, dal will typically be the consistency of a thick soup that can get soaked into rice a bit. We prefer ours a bit thicker. Not so thick that it would be like a dollop on the plate, but it also wouldn't be sloshing around the plate.
  • Lately, my husband will taste the dal and say "you put a lot of tamarind… add a tiny bit of salt…. Actually, it's good,"  which just may be his way of coming around to my version of his mom's tomato pappu.  ;-)  It's one of my fave foods, but this recipe is decidedly my version.
  • The recipes I've based this on often recommend not to cook the dal too long… that seeing the chunks of dal adds flavor. We disagree and like it to be more on the mushy, blended side. Similarly, like a tarka flavoring, some recipes will call for minimal additional cooking after the onion mixture has been added.  We like the flavors to meld, and even get towards the "it's even better the second day" phenomenon.
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