Coriander~Pappula Chutney with Upma
Just like dear Supriya (Tweety) of Bengaluru, I also prepare upma often, at least once a week for lunch or dinner. Rice and roti are good but sometimes I feel like taking a break from those two and upma usually comes to my rescue.
Upma recipe is very forgiving. We can make it as elaborate, nutritious (by adding lot of vegetables, nuts etc) or simple (just plain water and some salt) as we like. One thing the recipe does need is a pickle or chutney on the side. A meal is healthy when it’s homecooked and upma is pleasing when it’s served with chutney on the side. One such simple and easy chutney recipe that taste terrific with upma or for that matter all varieties of breakfast items is coriander-pappula (roasted chana dal) chutney.
Pappulu or putnala pappulu (Telugu) are sold as ‘dalia’ in US. See this label here. I always thought the name dalia is a North Indian one, but not so says Anita of ‘A Mad Tea Party”. So now the question is who calls pappulu or bhuna chana ‘dalia’? Which Indian language is it from? Or unknown to us mere mortals, Indian grocery wholesalers have a separate language to confuse us more?:)
Edited to add:
Thank you Darshana and Madhuli for clearing the confusion. Dalia is a Gujarati word for pappulu or bhuna chana.
Pappulu (Putnala Pappulu, Dalia, Bhuna Chana, Roasted Chana Dal) and Fresh Coriander
Recipe:
1 cup of roasted chana dal (Pappulu, dalia, bhuna chana)
1 bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro, Kottimera)
8 green chillies – short, Indian variety
1 T of tamarind juice or limejuice or to taste
1 T of coconut fresh or dried (optional)
1 teaspoon of cumin
½ teaspoon of salt
Take them all in a blender, add about half glass of water and grind to smooth paste. Remove to a cup.
Do the popu or tadka:
Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil in a tadka pan. Add and toast in this order – 5 curry leaves, half teaspoon each of urad dal, then cumin and mustard seeds. When seeds start to splutter immediately add the popu to chutney. Mix and serve with breakfast items.
Hi Indira,
You emphasize highlighting the indian grocery items. I understood the reason very recently.As I was trying to teach my american friend few indian recipes, I had asked her to buy few things from devon and one of them was this pappula/fried gram dall and she was not able to spot it out.Then I found the importance of identifying our age old grocery items in a common way. Good job!
Comment by Lakshmiammal — November 9, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
Hi Lakshmi, it gets very confusing with so many names out there for a single ingredient. Isn’t it? Compared to page length descriptions, a single clean photo often makes it easy to identify an ingredient, I think. And we need more photos of these Indian ingredients on the web.
Comment by Indira — November 9, 2006 @ 1:59 pm
Hi Indira
Back in Hyderabad, I remember people referring to it as chutney dal. I usually make it without the coriander. But when I have excess coriander at home I add it to the chutney and make it just the way you mentioned. Adding a pinch of asafoetida heightens the flavor.
Comment by Lux — November 9, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
Hi Indira, just wanted to let you know I made use of your sambhar recipe yet again..this time with pearl onions. Thanks a lot for putting out authentic Andhra recipes on your site. Its wonderful for cooks like me who want to experiment with as many different cuisines as possible but have difficulty finding authentic recipes 🙂
Comment by Nabeela — November 9, 2006 @ 2:16 pm
I’d have to agree with you Indira, about upma being a ‘fast n’ furious’ recipe to make, there is not a lot one can do to mess it up, just like couscous, easy to make and delicious!
Comment by Monisha — November 9, 2006 @ 2:17 pm
Dear Indira:
Its been great trying out your receipes. Thanks a lot.
“Dalia” is a Gujrati version of Fried Gram or Pappulu.
Comment by Darshana — November 9, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
e chutney bhalle vuntundi, but my husband and kids likes peanut chutney….looks so good Indira
Comment by lakshmi — November 9, 2006 @ 4:05 pm
Indira, the photo is simply superb…Simple and elegant..And the chutney sounds delicious!
Comment by Chandrika — November 9, 2006 @ 4:28 pm
Hi Indira! This is an interesting recipe for cilantro chutney, we make it very differently in North India. No tamarind, no chana dal, no coconut. Instead we add some chopped onions and lemon juice. Yours sounds like an interesting version!
