Bachali Koora tomato pappu - Indian spinach Dal

Indian spinach goes by the name bachali in Andhra. It is loaded with protein and is very easy to grow in your own garden as well. It has a thick stalk and the leaves are a rich green color. It can be cooked with moong dal or  toor dal (red gram dal). I cook lentils almost everyday as its the main source of protein being a vegetarian. For lunch I usually make a dal, curry and rasam. So the one main thing I need in the kitchen is a pressure cooker. If u have a big pressure cooker all cooking will be done in 45 minutes. I have a three dishes cooker. So I keep rice in one of them followed by the dal in the second and the leaves or vegetables if any in the third one. So let see how to make this bachali kura pappu.

Preparation time -  20 minutes

Serving - 4

Ingredients

1 cup Tur dal/ red gram dal/ kandi pappu
2 cups Bachali kura chopped finely
1 large tomato chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 green chili 

1/4 Tsp turmeric Powder
1/2 Tsp chili powder
2 1/2 cups water

For seasoning (popu)

1/4 mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp urad dal
2 red chilies
hing or inguva (optional)
4-5 Curry leaves

1/2 Tsp salt
2 Tsp Oil

Procedure

1. Wash and chop the bachali kura.
2. In a vessel take the tur dal wash and add  2 cup of water 
3. In a separate vessel take the bachali kura add the finely chopped onion, tomato, whole green chili, turmeric, red chili powder and 1/2 cup of water.
4. Pressure cook them for 3 whistles on medium high.
5. once done mix the dal and the bachali kura mix together and add salt.
6. Heat the oil in a thick bottom pan.
7. Add the mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilies fry for 1 minute. 
8. Add curry leaves and hing fry for a few seconds. 
9. Add in the dal/bachali kura mix
10. Cook on low to medium flame for 5-7 minutes or till you get the desired consistency.
11. Serve with rice. I sometimes eat the dal with chapathi also.

Variations

You can keep the tur dal and the bachali kura in the same vessel and cook. I just like to make separate and mix.

We can add tamarind paste ( 1 Tbs ) instead of the tomato to the bachali kura while pressure cooking. We can also make this dal without the onion.

keywords: lentil, Malabar spinach