Pappu Chaaru comes to rescue for our Sunday dinner. After the heavy lunch, this is what has been on menu for many years at our place. We normally never think of making this on any other day or anything else for a Sunday dinner. Pappu Chaaru can be prepared in many ways. Infact, Athamma has a different one from what I learnt from Amma. Will have to try that one day. Ours is a simple dish which doesn't take that much time. My brother, infact says there is nothing to beat Amma's Pappu Charu. Chaaru as we call in Telugu, is more like Sambar except this is more running and light to have. This is also very easy and simple to make. I just make papad or appalam to go with this. But this time made Arbi Stir Fry. This is the variety that Amma used to make for us when we were in school, later she got into the habit of preparing it like this. Since its ages I prepared Arbi like this, wanted to try again.
This is also my entry for Express cooking challenge thrown by mallugirl. I haven't resorted to anything stored in Fridge till date. But the way things are going at home, may think of doing that in coming days.
Our Meal had
Rice
Pappu Chaaru
Arbi Stir Fry
Curds/ Yogurt
Pappu Chaaru
Serves - 4
Preparation Time : 5 mins
Cooking Time : 20 mins
Cuisine : Andhra
Ingredients Needed
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - small lemon size
Tomato - 1
Coriander Leaves - few
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Water - 1 cup
For tempering
Sambar Onions (shallots) - few
Curry Leaves - few
Mustard seeds + Urud dal + Cumin Seeds + Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Dried Red chili - 1
Oil - 1 tsp
Samagadda Fry or Arbi Stir Fry
Ingredients needed
Arbi - 250 gms
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander pw - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric a pinch
Salt to taste
Mustard Seeds + Urud dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 2 tsp
How I did this under 30 mins. All my cooking gets done under 30 mins, except for Non-Veg. But this is the first one I timed myself.
0 - 10 min.
Wash and Soak Tamarind in water. Soak Sambar Onions in anther bowl of water. This way skin comes out soon. Take rice, clean and soak for 10 mins.
Pressure cook Toor dal with turmeric and 1 drop of oil. Cook for 3 whistles. This way dal gets cooked soon and better.
10- 15 min
Extract juice from Tamarind. Chop Tomatoes.
Dal gets done in 3 whistles which comes out by 10 mins. Remove the lid, mash it and add tamarind juice, tomatoes, chili pw, coriander pw, salt. Coriander leaves.
Pressure cook for another whistle
Take Arbi, pressure cook for 3 whistles.
Put the Rice cooker to get cooked. This takes 3 whistles.
Check the Arbi and put it under fan to cool. Then peel. If somebody is near by, rope them in. Of course hubby dear refused to be a part of this hurry.
15 - 25 min
Heat oil in a pan, fry all the tempering ingredients for Chaaru and add to the cooked dal.
Then heat another kadai with Oil, Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Sauté in Arbi pieces and sprinkle turmeric pw and salt.
Sauté well with oil so that Arbi does not stick together. Then add Chili pw, Coriander Pw. Fry well. Do not cover with lid as it will make the arbi soggy.
Keep stirring frequently. This gets done in 15 mins.
Rice gets ready by this time.
25 - 30 mins
Transferred all the dishes to bowls to be served. We always set our Curds some 6 hrs before or depending on the season.
Of course, cleaning all this mess takes more than 10 to 15 mins. Normally I try to minimize the usage of cookers by reusing them after one dish is done. This time I used 3 cookers for all the dishes. Well I managed to do this within time. Phew!
Since hubby dear wouldn't partake in this hustle, gave him the honour of taking pictures.
We enjoyed our sunday dinner with a cool shower blowing our way!
Mallugirl says
lovely looking thali. i wil have that anyday!
Asha says
A great comfort food! Plate looks great!:)
LOL! Hubby got the honor to honor your food!
Sharmi says
the Arbi stir fry has caught my attention. how did you cut them so small?
Cinnamon says
Yummy Thali 🙂
Looks great!!
Prajusha says
sri,
the dinner menu looks nice .pappu chaaru is absolutely a perfect express curry 🙂
Preethi says
It sure is a lovely meal..infact this is tonight's dinner... i couldnt dream of racing against your time record..are you using a single cooker for all of this... doesnt time between cooking dishes in a cooker take longer than mentioned..i've got a hawkins and it takes ages before i can open after switching off....
but in all.. i love the combo.. 🙂 nice blog..keep the mouth watering stuff coming...
ramya says
paapu chaaru tastes very divine it's prepared everynight in my grandmom's place.
wow those days we can sit and eat this delicious chaaru.
bee says
thanks for the papu chaaru recipe, dear sri.
bee says
thanks for the pappu chaaru recipe.
Suganya says
Perfect combo Srivalli! Roasted arbi with hearty dal. I can have this even after lunch 😀
SeeC says
Very comforting meal. Lovely spread. Nice entry too 🙂
Cynthia says
This is some good comfort food!
Coffee says
I am coming over for lunch Sri! 🙂
Latha says
Your pappu charu is inviting! I agree with you 100%, We usally cook most of the meals in 30 minutes. Express cooking should have been for 10 minutes.
great meal Sri.Best wishes for more entries to all events!
Lia says
perfect combo! i love that for my lunch today 🙂
Srivalli says
Thanks Asha..yes I convinced him to do so
Thanks Shaheen..you are welcome to it,,,
Glad it did ..Sharmi...Since I boiled it first, it was quite easy to cut it small
thanks Prajusha
Welcome to my blog...Preethi....Normally I try to use the same cooker to reduce the cleaning chore...this time used three cookers ...also since I know how many whistles will get the stuff cooked using my cookers, if I am in a hurry will put it on one extra whistle and put a spoon gently under the whistle.. this way pressure gets out and you can open the lid within seconds...I use prestige cooking range..
.glad you took time to visit me...do visit again...
Welcome bee..glad you liked it...
Thanks Cinnamon
Great to know you are up and browsing...Suganya
Thanks ..SeeC
Thanks Cynthia
yeah...glad to know pappu charu has so many fans...ramya
pls do Coffee..you are welcome anytime..
haha...thanks Latha
Thanks you liked it Lia
Padma says
A very comfy lunch menu for the day and with that clock ticking it really worth the time...
Srivalli says
Thanks Padma...it sure was hectic to complete on time..
sridevi says
hi
I was looking for typical Andhra receipes. Thanks . I found ur receipes pretty nice reading itself made mouth watering.
Sridevi S
Anonymous says
Hey Sri that was a yummy recipe,i was looking for Arbi fry with this recipe i found few other recipe also ,but tell u the truth ur's was easy & best.Thanks.
TheKeyBunch says
Beautiful~ I jst tried the arbi:)
Thanks for the recipe!
Sharon
http://www.thekeybunch.com
Jhanani says
Best combo, Valli. Today I prepared Arbi stir fry for lunch and it was very tasty. Thanks for the tip.It really helps in getting crispy Arbi.