Comment by Alison — November 9, 2006 @ 4:28 pm
Hi Indira,
I think we need to fry the coriander. In my opinion, if we don’t fry the leaves it smells raw right? Why I am asking this is sometimes I make coriander-tomato pickel. My husband always says if I don’t fry the leaves that pickle would smell. If I fry the leaves for a while, does the taste change?
thank you.
laxmi.
Comment by laxmi — November 9, 2006 @ 4:41 pm
Hi Indira
I second your thoughts on Upma. It is the easiest one can make and can be made either just in a simple way with no veggies or with lots of them. Truly, I too get bored of rice and Upma gives a good break to rice eating routine.
This chutney seems to an interesting & tasty and sounds simple to make. I really love to try more items and your site is THE BEST source i can look for. The pics you take are so appealing to the eye.
Comment by Deepu — November 9, 2006 @ 5:22 pm
This is yet another comfort food for me, Indira. What I love about your recipes and this site is that it you introduce more than one way to do something. While I have respect for traditional recipes and techniques, I also appreciate your ability to think outside the box and present those thoughts to the rest of us. Thanks!
Comment by payal — November 9, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
In Tamil Nadu, we call Dahlia as ‘Pottu Kadalai’.
Lovely red color dishes Indira.
Comment by Mathy Kandasamy — November 9, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
Hi Indira.great chutney and the photo too. We call roasted chanadal as ‘Dalla'(last ‘a’ is emphasised)and the plural as ‘Dallya’in Marathi.The name might be originating there somewhere..
In fact I always thought Wheat Rava (coarse) was called as ‘Dalia’.
Comment by madhuli — November 9, 2006 @ 8:00 pm
hi indira, long time reader, first time poster. love the blog, btw…and i agree with darshana..dalia is a gujarati word. we call it ‘daal-ee-yaa. the letter ‘l’ has a gujarati twang to it, quite unique pronunciation. and ‘dalia’ is broken wheat/bulghur/faada (in gujarati)
Comment by VGM — November 9, 2006 @ 10:51 pm
Lovely looking upma and chutney and a beautiful picture Indira!
Comment by Sumitha Shibu — November 10, 2006 @ 1:34 am
Indira,
I haven’t dropped by to say hi after your relocation. Hope everything well in the new place.
I found a bigger store in my area carrying a better selection of Indian ingredients. I’d love to try this coriander and pappula chutney. Indira, your second photo has such a beautiful DOF, gorgeous!
Comment by gattina — November 10, 2006 @ 2:42 am
Whoa whoa whoa…..I am soooo overwhelmed right now!!!! Right now I feel like I’ve been featured in the front page of Times Of India.
That was really so sweet of you Indira 🙂
OMG!!!
Comment by Tweety — November 10, 2006 @ 3:28 am
Yes, this Dalia thing has been confusing me. In your blog you called pappulu as Dalia and the dalia i know is broken-wheat.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/1918/3612/1600/DSC03639.jpg
now which one is correct? Is the ‘y’ in daliya the culprit 😉
Comment by Tweety — November 10, 2006 @ 3:47 am
i think daliya and dalia are two spearate pronounciations of ‘da’.
The ‘da’ in Daliya -(broken wheat) is pronounces as in BADAL
The ‘da’ in Dalia-(phutana in marathi,roasted chana dal) is pronounced as in DAMARU
Comment by Supriya — November 10, 2006 @ 7:04 am
yum! one of my favorite chutneys.
cheers!
Comment by Saffron Hut — November 10, 2006 @ 10:13 am
Hi Indira –
Nice recipe. Loved the warmth and sensitivity you write your recipes giving the ingredients the full respect they deserve! If you don’t
mind – can I add this one to dress up our very humble upma?- sorry for stealing your space!!
I often refer to upma as – The very versatile and loveable upma! Tastes great in any form…You can make it plain without any veggies and it goes well even with sugar on the side – “thotukka sakkarai podhum” as we say in tamil..You are right in saying – it is indeed very forgiving – but sometimes I feel so guilty for not giving it undue recognition, and offer a “make-over” “dress-up” session with carrots and peas. My rationale for dressing-up Upma is – when “stuff” like maggi that is usually looked down upon as unhealthy (the maida is bad for you thingy – i like to call it the “refined factor”…) get to dance a tango with veggies, why not healthy and traditional, “been around for centuries probably” – the very lovely Upma -For the untrained eye, it might seem powerless – but it’s one of those wise old dishes that is full of power and wisdom – humble and forgiving anyway you cook it…!
