Instant Pot Tomato Pappu | Tomato Dal

Dals/lentils are one of the staple recipes of India. As I mentioned in my Cholar dal post, each and every state have their signature dal recipe. I have been posting simple dal recipes from the different Indian States and today’s dal recipe is the Andhra/Telangana special dal – Tomato Pappu or Tomato Dal. As the name indicates, is prepared with tomato and toor dal. The toor dal and tomatoes are pressure cooked and then simmered with simple spices and the ghee tempering.  I am going to share how I prepared this dal in the Instant Pot.

I haven’t traveled much in India, and all the traveling that I did was in and around South India.  I got a chance to visit Anantapur, Puttaparthi, and Tirupathi and that’s where I first tasted the Telugu food. I enjoyed the food especially the podis. When I came to the US after our marriage luckily our neighbor, S was from Andhra. Till I started to work, I spent all my afternoons in her place learning Telugu and Telugu cuisine. :-) (I can understand Telugu now, but I can’t converse fluently) I have posted a couple of her recipes on my blog. Even though we moved to different cities, we are still in touch, and last month we met them.  That brought back all the nostalgic moments, and I got reminded of her recipes.  Immediately I tried a couple of her recipes in instant pot, and here I am posting them. :-)

I cannot call this a one-pot dish, as I did the tempering separately.  The Quick IP formula is Manual Mode for 15 minutes and Normal Pressure Release and Saute mode for 3 minutes. Instead of Normal Pressure Release, you can go with quick release too. I am always skeptical about my toor dal so I went with NPR. And I can hear you asking, when am I going to share about other modes in IP. I am working on it and I will post them all soon and also a couple of recipe requests. :-)

  Ingredients:

• Toor Dal – ½ cup
• Ripe Tomatoes (I used big Roma tomatoes) – 2
• Water – 1.5 cups + ½ cup if required
• Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
• Red Chili Powder – ½ tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• For Tempering:
• Oil / Ghee – 2 tsps
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad Dal – 1 tsp
• Jeera – 2 tsps
• Fenugreek Seeds – ¼ tsp
• Hing – ¼ tsp
• Red Chili – 1
• Curry leaves – few

Prep –Work:

• Wash the toor dal and set aside.
• Wash and chop the tomatoes into small pieces.

Steps:

• Set your IP in the manual mode.

• Add the washed dal, tomatoes and 1.5 cups of water and cook in manual mode for 15 minutes.
• Let the pressure release normally.
• Open the IP lid and using a potato masher or ladle, mash the dal and the tomato together.

• Now set the IP in the sauté mode.
• If the dal is thick, add ½ cup of water and mix.
• Add the salt, turmeric powder, and red chili powder and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a tempering pan or kadai and add ghee or oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, fenugreek seeds, red chili, and hing and curry leaves. As they start to splutter, add the tempering to the dal and let it simmer for one more minute.

The dal is done. You can let the dal stay in Warm mode or serve hot with rice and pickle or spicy curry. (Coming up next)

Notes:

• Pressure cooking in IP for 15 minutes is comparatively long time. The toor dal brand I have always taken a long time to cook. So I went with 15 minutes. For a half cup, 10 minutes in manual mode is more than enough.
• If you prefer spicy dal, add a couple of green chilies while cooking the dal and discard them after pressure cooking. Also, you can add more red chilies during tempering.
• Adjust salt and spice as per your preference.

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Instant Pot Tomato Pappu | Tomato Dal

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

A simple Andhra style dal prepared with split pigeon peas and tomatoes in Instant Pot.

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: Andhra/Telangana Cuisine, Indian, South Indian

Keyword: Instant Pot Tomato Pappu

Servings: 4

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

For the Dal:

• 1/2 cup Toor Dal
• 2 Ripe Tomatoes I used Roma Tomoto variety
• 1.5 cups Water Plus 1/2 cup if required
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Salt

For Tempering:

• 2 tsps Oil / Ghee
• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 tsp Urad Dal
• 2 tsps Cumin Seeds
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
• 1/4 tsp Hing
• 1 Red Chili
• Curry leaves

Instructions

Prep –Work:

1. Wash the toor dal and set aside.
2. Wash and chop the tomatoes into small pieces.

Steps:

1. Set your IP in the manual mode.
2. Add the washed dal, tomatoes and 1.5 cups of water and cook in manual mode for 15 minutes.
3. Let the pressure release normally.
4. Open the IP lid and using a potato masher or ladle, mash the dal and the tomato together.
5. Now set the IP in the sauté mode.
6. If the dal is thick, add ½ cup of water and mix.
7. Add the salt, turmeric powder, and red chili powder and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, heat a tempering pan or kadai and add ghee or oil.
9. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, fenugreek seeds, red chili, and hing and curry leaves. As they start to splutter, add to the dal and let it simmer for one more minute.
10. The dal is done. You can let the dal stay in Warm mode or serve hot with rice and pickle or spicy curry. (Coming up next)

Recipe Notes

•  Pressure cooking in IP for 15 minutes is comparatively longer time. The toor dal brand I have always taken the longer time to cook. So I went with 15 minutes. For the half cup, 10 minutes in manual mode is more than enough.
•  If you prefer spicy dal, add a couple of green chilies while cooking the dal and discard them after pressure cooking. Also, add more red chilies during tempering.
• Adjust salt and spice as per your preference.