Monday, October 06, 2008

100 Simple Pappu ( Andhra's Lentil Stews)

This cookbook lists 100 simplified lentil stews, the Pappu, cooked in Andhra. Ten bases are combined with ten different additives and ten different flavouring to create a thousand different pappu varieties.  The building blocks are listed below:  

The base:

The following dals as listed in column 1 are used in most pappu.
0.: Kandi pappu : Tuvar dal is used to cook most pappus

1.: Pesara pappu  or Mung dal is the next most commonly used dal.

2.: Misore Pappu . Called Mysore pappu / Masoor dal, this pink lentil is not very commonly used.

3.: Senaga pappu : Bengal gram / chana dal takes longer to cook and is usually presoaked before cooking. This is generally paired with sour spinach ( gongura) to cook the gongura pappu.

4.: Mukkula pappu : A combination of dals can also be used for pappu.

5.: Ulava pappu : Though more famous for Ulava Charu, this earthy dal can also be cooked into a great pappu.

6.: Roast pappu : Roasting dals before cooking imparts a nutty flavour.

7.: Stir fried lentils : Stir frying dals before cooking imparts a nuttier flavour.

8.: Other lentils : A variety of quick cooking lentils are found around the world and all these can be turned into delicious pappu

9.: Combo : Any combination of the above lentils can be used for pappu.

The additives:
A variety of additives are simmered in a sour base to cook up various pappu. Column 2 lists the most commonly used additives in Andhra.

0.: None :  Plain boiled dal tastes delicious without any additives. Eaten as Mudda Pappu , it is mixed with cooked rice, drizzled with ghee and is accompanied by a pickle.

1.: Raw Mango  gives us the famous Mamdikkaya pappu

2.: Tomato is cooked into the Tomato pappu

3.: Spinach : A variety of spinach varieties are cooked into delicious pappu like  Aakukoora  Pappu/ Thota koora pappu  / Gongura pappu.

4.: Dosakka. The much loved vegetable in Andhra gives us the  Dosakka Pappu.

5.: Tamarind leaves . It is in Andhra we see the use of tender tamarind leaves being cooked into the  Chinta chiguru pappu

6.:  Red Pumpkin is boiled with dal into the Gummadikaya Pappu

7.:  Ridge gourd   with Mung dal gives us Beerakkaya pesaru pappu 

8.: Bottle gourd  is made into the Sorakkaya Pappu

9.: Fusion . A variety of fresh vegetables / spinach / herbs can all be cooked into delicious pappu. A combination of the above additives can also be used.

And this is my second  entry to SRA's legume love affaircontinuing the event started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

2 comments:

Poorni Pillai said...

The last four posts have been totally new to me- pappus and pulusus, even though they are from neighboring states. Nice names :)
How come food from Kerala is more well known here in TN than that from KA or AP?

Susan said...

Brilliant, as usual, Ramki.

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