Tomato Pappu Recipe – Andhra Style Tomato Dal Recipe

What is Tomato Pappu?

Tomato Pappu is a traditional lentil-based dish from Andhra Pradesh and it is a staple side dish in every home.  “Pappu” means Dal or lentils in the Telugu language. This recipe is a Telugu brahmin style Pappu that requires no onion and no garlic. We need just a handful of ingredients to prepare this flavorful Andhra pappu.

Can I add onion and garlic to it?

You can! just add chopped onion to the pressure cooker and cook it along with lentils and tomatoes or you can saute them with a spoon of oil and add them to the prepared dish.

If you love garlic flavor, chop or crush 1-2 garlic pods and add them in the seasoning / popu / tadka. Make sure not to burn them.

Which lentils are best for this recipe?

Traditionally, we use split pigeon peas also known as toor daal and kandipappu. It is equally delicious with red lentils or masoor dal.

It is vegan?

Yes, it is a naturally vegan-friendly dish. Just skip adding ghee or clarified butter on top while serving.

Tips to make the best Tomato Pappu:

• Do not use more water than required. The consistency of the Pappu should not be like sambar or soup.
• If you are using sour tomatoes, you will need less tamarind. Adjust accordingly.
• Simmer the dal and tamarind extract together at least for 5 minutes to get rid of the rawness of the tamarind.
• Do not skip adding coriander leaves, curry leaves and hing, they give the real flavor to the dal.
• Always add hing at the end in the tadka or seasoning to prevent it from burning.
• Red chilli powder will give a nice color. If you love green chillies, skip chilli powder and add more green chillies.

Variations:

with onion and garlic: Adding onion and garlic or only onion will create a completely new dish with different flavors.

cooking tomatoes separately: I have pressure cooked the tomatoes along with lentils in this recipe. But you can also saute them separately with a little bit of oil until they are mushy and mix it with cooked lentils.

substituting tamarind: If you don’t have tamarind or tamarind paste in hand, you can replace it with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice. However, you don’t need to cook the lemon juice. Squeeze some lemon juice after turning off the flame. Lemon juice will reduce the shelflife though.

How long will it keep in the fridge?

It stays fresh in the fridge for 2 days.

Can I freeze tomato dal?

The answer is YES!

Transfer it to an airtight or freezer-safe container immediately after cooling down the dal. Freeze immediately for a couple of months.

Step by step preparation:

• Wash and chop the tomatoes. Rinse the lentils.
• Combine the chopped tomatoes, lentils, slit green chillies, turmeric powder and one cup water in a pressure cooker. If you want to add onion, you can add it at this stage.

• Pressure cook for 3 whistles. Remove from the flame and wait until the pressure goes off.
• Soak the tamarind in water for 10 minutes. Squeeze the extract out of it and set aside.

• Add the tamarind extract, salt and red chilli powder to the cooked lentil-tomato mixture. Add water to adjust the consistency.
• Mix everything well and simmer for 5 minutes.

• When it is done, add chopped coriander leaves and mix well.
• Turn off the flame and keep it aside.

• Heat oil in a pan for seasoning. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and cumin seeds and let them splutter. When they are golden brown, add red chilli, curry leaves and hing and saute for a couple of seconds.
• Turn off the flame and pour the tempered ingredients over the prepared dal.

• Combine well and serve hot with rice or roti.

Few More Dal Recipes on the blog:

• Chintakaya Pappu
• Gujarati Dal
• Moong Dal Tadka
• Lemon Onion Dal
• Pumpkin Dal
• Ash Gourd Dal
• Cabbage Moong Dal Tadka
• Dal Chenchki
• Gongura Pappu
• Dosakaya Pappu

How to make Andhra Tomato Pappu recipe video below: