South Indian Green Tomato Dal, Thakkali Masiyal
This South Indian Green Tomato Dal or Thakkali Masiyal is a delicious summer treat. A vegan, soy-free, gluten-free and nut-free recipe.
Servings: 8
Calories: 86kcal
Cost: $7.45 per recipe/$0.93 per serving
Equipment
- Pressure cooker or Instant Pot (preferred but not necessary)
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup moong dal (yellow mung lentils, called payatham paruppu in Tamil)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 5 medium tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- A generous pinch asafetida or hing (hing or perungayam, optional)
- A sprig of curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds or methi seeds (optional)
- 1 teaspoon black gram lentils (urad dal or ulutham paruppu, optional)
- 2 tablespoon 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 teaspoon 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 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add 1 teaspoon of the blackgram or urad dal, if using, a pinch of asafetida, if using, and ½ teaspoon 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 tablespoon of sambar powder and salt. Taste and add more sambar powder if needed -- I like about 2 tablespoon 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.
Notes
Gluten-free guidance: Pure asafetida is gluten-free but most commercial powdered asafetida contains wheat flour as an anti-caking agent. If you are gluten-free shop for brands that are gluten-free certified, or skip this ingredient.
Nutrition
Calories: 86kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Potassium: 360mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 645IU | Vitamin C: 11.3mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1.8mg