Raw mango lentils/Mamidikaya pappu

Raw mango lentils/ mamidikaya pappu:

Raw mango the word itself makes my mouth water. It is the summer season in India where you can see mangoes all over. Mangoes are used in a variety of ways in cooking like dal, chutney, pickle etc. I can eat anything prepared from mango. I’ll present here with a mango dal recipe which I like to cook very often.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized raw mango: 1
• Tur Dal/ lentils: 1 small cup
• Red chilies: 3
• Green chilies: 2
• Coriander leaves
• Curry leaves: 1 strand
• Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
• Urad dal: ½ teaspoon
• Hing/inguva: pinch
• Turmeric: pinch
• Garlic: 5 cloves
• Water: 2 ½ cups
• Oil: 1 teaspoon
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Peel and wash the mango and cut into pieces of 1”. In a frying pan fry the dry lentils/dal until it turns to golden brown in color.
• Add the fried dal to a bowl and add 2 cups of water. In another bowl add the cut mango and green chillies.
• Now, put the two bowls in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles. After the pressure in the cooker goes down take out the cooked dal/lentils and mango pieces and mash them with a spatula together.
• In a deep frying pan heat the oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal, cut red chilles and peeled garlic cloves. When the mustard seeds start to splatter, add hing and then add the mashed dal/lentils and mango pieces.
• Now add the remaining water and salt for taste and cook in medium heat for 2 min. Garnish it with coriander leaves. A mouthwatering mango dal/mamidikaya pappu is ready to serve and enjoy it with plain rice or roti.

Warnings:

• Add salt, green chilies and red chilies according to your taste.
• Make sure to put the lentils and cut mango in separate bowls while cooking do not mix them. The bowls must be able to hold the cooked lentils which will be higher in volume than the raw ones.
• Raw mango used must be sour in taste.

Alterations:

• Dal/lentils can be used without frying if you like.
• Add curry leaves to make it tastier.
• Can be cooked in a bowl directly instead of using pressure cooker but make sure you cook the lentils and mango separately. Not using pressure cooker may increase your cooking time.