Telangana Palakura Pappu Spinach Lentil Dal

Ingredients

• 1 cup toor dal
• 2 cups packed fresh spinach (palakura) — washed and roughly chopped
• 3 cups water, 1/2 tsp turmeric
• For the tempering:
• 2 tbsp sesame oil (specific to Telangana-Andhra cooking; substitute: any oil)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida, 10 curry leaves
• 4 garlic cloves — coarsely crushed
• 4 dried red chilli
• 1 tsp red chilli powder, salt

Method

1. Cook dal and spinach together: Wash toor dal. Combine with roughly chopped spinach, 3 cups water and turmeric in a pressure cooker.
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. Mash: Open the cooker. Mash the combined dal-spinach until fairly smooth but not completely uniform.
4. Add salt: Add salt. Stir.
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. Add mustard and cumin: Add mustard seeds — pop. Add cumin seeds. Crackle both.
7. Add curry leaves and asafoetida: Add curry leaves — crackle. Add asafoetida.
8. Fry garlic: Add coarsely crushed garlic cloves. Fry 1 to 2 minutes until golden.
9. Add dried red chilli: Add dried red chilli. Darken 10 seconds. Add red chilli powder — stir 10 seconds off heat.
10. Combine: Pour the tempering into the spinach dal. Stir. Simmer 3 minutes. Serve with steamed rice.
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.