A South Indian Green Tomato Dal or Thakkali Masiyal is a delicious summer treat. A vegan, soy-free, gluten-free and nut-free recipe.
This incredibly delicious South Indian Green Tomato Dal, which goes by the name of Thakkali Masiyal in Tamil Nadu where it springs from, is quite easily one of my favorite recipes to make each summer.
Partly because that's the only time of year I can actually get green, unripe tomatoes -- in my backyard. Here in the northeastern United States, where I live, I have never actually seen anyone selling green tomatoes, although it could be different in the south where green tomatoes are consumed, most famously as fried green tomatoes. So if I want to make this recipe, I have no recourse but to make my own tomatoes.
Green tomatoes have a rather delightful and somewhat subdued tartness, which make them a great ingredient to cook with. I make all kinds of recipes when I am lucky to have a good green tomato harvest, like my vegan fried green tomatoes and this vegan green tomato stew. But this dal, Desi's favorite, is almost certainly the first dish I make when the tomato vine starts to sprout green globes.
This is a ridiculously simple dal and one that you can put together in minutes if you have the right ingredients on hand. Some people use ripe or underripe tomatoes in this dish, and you can certainly do that, but you won't get quite the same flavor, so it's worth looking for and finding the green tomatoes if you don't grow your own.
The dal needs nine ingredients, and you probably already have them if you cook Indian food on a regular basis, but if you don't you can skip three of them -- the blackgram dal, the asafetida and the fenugreek seeds. These ingredients make this dal more traditional, but if you can't get your hands on them, don't sweat it because you'll still have a delicious dal.
Ingredients for South Indian Green Tomato Dal
- Mung dal (variously called moong dal or payatham paruppu). These are teeny yellow lentils and you can easily find them online or at the Indian grocery store.
- Green tomatoes.
- Curry leaves
- Sambar powder
- Black mustard seeds
- Urad dal or blackgram dal (optional)
- Asafetida or hing (optional)
- Fenugreek seeds (optional)
- Cilantro
How to make Green Tomato Dal
- Start out by cooking ¾ths of a cup of mung lentils. This is easiest in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but you can also do this on the stovetop. To cook on the stovetop, add ½ tsp of turmeric to the lentils, cover with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and continue cooking another 20 minutes or until the lentils are very tender and mushy.
- Chop 5 medium green tomatoes into a dice of about half an inch.
- Heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add the blackgram or urad dal, if using, asafetida, if using, and fenugreek seeds, if using. If you're not using the last three ingredients, just skip ahead and add the curry leaves next, saute them for a few seconds, then add the green tomatoes.
- Stir everything well to mix, then turn the heat to medium-low, cover the saucepan and let the tomatoes cook about 5-10 minutes until they're soft.
- Add the cooked lentils or dal, add the sambar powder and salt. Mix well and let the dal come to a boil. Add water at any stage if it starts to look too thick. When you add water, always check to see if you need more salt.
- Let the dal continue to boil on low heat for another five minutes, then turn off the heat and add the cilantro.
What to serve with Green Tomato Dal
- Traditionally, you'd eat this with an Indian flatbread like chapati, or with boiled rice.
- You can serve an Indian sabzi or vegetable side with the dal. For some reason, I've always loved pairing a stir-fried okra sabzi with this dal, and they go beautifully together. You can also serve it with this Curried Carrot Salad, which would be perfect, or with this easy Aloo Matar.
- If you don't want to go to the trouble, just serve the dal with rice and some poppadum and an Indian pickle for a delicious meal.
If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know in the comments below. Or take a photo, share it on Instagram, and tag me @holycowvegan!
