Vankaya Pappu (Daal with eggplant)

Daals are an integral part of South Indian cuisine. You can prepare simple daal by not adding any other ingredients except daal like Mudha pappu, or you can add various vegitables to enhance the taste. One variety among the daals is Vankaya pappu.

Ingredients

Toor Daal - 1 cup
Egg plants - 2 (Indian variety)
Tomato - 1 large cut into big chuncks
Onion - 1 small cut into big chunks
Green chilli - 5 - 7
Tamarind - 1/2 lemon size
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Toor Dar, egg plant, tomato, onion, chilli, tamarind

Method:

Wash and soak Daal for about 30 min. Wash and cut the egg plants. Heat a deep pan or pressure cooker and add tsp of oil. When it is hot add egg plant pieces and fry for a minute to get rid of the raw taste and also it enhances the veggie taste. Gradually add onion, chilli, tomato, toor dal, and turmeric. Add 2 cups of water and drop the tamarind at the end so that it remains on top and pressure cook for 3 whistles. If you are not using the pressure cooker, do not add tamarind until the daal has cooked well.

Allow the pressure to go and mash the daal by adding salt while it is still warm.
For seasoning, heat a kadai (small pan) add 1 tblsp of oil and when it is hot add crushed garlic, red chillie, curry leaves, mustard seeds and cumin. Add the hot seasoning to the daal and mix.
Enjoy with hot rice.

Vankaya pappu with Annam (Rice)