Paayalaku - Tomato pappu

I spotted paayalaku at one of the grocery stores when I visited Devon Avenue recently. Prior to this, I had seen them only once at our local grocery store and so, I grabbed these edible weeds instantly. This time, I cooked a slightly different version of dal than my earlier paayalaku pappu. These healthy greens are paired with tangy tomatoes in this home-style spicy, delectable dal.

Ingredients:
1 cup toordal
A bunch of paayalaku / vergodalas / purslane leaves - about 2 cups firmly packed, washed & chopped leaves
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
8 chilies, slit lengthwise (I used tiny, Thai variety) + 1 tsp chili powder*
Salt to taste
Small lime sized tamarind (soaked in water or nuked in a microwave along with 1/4 cup of water for about 3 minutes)
Tadka: 2 tsp oil, 1 tsp each mustard seeds and cumin seeds each, asafoetida and few curry leaves
* Only chili powder / green chilis can be used.

Cooking:

• Wash toordal in two exchanges of water. Add toordal, purslane leaves, tomato, turmeric powder, chilis and about 2 cups of water to a container and place it in a pressure cooker. Pressure cook till dal is done. Alternatively, add everything to a saucepan and cook on stovetop till dal reaches fall apart stage. Keep adding water as needed.
• Squeeze the tamarind pulp and extract the thick juice.
• Heat oil in a kadai or a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When mustard seeds start to splutter, add curry leaves and asafoetida. Then add the cooked dal mixture, salt, chili powder and tamarind juice. Taste and adjust the ingredients as needed. Bring the dal / pappu to a boil and turn down the heat. Let it simmer for a few minutes more and turn off the heat.

Serve with hot rice / rotis.



This is on it's way to Susan's MLLA - 25th edition being hosted by Siri this month.

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