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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Genasugadda Pulusu

Genasugadda Theeyati Pulusu ~ A Sweet & Spicy Sweet Potato - Lentil Stew

I was surprised to notice that this one is going to be my first pulusu post here considering the fact that I grew up eating pulusu / pappus on a daily basis. To this day, my mother and her siblings prepare either a sweet - tangy pulusu / pappu in their kitchens but never a sambhar. This may be surprising to many South Indians but there are many Brahmin families (especially in the coastal Andhra regions) where sambhar never makes an appearance at their dining tables. Naturally, I was (and still am) not fond of sambhar and did not start to prepare it until M (who is used to sambhar from childhood) kept insisting for it.
Like a sambhar, Andhra pulusu is prepared using toor dal and a vegetable / a mixture of vegetables. Depending upon one's preference, the consistency of a pulusu can be anywhere between a sambhar and a rasam. The main difference between these two stews is that sambhar uses sambhar powder, the signature spice mix while the pulusu doesn't need anything of that sort. The sweet, tangy flavors should balance and sometimes for the uninitiated palates, pulusus can come across as sweeter.
For today's post, I have used the sweet potato to prepare a tangy - sweet pulusu.

Ingredients: (4 servings)
1/2 cup toordal
1 cup sweet potato cubes (chopped and cubed)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chili powder
Salt to taste
1 small lime sized tamarind (soaked in water and juice squeezed)
1 Tbsp powdered jaggery (less or more quantity depends upon preference)
For tadka: 2 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves

Method:
* Wash the toor dal. Cook the dal along with the vegetable and turmeric powder adding about a cup of water in a pressure cooker, until softly done. If your pressure cooker takes longer to cook the dal, then the sweet potato may be cooked separately until tender either on stovetop or in a microwave. 
* When the valve pressure is gone, remove the dal container; gently mash the dal with the backside of the ladle and keep aside.
* Heat the oil in a kadai / deep pan and add the tadka ingredients. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cooked dal, sweet potato, tamarind juice, jaggery, salt and chili powder. Add water to reach the desired consistency and check the taste and adjust the quantities of ingredients if needed. All the flavors should shine in this recipe unlike sambhar. Bring to a rolling boil and lower the heat. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes more and turn off the stove.
Serve with hot rice and koora, a vegetable side dish.


Check out the other marathoners participating in BM#5
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree , Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Harini, Me , PJ and Vaishali
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Today's post is going to be a part of the event I am guest hosting this month, Cooking with Wholefoods - Toordal / Pigeon Peas, originally started by Kiran.



Comments

14 comments:

Aarthi said...

yummy

harini-jaya said...

Good one. We are not used to pulusus of these kind. But after my sister got married into an Andhra household, she learnt all these different pulusus. Thats when I came to know these :)

Sravs said...

Nice recipe !! looks so delicious and yummy !!

Srivalli said...

So interesting, I have never personally made this, though heard about it..looks good

Deepthi KR said...

delightful presentation :)
i'm ready with rice....

DeepthiDigvijay
Good Food Recipes
Coffe With Me Deepthi

Hari Chandana P said...

Wowww... Na sister ki chala istam ee pulusu.. Mee photos chala bagunnayi chudagane noroorela :)

kitchen queen said...

delicious recipe

Reva said...

That is an awesome preparation and the presentation is too good:)
Reva

Priya Suresh said...

Never made pulusu with sweet potatoes, looks delicious and yummy..

Jayashree said...

Have heard quite a bit about Andhra pulusu.....looks good.

Kaveri Venkatesh said...

Pulusu looks very yummy....

jayasree said...

Interesting recipe with sweet potatoes. I have always used sweet potatoes in side dishes and not in a gravy.

Unknown said...

I always ask mom to make pulusu when I am there as I somehow never tried it at home. We never add dal to our pulusu. Yours looks awesome :)

Usha said...

We don't make sambar at all but we do mkae pappu charu on a regular basis though. I don't make pulusu very often as my husband is not very fond of tangy gravies.

Pulusu looks great!