In addition to Cottage Cheese Pakoras and Bendakaya, one of my favorite Indian dishes is Pappu Charu, an absolutely wonderful lentil and vegetable stew. During a not-so-recent trip home, my mother finally taught me how to make pappu charu, but of course it took me several months to work up the courage to actually try it myself (even my mother has admitted messing up pappu charu from time to time). I am definitely happy that I finally got over this insecurity, particularly because I was able to declare my first charu adventure a success! The winter months are certainly looking much more appealing with more hot pappu charu to keep me warm and satisfied! The recipe details follow the picture of a steaming serving of pappu charu, served over white rice.
Ingredients (for approximately 4 servings)
- 1/2 cup toor dal (available in any Indian store), well rinsed through
- 1 cup baby carrots, halved
- 2 serrano peppers, coarsely chopped (adjust hot peppers to taste)
- 1/2 - 3/4 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 white radish, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 tomato, coarsely chopped (into approx. 8 large pieces)
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. tamarind concentrate paste (available in any Indian store)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
- 3 dried red chili peppers (available in any Indian store)
- 2 curry leaves (available in any Indian store)
- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- Pinch of hing (also known as asafoetida, available in any Indian store) (optional)
- Vegetable oil
- Salt
Directions
- Combine toor dal and 1 cup water in a medium pot, and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
- When mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to a lower simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes, and stir occasionally.
- As dal is cooking, place carrots, hot peppers, onion, and radish in a microwave safe bowl with a few tablespoons of water. Cover and place in the microwave for 4 minutes (until vegetables are tender, and approx. 3/4 cooked through).
- Add 1/2 cup water and 1/8 tsp. salt to the dal, stir, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes until tender. Once dal is tender, turn off heat and lightly mash dal in pot with any thicker spatula (non-metal as to not scrape the pan) or masher.
- Place vegetables, including the water that they were microwaved with, into the dal pot, and add tomato as well. Bring heat to medium to bring mixture to a boil again.
- Once mixture reaches a boil, add tamarind paste, starting with 1/4 tsp. Taste the mixture after adding the first 1/4 tsp. to ensure that the charu isn't getting too sweet. Continue adding until the desired taste is reached, being careful not to use too much tamarind concentrate. Continue a light boil for 5 additional minutes, and add water as necessary to ensure a stew or soup-like consistency (whatever your preference). Add cilantro for the last few minutes of cooking.
- At the same time, in a small saucepan, heat 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil heats up, add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add cumin, curry leaves, and hing, turning off heat and stirring in the chili peppers, chili powder and garlic for another minute.
- Pour contents of the saucepan into the charu, and stir. Add salt to taste, starting with 1/2 tsp. Turn off heat.
I recommend serving the pappu charu as a compliment to any Indian meal, or on its own as a light meal with some cooked rice.
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