Andhra tomato dal recipe with step by step photos. This Tomato dal or Tomato pappu is inspired from the Andhra cuisine known for its bold and spicy flavors. However, This Andhra style tomato dal is neither spicy nor hot.
Dal is also called as “pappu” in the telugu language. dal is a staple in Indian homes and there are many many variations of making dal which vary from state to state as well as from home to home.
This tomato dal has the tang and the flavors of tomatoes. Here I have done the tempering first and then sautéed the onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Later arhar dal (pigeon pea lentils) are added and cooked till done. The result is a mild, slightly tangy and comforting dal that is best had with steamed rice and some ghee. Have a side vegetable dish or a vegetable raita and you have a complete meal.
In the pic below, Tomato dal is served with Andhra mango pickle, onion-tomato salad and steamed rice.
If you are looking for more Dal recipes then do check:
tomato pappu
Ingredients
- ½ cup arhar dal (tuvar dal, pigeon pea lentils)
- 2 tablespoons oil or ghee
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 medium sized onion - approx ⅓ to ½ cup chopped onions
- 10 to 12 curry leaves
- 1 green chili - chopped
- ½ inch ginger + 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves - crushed to a paste in a mortar-pestle or 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 medium tomatoes - approx 1 to 1.25 cups chopped tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 cups water for pressure cooking
- salt as required
Instructions
soaking arhar dal
- Pick, rinse and soak arhar dal (pigeon pea lentils) for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Later drain all the water and keep the lentils aside.
making tomato dal
- Heat oil or ghee in the pressure cooker.
- Add the mustard seeds first and let them crackle.
- Then add the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
- Add the onions, curry leaves and green chilies. Sauté the onions till they turn translucent.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for a few seconds on a low to medium flame till their raw aroma goes away.
- Now add the tomatoes, red chili powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt and saute for 2 to 3 minutes on a medium-low flame.
- Add the lentils and water. Mix well.
cooking tomato dal
- Pressure cook on high flame for 5 to 6 whistles or till the dal is cooked completely. Timing to cook dal will depend upon the quality of dal and intensity of flame.
- When the pressure settles down, remove the lid.
- Mash the dal lightly and add ½ cup water or as required to get a medium consistency in the dal. Mix well.
- Simmer the tomato dal for 5 to 7 minutes on a low to medium flame till you get a dal which is neither thin nor thick but having a medium consistency.
- Check the taste and add more salt if required.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve andhra tomato pappu hot with steamed rice, pickle and vegetable salad.
Notes
- Soak lentils for an hour before cooking them.
- Follow the same recipe method. However, add 3 to 3.5 cups water and cover & cook the lentils till they become soft and thoroughly cooked. There should be no separate grains visible. The consistency of the lentils should be smooth and creamy. Add more water if required.
- Use a deep pot while cooking as the lentils start frothing while cooking. If the mixture froths up and starts coming out, then remove the lid and cook.
Preparation to make tomato pappu or tomato dal
1. Pick and then rinse ½ cup arhar dal (tuvar dal or pigeon pea lentils) a couple of times in water.
2. Soak the arhar dal in water for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Later drain the water and place the dal aside.
4. Chop onion, tomatoes and green chili. Measure and keep all the ingredients ready for making the Andhra tomato dal.
Making tomato pappu
5. Heat 2 tablespoons oil or ghee in a pressure cooker.
6. Add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds first.
7. Let the mustard seeds crackle.
8. Then add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them splutter.
9. Then add ⅓ to ½ cup chopped onions and 10 to 12 curry leaves.
10. Next add 1 green chili (chopped).
11. Sauté the onions till they become translucent.
12. Then add 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste. For making ginger-garlic paste, you can crush ½ inch ginger and 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves to a paste in a mortar-pestle.
13. Saute for a few seconds on a low to medium flame till the raw smell from both ginger and garlic goes away.
14. Then add 2 medium sized tomatoes (chopped) or approx 1 to 1.25 cups chopped tomatoes. Mix well.
15. Add ¼ teaspoon red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 pinch asafoetida (hing) and salt as required.
16. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes on a medium-low flame.
