Savour this unique Andhra dish gongura pappu, a delicious vegetarian dal made of lentils and sorrel leaves that comes with a lip-smacking tangy taste that could linger in your taste buds forever... A simple and easy way to boost up your immunity and a healthy way to kick start your day...
Table Of Contents:
1. Gongura Pappu
2. An Overview Of Gongura Pappu
3. Biological and Geographical Facts Of Gongura
4. Benefits Of Gongura
5. Ingredients Required To Make Gongura Pappu
6. Cooked Directions
7. Some Tried Tips
8. Nutritional Value
9. Faqs
10. Perfect Accompaniments
11.. Interesting Serving Ideas
Gongura Pappu is a traditional lentil recipe made of Roselle, Indian Sorrel Leaves, an indispensable part of Andhra Cuisine that is well known for its fantabulous and fiery dishes. We have a host of Gongura based dishes from Andhra, and this Gongura Pappu is one of the much adored recipes which any gourmet would love.
An Overview Of Gongura Pappu:
As the name suggests, it is a pappu variety made of gongura leaves with some regular ingredients and a major dish in the day today life of Andhra people. You can never consider an Andhra meal complete without a gongura based food. Next to gongura pachadi, this gongura pappu is the much sought after dish in any Andhra household. It has time tested nutritional value and adds sourness to food which is desirable and ultimately delicious when taken with steamed rice with a dash of ghee.
Biological and Geographical Facts Of Gongura:
Roselle, Its scientific name being Hibiscus Sabdariffa, is a herbaceous perennial plant and widely grown in India, especially Andhra Pradesh. This leafy green comes in two varieties generally green and red stemmed while the red stemmed tastes more sour than the other. It grows in warm, humid or dry climate and requires rainfall for about 200cms per year on an average. It grows well in tropical and sub tropical climate and belongs to the family of Malvaceae.
Benefits Of Gongura:
Gongura leaves cools the body and reduces inflammation. It is one of the traditional methods in Andhra Pradesh to mix gongura extract with buttermilk and give as a remedy for ailments like common cold, indigestion and even jaundice. It has potassium, calcium and magnesium , iron, sodium and it is also contains folate. Besides being rich in anti oxidants and fiber it also a rich source of Vitamin A, B1, B2, B9 and C. Moreover, it detoxes the liver and prevents hypertension. Gongura is one of the suggested food for patients with breast cancer. It is good for eyes, hair and skin and thus an age old remedy for maintaining youthfulness and beauty too.
Let us see the simple recipe of Gongura Pappu:
Ingredients Required To Make Gongura Pappu:
Directions To Make Delicious Gongura Pappu:
Clean and wash the gongura well and add it to a pressure cooker. Plop in a quarter bowl of tuvar dal after soaking it for about ten minutes. Flunk in some shallots and three or four green chilies along with a chopped tomato. Finally add a few garlic pods and some cumin seeds. Sprinkle in the required rock salt followed by half a teaspoon of turmeric powder. Pour in three fourth bowl of water and pop the lid on and pressure cook for about five to six whistles. Turn off the flame and wait for a while. Do the tempering when it cools down.
Heat a wok and plop in the boiled green and dal to it and mash well using a masher. Lower the flame and let it boil for a while. In the meantime, heat oil in a tiny saucepan and scatter some mustard and cumin seeds to it. When it pops up, tip in a tiny bit of solid asafoetida and stir in. Then add two roughly torn red chilies to it and followed by some chana dal and broken urad dal. Finally throw in a sprig of curry leaves and waif for it to splutter. Now add these tempered ingredients to the boiling gongura and mix altogether. Let it boil in high flame for a minute or two and when it becomes fragrant, just turn off the flame. Now the aromatic gongura pappu is ready for serving. Serve it with rice, pulusu and pickle.
Some Tried Tips That May Help You:
1. Let the green be fresh and tender as they are absolutely tasty to make pappu. Wash them well before use and you can either store in a zip lock without rinsing or you can blanch and freeze.
2. Sometimes, we may like the dal to be absolutely mushy, or at times we may want it to be slightly grainy especially, while adding in greens. So you count on the whistles accordingly. Both the versions tastes equally good and have visual appeal too.
3. In some versions, they add a little bit of sugar while boiling the gongura, as it may balance the overall flavor of the gongura pappu. And similarly, in some regions of Andhra Pradesh they use senagapappu (chana dal) as it gives more crumbly texture to the gongura pappu.
4. Unlike making other pappu, be liberal about the usage of green and red chilies and it has to compensate for the tanginess of gongura.
5. Let the rice be steam hot and always add a spoon of ghee before serving the gongura pappu.
Faqs:
1. Which variety of gongura is suitable to make pappu?
Mostly, only the green stemmed variety is chosen to make gongura pappu probably for its reasonable amount of tanginess.
2. Can we boil the pappu and gongura separately?
Yes, by all means. This is one method to retain the color of gongura and the texture of pappu perfectly.
Perfect Accompaniments:
1. Panasa pottu kura
2. pachi pulusu
3. Steamed Rice
4. Pullihora
Serving Ideas:
Spread a plantain leaf and serve a full Andhra meal that includes pulihora, tomato pappu chaaru, bendakaya pulusu, dondakaya veppudu and our special gongura pappu with avakaya and bhiyyam payasam. Ghee, kandi podi and pickle are a must in any Andhra Thali and make your ambience so authentic with some popular Telugu tracks in your gramophone to get a typical native touch.
Ingredients
Directions
Clean and wash the gongura well and add it to a pressure cooker. Plop in a quarter bowl of tuvar dal after soaking it for about ten minutes. Flunk in some shallots and three or four green chilies along with a chopped tomato. Finally add a few garlic pods and some cumin seeds. Sprinkle in the required rock salt followed by half a teaspoon of turmeric powder. Pour in three fourth bowl of water and pop the lid on and pressure cook for about five to six whistles. Turn off the flame and wait for a while. Do the tempering when it cools down.
Heat a wok and plop in the boiled green and dal to it and mash well using a masher. Lower the flame and let it boil for a while. In the meantime, heat oil in a tiny saucepan and scatter some mustard and cumin seeds to it. When it pops up, tip in a tiny bit of solid asafoetida and stir in. Then add two roughly torn red chilies to it and followed by some chana dal and broken urad dal. Finally throw in a sprig of curry leaves and waif for it to splutter. Now add these tempered ingredients to the boiling gongura and mix altogether. Let it boil in high flame for a minute or two and when it becomes fragrant, just turn off the flame. Now the aromatic gongura pappu is ready for serving. Serve it with rice, pulusu and pickle.
