Most telugu speaking house holds prepare a lentil dish cooked with some veggies for their lunch everyday. This beerakaya pappu is one such dish that is made often. These lentil dishes are super quick to make as it just needs dumping all the ingredients in a pressure cooker & cook for 3 to 4 whistles. Then a seasoning or tempering is done. I have always seen my mom preparing all the lentil dishes in a pot in pot method where rice is cooked in one bowl and pappu in another bowl in the same pressure cooker. For some reason I always make all my lentil dishes directly in a pressure cooker which saves a lot of time. However you can also make this beerakaya pappu following a pot in pot method and cook the rice in one pot & pappu in another. For more beerakaya recipes, checkBeerakaya curryEasy beerakaya pachadi Beerakaya fry For more pappu recipes, you may checkTomato pappuPalakura pesara pappuGummadikaya pappuSorakaya senagapappu kura
Pro Tips
1.Always use tender, young & fresh ridge gourd that has no seeds. This kind of gourd is sweeter and less fibrous so it tastes very delicious. 2. Experiment with different kinds of dal. Most andhra pappu recipes are made using only toor dal or kandi pappu. But I always love using little moong dal in all pappu dishes as it yields a thicker texture & is lighter on the tummy. 3.Andhra dishes are extremely spicy , garlicky and hot. But we do not eat very hot foods so I have used a moderate amount of all these. Feel free to add more chilies, garlic, red chili powder & tamarind. 4. I usually avoid green chilies & tamarind in most of my lentil dishes as these ingredients make the dal dishes very acidic. So if you love simple dishes like me then skip both the ingredients and squeeze in little lemon juice before serving.
Serving suggestions
Traditionally most andhra pappu dishes are served with hot rice, ghee, pickle & vadiyalu (andhra style fryums). Beerakaya pappu goes well with rice, chapathi or phulka too. Related Recipes
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