Indira replies:
Your kind words mean a lot to me Pritya. Thanks very much!
I am glad to hear that you tried and liked this recipe. Thanks for taking time and letting me know. I greatly appreciate your input.

Indira replies:
Swiss chard version sounds good, Maheswari. Glad to hear that you tried and liked this recipe. Thanks for letting me know. Yes, definitely tastes much better with some fried sundried chillies and papadams.:)

I just tried this recipe, It turned out great.. Thanks Indira and Vijaya! A wonderful twist to the same old dal-chawal rut. Ofcourse, I lessened the green chillies (had to!). I’d forgotten to add the g.chillies while pressure cooking, so added 3 while seasoning.

About pressure cooker - well, I love pressure cookers. I think they are God’s gift to cook rajma and garbanzo beans and many other beans like black eyed beans, whole mung, whole masoor, etc and also hard meat like mutton etc. I also cook, rice and dal in it on most occasions.

Except for dals like yellow mung dal and broken masoor dal whose ‘integrity’ is lost when pressure cooked. It’s better with tur dal, but still not as good as slow-cooked. This is just my personal preference.. I think, it becomes a bit more mushy, instead of the creaminess that comes when dal is cooked on a thick bottomed pan on stovetop at simmered/medium heat. The pressure cooked dal doesn’t taste bad. It’s good! But the slow-cooked dal tastes better than its pressure cooked counterpart. This I figured out after comparing the taste of mom’s uppu paruppu (just tur dal with salt and eaten with ghee, as first course in most Tamilian feasts) with mine.

I also prefer not cook greens like spinach or methi in the pressure cooker as I ‘think’ the nutrients are lost and the real taste of the greens has been buried somewhere. I usually, allow the spinach to wilt in the same pan that I use for seasoning (along with the seasoning) and add it to the pressure cooked/slow cooked dal.

That’s not to say I’ll never cook masoor or mung dal/greens in pressure cooker. It all depends on the time, mood and energy left, at the end of the day!

Indira replies:
Thanks for the ‘hot’ review, Kay.
Glad to hear that you tried and liked this recipe.
I am relieved to hear about pressure-cooker thing. I received quite a few comments about it, so I was thinking what’s that all about.
I follow almost the same principles that you mentioned here when I use pressure-cooker.
Cooking with consciousness is a tough job.

Appreciate yr timely favor.

Rama.

:D
Mythili

Indira replies:
They were very tasty, thanks Mythili! You are a sweetheart.
I can’t wait to read about the making process at your blog.

This combo seems to be very delicious and would like try to do soon.

Anyhow, you have mentioned pumpkin vadiyams!! Since am going to Chennai during vacation, I too wish to buy the same. Can you tell whether it is yellow pumpkin or white one(ash gourd)??

Thanks and waiting for yr reply.

Hi Rama,
I think they are made from white pumpkin. Pumpkin cooked, grinded with chillies, salt etc, sesame seeds are added and then sun-dried. They are homemade and brought from India, a gift from my blog neighbour and friend - Mythili of Vindu food blog. She can give you more details if you are interested, Rama.
-Indira

Onion addition sounds good, Anjali. about finger licking, I was little bit apprehensive about this recipe being first time and all, so I used a fork. Finger licking is for old favorites only.

Mango pesarapappu - that’s one more good recipe with unripe mangoes.
Thanks Sarada.

Latha: The red/brownish things in the middle of dal and rice are fritters and dahi mirchi. Courtesy of blog friend Mythili.

Hi Bee: Thanks very much for posting the links to 3 regions. Very useful and informative. Thanks!

Hi Durga: Glad to hear that you tried and liked the tomato dal recipe.

Deepika: Congratulations on your new food blog, my friend.:)
Dal means nostalgia, isn’t it? I wish we could get all these vegetables here also. lately I am seeing fresh amaranth leaves here in some grocery shops. I have yet to buy. Perhaps next week.

Trupti: 10-12 chillies, too much huh? But, but … chana dal and mango, they need little bit spicyness, otherwise the dal will taste flat.

Glad to hear that, Suhasini.

Thanks Kanchana.

Freshma: I am also a member of “no peeling the mango skin dal” club.:)

Both Vijaya and Mythili are really generous to share family heirlooms like this.
Mango brine dal sounds great, Linda.

Roopa: Interesting plus tasty as well, this recipe is.

I am hearing lot of talk about no pressure cookers recently. I don’t understand. Why is that, Kay?
I use pressure cooker to cook dal and to pressure cook beans like chickpeas etc. and rice. That’s about it. I don’t use it to cook vegetables usually.
This recipe needs this many chillies for this Andhra vaasi.:) I am going to stick with that.

Hi Sandeepa and Madhuli: It is little bit different but tasted great.

Hi Pelicano: are you sure you are not from India? You guessed it right. Kosta (Telugu) means coastal in English. Bay of Bengal forms a border Kosta region.

Missed you Nabeela! Glad to see you back.:) Hope you had wonderful visit to India.
Guess what I did in your absence? I started Dining Hall. Now I go there to get my daily bashing.

Thanks Jyotshna, Swapna and Anusharaji.

Hi Kamini, I added the mango with skin. It adds little bit extra taste to the dal and I like cooking that way.

I will definitely, Reena. Thanks.

Hi Shanti: We do not get chinta chiguru here. I remember seeing chinta chiguru recipe at Sailaja of Sailu’s Food. Check it out.

Swathi: I totally forgot that recipe, thanks for asking. I will try it out for Greens event.

Pooja: I emailed you, check it out.

HI Maneka: Thanks for the wishes and Happy Easter!

Manisha: Guess what? I have real kokum now. Veena Kindly sent it to me recently.

Thanks Sukanya.