This Andhra style pappu recipe is a simple, yet delicious dish with loads of vitamin and minerals as both lentil and spinach join together in this recipe. It can be prepared as a one pot dish in pressure cooker itself to make our work easier. But I cooked the dal and palak separately, if cooked together palak gets overcooked and all the nutrients will be lost. Once I tasted this palakura pappu recipe in MGM Grand restaurant in SriKalahasti, Andhra Pradesh. It was so yummy, after that I have referred and tried so many methods for this pappu, but I could not touch the exact taste of it. I think they have some special ingredients or it comes naturally by their experience. But this is a keeper recipe for me and not only for rice, it goes well with chapathi, roti too….
Palakura Pappu Recipe
Andhra Style Pappu Recipe | Palakura Pappu Recipe
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian / Andhra cuisine | Recipe Category: Lunch Sidedish
Preparation + Cooking Time : 35 Mins | Serves : 2 to 3
- Palak / Spinach – 1 Full Bunch
- Toor Dal – 1/4 cup
- Onion – 1
- Green chilli – 2 to 3
- Tamarind – 1 Small Gooseberry Sized
- Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
- Sugar – 1 pinch
- Salt – As Required
- Oil / Ghee – 1/2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Urad Dal – 1/2 tsp
- Jeera / Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
- Red Chilli – 2
- Garlic – 5 to 6 Pods
- Hing – 1 Generous Pinch
- Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
1. First get ready with the ingredients. Soak tamarind in hot water for 15 minutes, extract tamarind water and discard the pulp. Chop onion, garlic and slit green chilli. Pluck the leaves separately from the stem, rinse well for 2 to 3 times and chop it finely.
2. Rinse toor dal well and pressure cook with 1 cup of water for 3 to 4 whistles. Once the pressure subsides by itself, mash the dal well and keep the dal water separately in another bowl.In a heavy bottomed pan ,add mashed dal and palak.
3. Now pour dal water,add onion, chilli, turmeric powder, salt and sugar.
4. Once the palak is half cooked, pour tamarind water. Cover and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, till the palak turns soft. Stir in between for even cooking.
5. Mash the palak and dal, but don’t make it into a paste. Heat oil / ghee in a small pan, once it is hot enough add mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, red chilli and curry leaves.
6. Then add chopped garlic ,once it turns little brown ,sprinkle hing and switch off flame.Now pour the tempered ingredients over the pappu and mix everything well.
Serve this palakura pappu with hot rice and any poriyal or papad.
Andhra Style Pappu Recipe
1. Adjust both the chilli’s as per spiciness preferred for this Andhra style pappu recipe.
2. For variation toor dal can be replaced with moong dal, masoor dal too. Also combination of dal’s can also be used.
3. Always mash the dal well, else the spinach and dal separates and looks watery.
4. You can do the whole process in pressure cooker itself, but spinach gets overcooked and nutrients will be lost. So I cooked dal and spinach separately.
5. Addition of sugar helps to retain the green colour of the palak.
6. Tamarind water can be subsituted with 1 tbsp of lemon juice.
7. Tempering in ghee lends a wonderful flavour to this palakura pappu recipe.
8. Use curd chilli / mor milagai for tempering which adds nice flavour. But I used regular chilli only.
9. This pappu stays good for 2 days under refrigeration, as we don’t use coconut in this recipe.
10. Palak can be replaced with ridge gourd, tomato, gongura, methi leaves yellow cucumber and even mango.
Palakura Pappu Recipe
