Payatham Paruppu Masial ~ for CCC#56 July Week 4

July 29, 2018 at 7:34 pm · Filed under birds, Cooking, garden, home, indian cuisine, Michigan, wildlife

Payatham Paruppu Masial ~ Saturday evening snack

Hello friends! This is part of July Week 4 Cooking From Cookbook Challenge Group.

After last week’s struggle to choose one recipe from too many cookbooks, I started looking early this week. The result? I recalled all the books I’ve rediscovered over the past month — and I had no trouble choosing something! I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learned here. For me this has been a great exercise in both spontaneity and discipline (the former I have to a great degree — the latter I sorely lack!). Mostly I appreciated the fun of cozying up with a good cookbook evenings! Thank you, Srivalli, for the chance to participate and I hope you keep the CCC Challenge going 🙂

Dakshin ~ by Chandra Padmanabhan

I’ve had this book for years — mostly I enjoyed the photos and marveled at the sambhar recipes — some of which call for a *teaspoon*?!?! of toor dal. Someday I’ll try one one of those but I couldn’t bring myself to boil a teaspoon or two of dal in the hot summer kitchen. Instead I chose a quick recipe for a lazy Saturday night. I love the fragrance of fresh moong dal and this simple yet delicious recipe showcases it well. I made a few changes — added fresh brinjal from the garden and switched up the tadka process — but I was very happy with the end result. I now have work lunch for the week!

fresh from the garden ~ brinjal, jalafuego peppers, and baby cilantro
(the summer squash went elsewhere!)

Payatham Paruppu Masial (Mashed Green Gram Dal)
From Dakshin – Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan

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For the dal:

1 c green gram dal (split moong)
3 c water
Juice from lemon-sized tamarind
6 green chiles, slit (I used 1 giant jalafuego)
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
chopped fresh cilantro

Fresh brinjal, chopped small (my addition)

To temper:

2 tsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seed
1 red chile
1/2 tsp hing (I used garlic instead, and plenty of it)
few curry leaves (I am out of fresh, so used some curry leaves powder above)

Wash and drain the dal. In a heavy pan, add dal and water and bring to a boil. Turn heat down, cover halfway, and simmer gently 1 1/2 hrs, stirring from time to time (I added chopped brinjal in the last 30 minutes). When cooked, remove from the heat and set aside. Do not drain.

adding the brinjal to creamy moong dal

Heat the ghee and add the tempering. When mustard splutters, add green chiles, tamarind juice, turmeric, curry leaves, and salt. Simmer until raw smell of tamarind disappears*. Now add undrained, cooked dal. Simmer until blended.

doing the tadka in my new tiny blue tadka pan!

Garnish with cilantro and serve, hot or warm, with rice or roti.

*I put the slit green jalafuego chile, tamarind water and salt into the dal the last 30 minutes, along with curry leaves powder. In my tadka I had mustard seed, red chiles, and chopped garlic only.

It’s finished! (and a bit messy)

So there you have it, quick and easy mashed moong dal from Dakshin. Makes me want to cook the whole book!

Tomatoes and brinjal, with korean squash climbing the trellis!

cute little juvenile downy woodpecker ~ they have a red cap when young 🙂

Happy Sunday!

 

 

 

 

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