I was wondering it would not be proper for me if I don’t feature a Malabar recipe in the theme “Lentils and Sides” for the Blogging Marathon #81. Let me make it clear that we don’t make lentil very often. At least not in my house… 🙂 The only way I know of umma making lentils is in this brinjal curry and mostly as side for ghee rice.
So you can understand my excitement when I saw this recipe in the book “Malabar Cuisine” (you can read the review here). This lentil curry is so easy to make plus we have not given up on the coconut here as well. 😉 Somehow, most of our gravies have to have coconut used up in some form or the other. I was really not sure how the curry would turn out but we all loved it with our rice. The ease of making it guarantees that this will feature on our Saturday lunch tables more frequently. The recipe used only toor dal, but I used a mix with masoor dal, since I ran out of it. Nonetheless, it is delicious. The gravy was slightly on the runny side, so if you love thicker dal curries, then I suggest to add an extra 1/4 cup of lentil of your choice, while keeping the remaining ingredients the same. Off to the recipe…
Parippu Thalichathu ~ Malabar Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup toor dal
- 1/4 cup masoor dal
- 1 small onion minced
- 1 green chili slit
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 to mato cubed
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 4 shallots sliced
- Salt to taste
- FOR GRINDING:
- 1/4 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 tsp fennel
- 5 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Pressure cook the lentils along with the onion, chillies and turmeric till done.
- Grind the ingredients under "for grinding" till smooth and set aside.
- In a chatti, heat oil. Splutter mustard seeds. Fry the curry leaves and shallots till cooked.
- Add in the cooked dal, the ground paste, tomato, salt and water as required. Simmer for around 5 minutes and switch off.
- Serve hot along with rice and sides.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page to see what the other Blogging Marathoners are doing this BM#81
While this is a basic dal in almost all the Indian states, that ground paste surely makes it typically kerala..:)..and I know I would love it. I have used that ground masala in thorans, gravies but not in a dal as yet..will surely make it sometime!..Nice to know you have featued different states in this theme..
Just definitely a basic dal with a little coconuty twist! 🙂 Thank you so much Valli…
Loved this..so flavourful and yummm.I love Kerala cuisine its so similar to ours ..
Thank you so much Gloria…
I would love some for my flatbread 🙂
Thanks a lot Angie… 🙂
Lentils are a must in everyday menu , this Malabar curry sounds flavourful with those spices , delicious one !
Thank you so much Vaishali…
The malabar style is a little different from our style parippu curry.. We add cumin instead of fennel and we use split moong dal..will try this sometime,kollam !!
Thank you so much Julie… the Malabar side is more into fennel than cumin for sure!
Any type of daal is always a comfort food …good share
Thanks a lot Amrita…
Adding fennel makes a dal taste so different. Delicious curry.
Thanks a lot Mayuri…
This sounds so flavourful Rafeedha. Looks very inviting
Thanks a lot Veena…
The ground masala sounds so flavorful. I am sure it makes the dal super tasty.
Thanks a lot Varada…
Good one.. Will try this out soon.. Love all Kerala style dal recipes.. Simply love it when made in coconut oil..
Thank you so much Sharmila…
That is one flavorful dal. I love masoor dal and I make my dal tadka almost always with masoor. I love the ground masala in this. It is something that we don’t make often. Bookmarking this to try sometime this week 🙂
Masoor dal is something I saw my umma cook with… she would only use that and moong dal for our kichadi, no other dal! I don’t know why, maybe the ease of cooking! 😀 Thanks a lot Sandhya…
How aromatic this lentil curry will be na, such a lipsmacking curry..
Thanks a lot Priyakka…
Sounds delicious and simple. Ground coconut is used in Goa too I think it is mostly the Konkan belt where grinding of coconut is a must even for Dal. In Goa funnel, i snot used for dal but who says I should not??? Will make it for sure.
Thank you so much Archana… in Malabar, fennel is used into almost every savory curry…
such a comfort food isn’t it…. love it anytime with some rice and ghee to top it with.. uff you made me hungry again
Hehe… Thank you so much Anupa…
I love the flavors of Malabar cooking – one of my faves. this sounds like a delicious lentil curry
Thank you so much Mir…
I can imagine the flavors here Rafee! And also your excitement 😂 we make dal almost every day ! I love the coconut Masala here, though I use coconut in my dal but not ground with other spices! Will try this next time 😊
Hehe… Thank you so much Priya… 😀
This with some hot rice and ghee is a bliss! Altho we use sambhar powder to make everyday kind of sambhar , I am
Partial to the aruchivitta (ground masala) versions more, esp with coconut and fresh spices ! Yumm
Thank you so much Kalyani…