Telangana Palakura Pappu Spinach Lentil Dal

Method

1. 1

   Cook dal and spinach together: Wash toor dal. Combine with roughly chopped spinach, 3 cups water and turmeric in a pressure cooker.

2. 2

   Pressure cook: Cook on high until first whistle, then medium for 4 to 5 whistles. The spinach and dal cook together — the spinach dissolves partially into the dal.

3. 3

   Mash: Open the cooker. Mash the combined dal-spinach until fairly smooth but not completely uniform.

4. 4

   Add salt: Add salt. Stir.

5. 5

   Heat sesame oil: Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a pan on medium. The sesame oil of Telangana-Andhra cooking has a specific nutty fragrance different from other cooking oils.

6. 6

   Add mustard and cumin: Add mustard seeds — pop. Add cumin seeds. Crackle both.

7. 7

   Add curry leaves and asafoetida: Add curry leaves — crackle. Add asafoetida.

8. 8

   Fry garlic: Add coarsely crushed garlic cloves. Fry 1 to 2 minutes until golden.

9. 9

   Add dried red chilli: Add dried red chilli. Darken 10 seconds. Add red chilli powder — stir 10 seconds off heat.

10. 10

    Combine: Pour the tempering into the spinach dal. Stir. Simmer 3 minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

11. 11

    Note: Palakura Pappu (palakura = spinach, pappu = lentil/dal in Telugu) is a standard preparation on the Telangana thali — the green leafy vegetable cooked with dal is a staple approach to combining protein and greens in a single preparation. The use of sesame oil (nuvvula nune) in the tempering is specifically characteristic of Telangana and Andhra cooking — giving this preparation a distinct nuttiness absent from the same dal cooked with regular oil. Telangana is a significant sesame oil-producing state.