Thanks for bringing upma to the limelight..We look forward to seeing more upma and chutney recipes. I remember your earlier link on “The Upma trilogy”..
Comment by Desimom — November 10, 2006 @ 10:17 am
Simple but delicious chutney, goes with everything!:)) Thank you..
Comment by Asha — November 10, 2006 @ 11:49 am
Hi Indira
Iam a regular visitor to your site and admire you & your cooking skills. This is my first comment on your site.
This coriander chutney looks yummy. I will try it out this weekend. Earlier I tried your recipe of Coriander + Tomato chutney and it came out very well. My husband liked it so much. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes.
Comment by Siri — November 10, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
Love the pictures….Thanks
Nidhi.
Comment by Nidhi — November 10, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
your dalia = pottu kadalai (as my mother calls it) 🙂
Comment by shammi — November 10, 2006 @ 3:34 pm
wow… ur presentation just takes my breath away:)
Comment by supriya — November 10, 2006 @ 7:05 pm
hi indira, i just stumbled across your site and i LOVE it! i can’t stop reading. great job! 🙂
i have a kind of random question for you – i moved to the US a year ago, and haven’t yet made a paneer dish. a friend of mine has been asking me to because she loves indian paneer curries, but i’m not sure if the cottage cheese available in supermarkets here is the same as paneer. is it? thanks very much for your help!
Comment by sruthi — November 10, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
I love to visit ur website. It’s a nice and gorgeous recipe 🙂
Comment by Lia — November 10, 2006 @ 11:37 pm
Hi, I just had a silly question- how can I add your site to my RSS reader? I cant find a link anywhere and my reader is not getting any feeds from your page.
Hail Corriander!
g
Comment by gunjan — November 11, 2006 @ 8:14 am
Hi Indira
Been following your site- today’s brunch featured two of your recipes. Thought I’d stop by with this link(http://emolior.blogspot.com/2006/11/brunch-brouhaha.html) and many thanks
-Altoid
Comment by Altoid — November 11, 2006 @ 12:49 pm
Thanks all for your nice informative comments on this post. and also for clearing the confusion about ‘dalia’, the Indian grocery wholesalers favorite name.
Desimom: What a wonderful description of upma. You have a gift my friend! I wish I’d write like you.:)
Hi Gunjan: Thanks for your interest. No Feeds for Mahanandi. People were creating duplicate blogs with Mahanandi feeds on live journal and my space. It’s turned into a big headache with these content poachers, so I’ve decided to remove the feed. For updates one has to follow the old custom of browsing.:)
Comment by Indira — November 11, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
Nice photos! Good recipe! I make it a point to visit your site. I just luv your site.
Comment by manjubansal — November 12, 2006 @ 11:03 pm
Hi Indira…
From past few weeks Iam a regular visitor of ur site… But Iam writing for the first time… U R recipes are very nice and I love trying them.. and with inspiration like u experts I have started a new blog myself…
It would be my pleasure if u take a peek sometimes and give some nice suggestions!!!
-Spandana
Comment by Spandana — November 13, 2006 @ 7:57 am
Hello maam,
I have started a new blog. I really dont know much abt it and the events happening. I want others to read my blog. how do i go about it. Can you plz help me.
my blog is http://redchilies.blogspot.com/
Regards
Sumana
Comment by Sumana Vishwanath — November 17, 2006 @ 9:50 pm
Glad to see the ‘dalia’ confusion sorted out! Neither from the south nor from north, it is Central in origin!
Comment by Anita — December 1, 2006 @ 2:37 am
hi
Indira
i have been reading your backdated blogs you make such great food…
and the vessels and containers which you use are sooooo good…
i love buying kitchen items and never get tired of buying new thing although now there is no space to add even a single katori.
do you buy all the things from the US or do you carry them from india
the steamer for the lemons where did you get it
write to me on my email id
bye
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU….
Comment by MAHEK — January 10, 2007 @ 11:22 am