Tomato pappu is an incredibly delicious Andhra-style dal recipe made with toor dal, tomatoes, onion, curry leaves, and a few spices. This tomato dal makes a healthy, comforting, everyday-style meal when served with a drizzle of ghee along with plain rice and a side of veggies or pickle (avakaya).
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❤️ What Is Tomato Pappu?
- Pappu = Dal or Lentils. Pappu is a Telugu word for lentils. Here we are using toor dal.
- Tomato = We are using lots of tomatoes to make this Andhra pappu, hence the name has work tomato.
Lentil preparations (dal recipes) are the staple food in every household in Andhra Pradesh (as well as every state in India). There are many variations in making different pappu recipes like adding veggies, leafy greens, etc. You’ll never get bored of having the same dal every day.
Taste: Medium spicy with a nice tangy flavor.
🧾 Ingredient Notes
You’ll need basic Indian pantry staples to make this tomato dal recipe.
- Toor dal (arhar dal): Traditionally toor dal (Kandi pappu) is used for making tomato pappu. But for the variation you can try with masoor dal or moong dal as well. If you have time and planned ahead, you can soak the dal in enough water for 30 minutes. It will reduce the pressure cooking time.
- Tomatoes: This is the ingredient that makes the dal tangy. We are using a good amount of tomatoes, so please use ripe tomatoes. If used unripe and sour tomatoes, the tomato dal will be too tangy.
- Onion: When it comes to Indian cooking, I prefer red onion.
- Ginger Garlic: You can use ready-made paste or freshly crushed or grated ginger garlic.
- Green chili: It adds a spicy taste. Adjust the amount as per your liking spice level.
- Curry leaves: It adds a nice aroma as well as flavor to the tomato pappu recipe.
- Spices: Only red chili powder and turmeric powder are required.
👩🍳 How To Make Tomato Pappu Recipe? (Pics)
1) Rinse toor dal under running cold water until the water runs clear. Alternatively, you can rinse the dal in a bowl with water 2-3 times or until the water is not cloudy anymore.
NOTE: If you have time then soak the dal for at least 30 minutes Or skip this step.
2) Take dal in a pressure cooker with fresh water and cook for 5-6 whistles on medium heat.
Instant pot: Manual 10 minutes.
Let the pressure go down by itself then open the lid and check, dal should be soft and mushy.
3) Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
4) Add onion and sprinkle a pinch of salt to speed up the cooking process.
5) Cook until onions are soft and light pink or translucent in color.
6) Add ginger, garlic paste, and slit green chili. Saute for around 1 minute or until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.
7) Add curry leaves and tomatoes.
8) Mix and cook until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
9, 10) Add turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix and cook for 1 minute.
11) Add cooked dal and water along with the remaining salt.
12) Mix and let it simmer for 6-7 minutes. Lastly, add chopped cilantro and tomato dal is ready to serve.
💭 Expert Tips For Tomato Dal Recipe
- Andhra pappu is usually on the thicker side. When you mix it with rice after that you’ll be able to make ladoo or balls out of it. This much thick this dal is supposed to be. But at home, we do not prefer that thick dal, so I kept it on a little thinner side. But you can adjust the consistency by adding or reducing the water quantity.
- Always use ripe tomatoes otherwise unripe, raw tomatoes make the dal super tangy.
- Adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the green chili and red chili powder amount.
- Scalable: You can double or triple this tomato pappu recipe as needed
🥣 Storage Instructions
- Tomato pappu can be stored for 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
- It stays good for up to 3 months in the freezer. I would freeze in individual servings (or family-size servings) and defrost as needed.
- To thaw, keep the container in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours.
- Reheat on the stovetop until hot. You may need to add a splash of water to adjust the consistency.
🍽 Serving Ideas For Tomato Pappu
- Serve tomato pappu in a bowl, drizzle a teaspoon of ghee on top. Serve with plain steamed rice and a side of avakaya (mango pickle), veggies, and papad to make a complete meal.
- You can have this tomato dal with roti or paratha but that’s not transitional to Andhra cuisine.
Check Out Other Dal Recipes
Did you try this tomato pappu recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
📋 Recipe Card
Tomato Pappu Recipe (Tomato Dal)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Arhar dal (toor dal or split pigeon peas)
- 3 cups Water
- 3 tablespoons Oil or Ghee
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 medium Red onion or 1 cup sliced
- 2 Green chilies slit
- 2 teaspoon Ginger paste or freshly grated or crushed
- 1 teaspoon Garlic paste or freshly grated
- 8-10 Curry leaves
- 3 medium Tomatoes ~ 2 ½ cups chopped, keep few for garnishing
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 cup Water
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro or coriander leaves chopped finely
Instructions
- Rinse toor dal under running cold water until the water runs clear. Alternatively, you can rinse the dal in a bowl with water 2-3 times or until the water is not cloudy anymore.
- NOTE: If you have time then soak the dal for at least 30 minutes Or skip this step.
- Take dal in a pressure cooker with fresh water and cook for 5-6 whistles on medium heat. Instant pot: Manual 10 minutes.
- Let the pressure go down by itself then open the lid and check, dal should be soft and mushy.
- Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
- Add onion and sprinkle a pinch of salt to speed up the cooking process. Cook until onions are soft and light pink or translucent in color.
- Add ginger, garlic paste, and slit green chili. Saute for around 1 minute or until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.
- Add curry leaves and tomatoes. Mix and cook until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
- Add turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix and cook for 1 minute.
- Add cooked dal and water along with the remaining salt.
- Mix and let it simmer for 6-7 minutes. Lastly, add chopped cilantro and tomato dal is ready to serve.
Notes
- Andhra pappu is usually on the thicker side. When you mix it with rice after that you’ll be able to make ladoo or balls out of it. This much thick this dal is supposed to be. But at home, we do not prefer that thick dal, so I kept it on a little thinner side. But you can adjust the consistency by adding or reducing the water quantity.
- Always use ripe tomatoes otherwise unripe, raw tomatoes make the dal super tangy.
- Adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the green chili and red chili powder amount.
Mirandamom
Thank you for helping me put our tomato harvest to a very good use!
Kanan Patel
you're welcome.