More recipes with green tomatoes
More vegan dal recipes
- South Indian Cabbage Dal
- 10-minute Vegan Dal with Basic Tomato Onion Sauce
- One-Pot Garlicky Spinach Dal
- Dal Tadka
- Cholar Dal
- Tomato Dal
South Indian Green Tomato Dal, Thakkali Masiyal
Equipment
- Pressure cooker or Instant Pot (preferred but not necessary)
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup mung lentils (moong dal or payatham paruppu)
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 5 medium tomatoes
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- A generous pinch asafetida (hing or perungayam, optional)
- A sprig of curry leaves
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
- 1 tsp black gram lentils (urad dal or ulutham paruppu, optional)
- 2 tbsp sambar powder (since sambar powders that are storebought can vary widely from each other and those that are homemade, it's a good idea to add a tablespoon first, check if you want more, and add the rest, a little at a time, if needed)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Start out by cooking ¾ cup of mung lentils. This is easiest in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but you can also do this on the stovetop. To cook on the stovetop, add ½ tsp of turmeric to the lentils, cover with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and continue cooking another 20 minutes or until the lentils are very tender and mushy.
- Chop 5 medium green tomatoes into a dice of about half an inch.
- Heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add 1 tsp mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add 1 tsp of the blackgram or urad dal, if using, a pinch of asafetida, if using, and ½ tsp fenugreek seeds, if using. If you’re not using the last three ingredients, just skip ahead and add the curry leaves next, saute them for a few seconds, then add the green tomatoes.
- Stir everything well to mix, then turn the heat to medium-low, cover the saucepan and let the tomatoes cook about 5-10 minutes until they’re soft.
- Add the cooked lentils or dal along with any remaining cooking water, add 1 tbsp of sambar powder and salt. Taste and add more sambar powder if needed -- I like about 2 tbsp in mine, but storebought brands vary widely from each other and from homemade versions.
- Mix everything well and let the dal come to a boil. Add water at any stage if it starts to look too thick. When you add water, always check to see if you need more salt.
- Let the dal continue to boil on low heat for another five minutes, then turn off the heat and add the cilantro.
Okay, I don't normally post comments, but this was sooooooo good I HAD to post. I added all the ingredients listed, but added a few chilli peppers since I had a huge harvest of peppers. Wishing I had more green tomatoes to make this again - will have to wait til next year. Thank you for posting, it was delicious & super easy!!!!
Hi Christy, so happy to hear you enjoyed it! I just made some this week. It's one of my family's favorites, and especially Desi's. 🙂
I just made the green tomato dal for the first time this evening. I couldn’t find my hing... but I had all other ingredients. ( I did use dry curry leaves as it was too far to go to get fresh ones)
I have a question: What is the “purpose “ of the tsp. of black urad dal... which is fried along with the fenugreek seeds. The urad is not boiled, so it stays a bit crunchy... and it’s only a single tsp. ... so if you could tell me the reason for inclusion of it (albeit optional) in the recipe, I’d enjoy the story:-)
Anyway I’m enjoying the dal !!
The urad dal is there for texture, and you can definitely skip it. When you fry it, make sure it gets lightly golden so it becomes crunchy and isn't hard.
I'd advise using cilantro if you don't have fresh curry leaves. Dry curry leaves have no flavor at all. Add the cilantro at the same time as the curry leaves. Hing adds great umami to the dal, so always a good idea to use it.
Happy you're enjoying the dal.
Delicious! I used Moong dal and green tomatoes from my garden (and 2 Tbsp of Sambar powder!). We eat a lot of dals and this one is now a favorite and a "go-to" for green tomatoes. The fenugreek seed and Sambar powder give it a hearty taste that is different from other dals. Love it; thank you for sharing it!
So happy to hear, Lisa!
Does anyone have any idea how much a medium tomato weighs? I have 4kg of green tomatoes - all cherry tomatoes. So I haven't the faintest idea how many to use!
Use approx 2 pounds of tomatoes.
Created this tonight using the green tomatoes that have already needed picking. I used chana dal, which required a little more simmering, but made a hardy meal. Thank you so much for this spectacular dish!!! Try it, everyone!!
Thanks, Heidi!
Vaishali, this looks so good and I have never seen a dal recipe that uses green tomatoes! I'm really excited to try this. 🙂
Hi Julia, hope you do -- it's one of Desi's favorites and we love it! 🙂