Tomatillo Dhal | Pachathakkali pappu/paruppu

Sometimes all you need is comfort food. Not something exotic but something simple and home cooked like curd rice with potato roast or dhal with rice and pickle for the side. One mouthful and you will be transported to your childhood days. Days when you waited impatiently for dinner after playing for hours in the grounds and amma served you pappu saadam mixed with her own hands with dollops of ghee. This dhal is something like that. Comfort food but with a twist. It is just a variation of our regular paruppu using tomatillos. The addition of tomatillo gives it a nice tang which will leave you craving for another mouthful.

~*What U Need*~ Moong dhal - 1/4 cup Toor dhal - 1/4 cup Tomatillo - 3 Tomato - 1/2 cubed Garlic - 2 cloves Green chilli - 1 Turmeric powder - a pinch To Temper Oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp Hing - a big pinch Curry leaves - 1 sprig Dry red chilli - 1 Shallots - 5-6, sliced How I Made it: Remove the outer covering from tomatillos, wash and chop; Set aside. Wash dal and take it in a pressure cooker, add chopped tomatillos, tomatoes, garlic, green chilli, turmeric powder and enough water and pressure cook for 3 whistles or till done. Allow the pressure to release and open the lid and mash it slightly. Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add cumin seeds and allow to brown. Add curry leaves, dry red chilli, hing and sliced onions and fry well. Add this tempering to the paruppu.

Serve with rice or rotis.

So thats it Folks...
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Pachathakkali Paruppu Kootu | Tomatillo Kootu | Easy Dhal Recipes

Back in Chennai, we had a garden.. okay not specifically a garden, we had a piece of land in front of our house (BTW that didnot belong to us, it was my BILs) and we used that to dump our organic waste. After few months we saw few plants growing here and there and amma took the pain to investigate it. We found some tomato plants, a few ivy gourd, okra and bittergourd plants, thanks to the organic waste that we had dumped in. The seeds had sprouted, matured and grown into plants. We had an occasional supply of freshly grown veggies and of them tomatoes were in abundance.

Amma used to pick the tomatoes in their green stage itself and make this paruppu for our lunch and even for our chapathis. I have never eaten tomatoes in their raw form, infact I have never even seen them in the market and this paruppu sounded simple and interesting. We had it with white rice with a dollop of homemade ghee and it was perfect. We had it with chapathis and it was perfect too. This weekend when I went to the local market, I found some tomatillos in the market (btw I found that tomatillos are entirely different from raw tomatoes) and I instantly grabbed with this simple paruppu in mind.

~*What U Need*~ Pachaithakkali/Tomatillo - 2 nos, large Thuvaram paruppu - 1/2 cup Garlic cloves - 2 nos Turmeric powder - a pinch Hing powder - a pinch Green chilli - 1, slit To temper: Small onions - 10 Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Dry red chillies - 1 Curry leaves - 1 sprig Oil Salt To grind: Jeera - 1 tsp Coconut - 2 tbsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig How I Made it: Grind jeera, coconut and curry leaves to a smooth paste. In a pressure cooker, cook dhal with garlic, hing, turmeric, chilli and salt for 3 whistles. In a pan, heat oil and temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilli. Chop the onions and saute till golden brown. Add the chopped tomatillo and fry till cooked. Add the cooked dal, required amount of water and bring it to a boil. Add the coconut mixture and cook till the raw smell goes off. Remove from flame.

Serve hot with white rice with ghee or with chapathis!!!

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Dhal Curry | Dhal Tadka | Ketti Paruppu

Dhal, sambhar, rasam ~ name any traditional South Indian recipe, it is comfort food. Simple, pure comfort food at its best. That might be the reason why I never bothered to click step by step recipes for the same... Every south Indian knows how to make the perfect sambar, the perfect rasam or the perfect paruppu. In fact the recipe is etched in their minds and they need no reference. Every family has their very own recipe, passing it over to the next generation and every girl follows her amma's recipe to the 'T' when she first enters the kitchen. I am no exception... My 32-page hand written amma's cookbook is my handy note when it comes to traditional south Indian recipes. This recipe is from that prized cookbook, my amma's recipe ~ one which everyone in the family loves.

Posting such easy South Indian curries never struck a cord in me until I got a request from a bachelor reader for basic recipes. Browsing through my recipe index, there was no hint of such basics and so I have decided to fill the gap. Also my huss has been asking me to post a step by step post for his favorite ketti paruppu and that added to the reason. On that note, believe me, let a man on his own for some months and he becomes a good cook, atleast he tries to. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my better other half would take to cooking, let alone ask recipes from me.

~*What U Need*~ Toor dhal/Thuvaram paruppu - 1 cup Garlic cloves - 3 to 4 Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Hing powder - a pinch Salt For the tempering: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp Red chilli - 2 Curry leaves - 1 sprig Oil Onion - 1/2, finely chopped Tomato - 1/2, finely chopped Turmeric powder - a pinch Water - as desired

How I Made it:
Clean the toor dhal and pressure cook with garlic cloves, turmeric, hing, salt and water for 3 whistles. Allow the pressure to release and mash it (there should be some whole paruppu).

Heat oil in a kadai, add the mustard seeds, when spluttered, add urad dhal, split red chilli, curry leaves and fry till the dhal turns brown. Add the onions and saute. When done, add the tomatoes and fry well. Add a pinch of turmeric powder.

Add the mashed paruppu, add water to bring to desired consistency. Mix well and allow to boil. Season with salt and remove from flame.

Serve warm with white rice with a dollop of ghee (fresh ghee is the best).

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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