17. Then add the arhar dal (lentils).
18. Mix well and then add 2 cups water.
19. Mix again.
Cooking tomato dal
20. Pressure cook on high flame for 7 to 8 whistles or till the dal is cooked completely.
21. When the pressure settles down on its own, then remove the lid of pressure cooker.
22. Mash the dal lightly with a wooden spatula or spoon.
23. Add ½ cup water Or as required in the dal to get a medium consistency. Mix well.
24. Simmer tomato dal for 5 to 7 minutes on a low to medium flame till you get a dal which is neither thin nor thick but having a medium consistency. Stir dal at intervals when its simmering.
25. Check the taste of tomato dal and add more salt if required. Switch off the flame.
26. Garnish the tomato dal with coriander leaves.
27. Serve Andhra tomato dal hot with steamed rice, pickle and vegetable salad.
This is a family favorite now–it’s so delicious!
Super attractive site which is totally different and unique from the other recipe sites .
I like the step by step pictures , which are better than videos ,since in videos one needs to note down the steps and see it many times.
Prepared Tomato pappu , worked right in first try .Keep posting new dishes .
thanks a lot sudarshan. i know in videos this happens. i think structuring recipes with photos of each step is more helpful. as an internet user also, i prefer step wise method to showcase anything be a recipe or a hobby or art. thanks also for sharing the feedback and review on tomato pappu. happy cooking.
Hi!
Let me start by saying that I just recently made your recipe for Bisi Bele Bath and it was probably the best Indian dish I’ve ever made.
This Dal recipe was also fantastic but it ended up a little bitter. Do you have any thoughts as to what ingredient could have caused this is not cooked perfectly?
Me second question is why do some versions of dal temper at the end while your recipe does not? Do you think making this recipe but omitting the curry leaves, rai, hing and jeera and frying those at the end to temper would change the flavor? I haven’t come across jeera as a tempering ingredient so perhaps that should go in at the beginning if I were to temper at the end?
Lastly, how does ginger garlic paste compare to just mincing those ingredients? I realize that i did not make a paste but instead minced.
I’m new to South Indian cooking and am hoping for some insight.
Thank you so much!
thanks alex. bisi bele bath is really a good dish from the south indian cuisine. bitterness in dal could be due to onions, when the root part is not removed when chopping. some more asafoetida or turmeric can also bring bitterness.
any dal recipe can be tempered first or later. when tempered later the flavor and taste is different. of course you can temper later with the ingredients you have mentioned and it will definitely give a good flavor and taste. jeera is a tempering ingredient. so can be tempered later too at the end. ginger garlic paste gives a complete altogether taste as compared to finely chopped or minced ginger-garlic.
usually in most south indian recipes, tempering is done towards the end. this includes sambar, rasam and chutneys. but for dals the tempering can be done first or later.
you can check this north indian dal tadka where i have tempered with cumin seeds later – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/restaurant-style-dal-tadka/
Hi Dassana,
Your recipes are sooo perfect. I have tried many (almost everything that i cook) of your recipes and they turned out to be soo delicious.. and this one was soo good and comforting… my family just loved this.
Thank you soo much for all the recipes..
thank you samrudha for this lovely feedback. nice to know. i agree this tomato dal is tasty as well as comforting.
All your recipes are awesome. I tried this and it was awesome but can you show a non- garlic and ginger recipe tomato dal please.
taken your recipe request for a no garlic and ginger tomato dal.
hiiii, ur recipies r awesome very detailed through pics I love that ,I am learning cooking through ur recipies .
thank u
BT some recipes don’t have pics if u consider that it will b great
parveen thankyou for your positive words 🙂 yes we are working on the same and trying to put step by step recipe on our old posts.
Hello Amit
Being a first timer in cooking, the recipe came out to be good as followed by the detailed instructions. Thank you.
I prepared it and it was awesome…. with rice Thank you .
thanks leo for the positive feedback.
pleased to know this thankyou leo and you are welcome.
Made this dal with yellow and pink lentils that were lying around,
Threw in a can of Heinz tomatoes then I hit the ground.
The pressure cooker didn’t explode so I was ok,
Another amazing recipe, so tasty the wife said hooray!
