About 2 months ago, I had not attemped to make paruppu usli. I always thought it was one of those labour intensive dishes. And I had eaten just three types of paruppu usli: Beans, Cluster Beans and Vazhaippoo (Banana Flower). Last year, when I posted Stuffed Capsicum on this blog, my other namesake had this to say in her comments:
"my mom makes a variation of this where she stuffs the capsicum with capsicum paruppu usli and then sprinkles rava on top and bakes it. The rava gives the crunchy layer and the capsicum is fabulous!"
I knew that I would try this out sometime. I love paruppu usli and I love capsicum. So what's not to love about a dish that has both? I don't think Arundathi has blogged about it yet, and so I asked her for the recipe, and modified it a little. This was part of the Dasara spread at my place that included avial, puliyodarai, tayir vadai, sundal, and semia payasam.
1/2 cup Toor Dal, soaked for 2 hours
1/2 cup Capsicum, chopped
2-3 Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
7-8 Curry Leaves
2 tsp Oil
Grind the soaked dal and the red chillies to a coarse paste and mix it with the turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt. Steam this mixture in a cooker for 10 minutes. Crumble when cool.
Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the capsicum. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the steamed dal mixture.
Cover and cook for another 5 minutes over a low flame. I served this with a multitude of dishes and it was good for 4. On a normal day, it would probably be enough as a side dish for 2 people.
I'm sending this to dear Sug for the second edition of Vegan Ventures.
You could follow Arundathi's mother's method as well. The next time we have a party at home, I'm quite sure I will. In the meanwhile, here's some food for thought: Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.
15 comments:
Capsicum and parippu...great combo..am sure I would love it too..great entry..;-)
this is my all-time favorite and my husband's! yummy!
Hey, Thanks for the daily updates. I absolutely love coming here daily for inspiration!! I am too lazy to put up pictures, but yours certainly add to the inspiration I get!! ANyway, one suggestion - could you add a note about the resulting volume of food cooked? I mean, something like, "# of servings : 2 cups of usili" for instance. That'd add a lot of value to me. And maybe others. -_Deepa
Combo is great though I have not tried.Will try,the dish looks tempting.
Ok, so I need help here. The darned dal - how do you steam it? I put it in idli plates and steamed. And it's not getting crumbly - has become hard, but is not crumbly. How did you steam it? It's been ages since I made it. Too early to call Mom in India!! --Deepa
@Divya: Thank Arundathi for this :-)
@Arundathi: Read comment above. We loved it.
@Deepa: Made the additions. :-)
@Curry Leaf: If you like capsicum and paruppu usli, this is for you.
Raaga, Fantastic recipe. Thks for sharing wd try it out n post a feed back. Looks good in pic too..tks for pointers on steaming n servings.
What a nice twist on the usual usili - Im sure it will taste great!
Miri
its hard to believe that you've never made paruppu usili until 2 months back!!! did i read right?
have you tried asparagus paruppu usli? superb. this looks great too.
Raaga..u are wrong ...
it doesn't serve two..It serves ONE! Atleast at my place! Only Hubby hogged on it! :D Now I shd double the recipe! ITS A WINNER n KEEPER recipe! I had fortunately tasted it, was yummy..the flavor lent by capsicum to our good ol' daali- the chap didn't wait to hear whether side, center or kahan ka dish...just tasted a spoon of it, then the next thing that came was an empty plate..! Thks for sharing such a lovely recipe Raaga!SERVES 1 wt such good taste! :D
You know, it didn't crumble for me when cool. WOnder what I did incorrectly. Have to try it again!!
Thanks for looking for the gumbo recipe for me. Meanwhile, I made your beetroot chutney yesterday. It was good except the quality of frozen coconut I used was no good (too old??)
--Deepa
I love paruppu usuli... beans, capsicum, banana flower, n yes string beans too.. :)
Hey, we capsicum usili at home quite often. Quite delicious it is. BTW,can you get the authentic recipe for this sweet 'Ashoka'- I assume you know that it is an popular one in the Tanjore region, particularly Tiruvaiyaaru. The caterer served this at my wedding eight years ago and the taste still lingers in my tongue. Avarttayae kaettu paNNi paaththaen, it did come out well but not as good as what he served. Moong dal, sugar poattu paNRadhu, unakku theriyumnaa recipe kudaen?
Aarti: I should try long beans :)
Mami: I'm sorry, I haven't even heard of the sweet you're talking about.
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