Tomato dal recipe or andhra pappu recipe

Andhra-style pappu or tomato dal is a very easy and nutritious recipe perfect for everyday lunch and lunch box. It is made using tuvar (toor) dal or kandi pappu that is packed with protein and is very filling as well.

In my house, this is the basic recipe that we make again and again with rice. Every month I buy toor dal and stack it up for use all through the month. My mom used to pack some kind of dal for my lunch and I grew up eating dal atleast 5 times a day. And now, I pack dal for my husband daily. I make sure this protein-packed toor dal is taken as often as possible because for vegetarians, protein comes mainly from dal or lentils.

I haven’t yet shared many dal recipes because I usually pack it for lunch and so I don’t find time to picture it. Today, I took some time specially to share this recipe and will try to share more further.

As I mentioned above, vegetarians get their protein from lentils, soy, paneer and cheese. It is very important to take some kind of protein daily along with carbs and fat, so make sure you purchase some of these lovely ingredients for your monthly groceries.

I have already shared many of my protein rich recipes like tofu nuggets, breakfast muffins, lentil dosa (adai), chickpea dosa, palak pulao, palak paratha, palak kofta.

Serves: 2

Cooking time: 15 mins

For more recipes using dal, do check my healthy pappu charu, sambar, bisibele bath, moong dal halwa.

Ingredients:

Toor dal or kandipappu – 3 handfuls or ½ cup

Tomato – 1, small (roughly chopped)

Green chili – 2 (slit lengthwise)

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves – 1 tsp (very finely chopped, optional)

Oil – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

For tadka or seasoning:

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds/jeera -1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 5

Asafoetida/hing – ¼ tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Procedure:

Cook the dal in 1 cup water till it completely gets mashed. The best way to do this is to cook it in a pressure cooker. Set aside.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai or saucepan and add the tomato, green chili, turmeric and salt. Simmer for about 5 minutes till tomato is cooked.
Add the cooked dal, adjust the salt and simmer for another 2 minutes.
In a separate pan, prepare tadka by heating 1 tsp oil. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves and hing and pour this into the simmering dal.
Give a good mix, add the coriander leaves (optional) and remove from heat.
It is ready to be served !!

Notes:

You can also dry roast the toor dal before cooking it. This will taste slightly different from the regular one.
For easier version, add the tomato, chili and turmeric to the dal before pressure cooking it. Once done, just add the seasoning and it is ready.

Serve tomato dal with rice and a little amount of ghee. A dry curry like aloo jeera, arbi roast goes perfect with this recipe. Roti and papad along with curd and pickle makes this a complete meal 🙂