Dassana has to be continually congratulated,
For the wife’s list of favourites needs to be re-calibrated.
thanks once again rohit. glad to know that you both are liking the recipes.
superb.nice recipes.thankfull to u.
welcome chiranjeevi
Dassana amit it was fabulous,tomato dal pappu recipes in my home were one liked thank u so munch…….
welcome priyanka. glad to know this.
thank you so……………. much…………………..
welcome utukuru
Hi Dassana,
I was going through your blog to see what all dal recipes u have shared and as me being from Hyderabad know about Andhra style cooking.I know your recipe of tomato dal would be yum. but just wanted to share my style of tomato dal. I first cook tuvar dal with two chillies n haldi till it softens..
Then for tadka I add jeera powder,crushed garlic,curry leaves,dry chilli and later add few chopped tomatoes cook them till they get soft and add chilli powder, little haldi, dhaniya powder and add the cooked dal and salt..add less water as it should be little thick..and last add chopped coriander..serve with roti or plain rice with ghee ..hope you try and like it.
Thank you again..for a helpful blog..
thanks deepshika for sharing your style of tomato dal. i have noted it down and will try the same. there are not many andhra recipes on the blog. i plan to add them gradually.
Thanks for the receipe!!!!
Indeed it came well. My pressure cooker had black stains after 7-8 whistles. I feel 3-4 is good enough for this.pls confirm.
welcome karthik. for me the tomato dal takes 7-8 whistle. it should be cooked properly. depends upon cooker size, flame and quality of dal.
I am wondering if adding little bit of tamarind water makes it even tastier !!
praveen, i have never tried. it also depends upon taste which varies from person to person. you can give it a try.
Actually, this is how my grandmom makes her dal, with tomatoes and little bit of tamarind. It tastes heavenly!!
thanks marky
What do you mean, “1/2 ginger”? 1/2 tsp? 1/2 inch? 1/2 root? 1/2 pound?
added. its 1/2 inch ginger.
Hi Dassana,
I’m just out of college and don’t know to cook very well. My mom fell sick today so I took initiative to cook lunch for my family. I was looking out for a simple yellow dal and came across your recipe. I prepared it and to my surprise everyone loved it!! 😀
Thank you for sharing this awesome method..everyone’s compliments made my day 😀
Regards,
Saloni 🙂
welcome saloni. i hope your mother gets well soon and you continue taking interest in cooking.
Very nice! There is also a variation of this recipe which uses Garam Masala. This Dal is very delicious when served with fresh veggies too, as for my taste I add around 3-4 spoons of crushed garlic. Will try other Dal recipes soon, thanks!
welcome patrick and thanks for sharing your feedback and variation.
Hi Dassana,
I have tried this dal today at home. My wife was pleasantly surprised with it.
I have been getting great compliments from her ever since I started cooking on weekends looking at your recipes. Thank you very much for sharing the success mantras.
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Ravi
welcome ravi and big thanks for this positive feedback. its nice to hear that the recipes are helping people in their cooking.
Hi Dassana i tried andhra pappu it was awesom n my kid loved it a lot thank you…..
wish to get more help from your recipes
thanks for your feedback jigna. you can try the other recipes from the blog as well. most of them are tried and tested.
thank you sooo much!!! loved it
welcome apurva
Hey dassanna y dont u post it step by step with pics????have u posted the pics anywhere else?
shruti, putting step by step post takes lot of time and effort. so i prefer to put step by step post for difficult recipes only. any doubt or query about a recipe then you are always welcome to ask. happy cooking.
Hi. You don’t mention the quantity of curry leaves in the ingredients.
thanks for letting us know. have added the quantity.
i have this in my drafts too. absolutely love it!
How will this work without a pressure cooker? just simmer a lot longer?
i have mentioned in the notes section on how to cook without pressure cooker – pasted here again:
to make this dal without a pressure cooker – follow the same recipe method. however, add 4 to 4.5 cups water and cover & cook the lentils till they become soft and thoroughly cooked. there should be no separate grains visible. the consistency of the lentils should be smooth and creamy. add more water if required. use a deep pot while cooking as the lentils start frothing while cooking. if the mixture froths up and starts coming out, then remove the lid and cook.
My all time favorite… presented well..
one of our favorite ! dal are such a comforting food !