Pigeon pea, i.e., yellow pigeon pea, is available either plain or oily. It is called toor dal in Hindi. It is called thuvaram paruppu in Tamil Nadu, thuvara parippu in Kerala and is the main ingredient for the dish sambar. In Karnataka, it is called togari bele and is an important ingredient in bisi bele bath. It is called kandi pappu in Telugu and is used in the preparation of a staple dish pappu charu. It is also known as arhar dal in northern India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal#Common_ingredients
Pappu charu is a South Indian lentil soup. Charu is another word for rasam, a type of soup or broth made with tamarind and spices, along with a wide variety of other ingredients that define what kind of rasam it is. See my tomato rasam recipe from a few weeks back for more information about rasam in general.
Another recent recipe was sambar, another type of dal soup containing tamarind and spices. So what’s the difference between pappu charu and sambar? Firstly, sambar has its own special spice blend. It’s also quite a bit thicker than rasam and usually contains more vegetables. Pappu charu tends to be plainer, with just a few spices and is often made with no vegetables beyond onion and tomato.
For this recipe, I chose to add the tomato and green chilies to the pressure cooker with the dal. At least one of the recipes I looked at to make this recipe follows that method, but I think if I ever revisit this recipe I will try sautéing them with the onion instead. As written I thought the charu lacked the depth of flavor that I was expecting, and I think that allowing those ingredients to interact with hot oil might change that. Or it could be that after the last few posts where I made special spice blends containing many different spices, a dish with only a few seemed plain and boring. I actually postponed writing this post for several days while I hemmed and hawed about whether I should retest the recipe with a different method. In the end, I decided that most of my other recent dal recipes have used the sauté method, so sharing another way of doing things was ok. (I also wasn’t super excited about eating this dish again immediately, even if changing the method made a difference.)
Most of the unusual ingredients in this recipe are available from Amazon (links in the recipe). The one ingredient I can’t find on Amazon is moringa pods, aka “drumsticks”. I purchased a couple bags of frozen pods from DeepFoods* a few months ago when I made sambar. (You can read more about drumsticks on the sambar post.)
Pappu charu is most often served with rice and a vegetable stir fry to round out the meal. I had several bunches of asparagus dying in the refrigerator, and an abundance of potatoes to work with, so I made “aloo asparagus”; It’s probably not a very traditional combination, but it was tasty. (I based my off-the-cuff creation off the recipe found at https://pipingpotcurry.com/indian-asparagus-stir-fry/)
Pappu Charu
Serves: 4
Prep: ~15 minutes
Cook: ~40 minutes
Total: ~1:00
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5 teaspoons tamarind paste
½ cup boiling water
¾ cup toor dal
1 ½ cups water
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ teaspoon turmeric
1 ½ teaspoons oil
2-3 green chilies, chopped
5-6 curry leaves
1 large tomato, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 Tablespoon oil
¾ teaspoon mustard seed
⅔ teaspoon cumin seed
⅛ teaspoon fenugreek seed
⅛ teaspoon asafoetida
1-2 dried red chilies
1 medium onion, sliced thin
OR
15 small shallots or pearl onions, peeled
12 ea 2” pieces of drumstick pods
⅞ teaspoon red chili powder
⅞ teaspoon coriander powder
2 ¼ cups water
1 ¾ teaspoons jaggery
5 sprigs cilantro, torn
Optional:
2 Tablespoons ghee, in place of oil for sautéing
¾ teaspoon chana dal, sautéd with spices
⅔ teaspoon salt, in the sauté
5-6 curry leaves, in the saute
Pour ½ cup boiling water over tamarind and let soak for 30 minutes. Squeeze tamarind to extract pulp. Strain and discard the solids. Reserve liquid.
Wash the dal in several changes of cool water. Place in a pressure cooker with 1 ½ cups water, salt, turmeric, 1 ½ teaspoons oil, green chilies, curry leaves, tomato, and garlic. Seal the pressure cooker, bring to pressure, and cook for about 9 minutes. Let pressure reduce naturally, then open the pressure cooker and mash the dal well with a wooden spoon.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pot. Add mustard seed, cumin seed, and fenugreek seed. Sauté until the seeds sputter, then add the asafoetida and red chilies. Cook for about 1 minute, then add the onion. Sauté until golden brown. Add drumsticks, chili powder, and coriander powder. Mix well. Add 2 ¼ cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until drumsticks are tender, 10-15 minutes.
Stir in the cooked dal and the tamarind liquid. Add additional water if necessary to reach a thin but not watery consistency. Simmer for 5-10 minutes for flavors to come together.
Add jaggery and cilantro and mix well. Taste for seasoning.
Serve with hot rice and a dollop of ghee.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
I receive no compensation for mentioning any other websites or product.
Lorin cooks Legumes 