Tomato Moong Dal Recipe | Pesarapappu Tomato Dal

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Tomato Moong dal is a simple, comforting and hearty dish to serve with either rice or roti. Recipe can be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker in under 30 minutes.

This is one of my favorite dishes that my mom makes. It is a very simple dish with no spices or special ingredients. It’s a comforting dish that reminds me of home because this was a staple that my mom used to make all the time. I make it now whenever I feel homesick or just plain sick. I am happy that my kids love it as much as I love it.

This is one of the recipe I posted in my first year of blogging, waaay back in 2006. I am redoing some of my old lentil posts for this week’s blogging marathon. My theme is ‘dazzling dals’ and this pesarapappu charu is definitely on top of my list of best mung recipes.

Ingredients:

Star of this recipe is split mung dal aka pesarapappu in Telugu. It is one of the easiest dals to cook because it gets soft and mushy in no time. Cooking in the pressure cooker/ instant pot makes it even more easier. I have included instructions for both pressure cooking as well as stove top version below.

Instructions:

As I mentioned before, this is a very simple, every day dal that takes about 30 minutes to make. Here’s how I make it:

1. Combine dal, tomatoes, green chilies and 1½ cups of water in an Instant pot or pressure cooker. Cook on Manual under high pressure for 6 minutes or for 3~4 whistles.
2. Let the pressure release naturally.
3. If cooking in a saucepan, combine dal, tomatoes and green chilies in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add 2¼cups of water, bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and cook till the lentils are soft, about 25~30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a small saucepan, add mustard and cumin seeds. After the seeds splutter, add red chilies and hing.
5. Add the seasoning, red chili powder, turmeric and salt to the cooked dal. If dal looks too thick, then add about ½~1 cup of water (depending on the desired consistency) to the dal and cook for about 5 minutes on saute mode in IP and on medium flame on the stove.
6. Add lemon juice and chopped coriander after removing from the flame and mix well.

Top Tips:

Here are a few ways this simple, everyday tomato moong dal can be jazzed up to serve for company:

• Add onion and cook along with dal and tomato. After the lentils are cooked through, add tamarind pulp instead of lemon juice and sambar powder. Simmer for about 5 minutes before serving.
• In the tempering, add chopped garlic along with the mustard and cumin seeds. Let the garlic turn golden and then add it to the cooked lentils. This is a delicious version called Lasoon moong dal that is enjoyed all over Northern India.
• Add chopped spinach or chard for a nutritious twist.

How to Serve?

I usually serve this pesarapappu charu with hot steamed rice and a dry curry. That is my favorite way of enjoying this dish with a dollop of ghee on top. But this goes well even with roti or puri.

Here are a few more dishes using yellow mung dal that you might enjoy:

• Methi Moongdal Soup
• Zucchini dry curry
• Dal Kootu

Linking to this month’s BM# 110 and don’t forget to check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today.