Palakura Pappu (Spinach Pappu)

Palakura Pappu is a Andhra style side dish of lentils cooked with spinach and spices. Palakura translates to spinach and pappu to lentils. Made in numerous ways, this dish is a staple in the Telugu speaking households. In this post I share how to make it in 2 ways – regular soupy style and podi pappu with palakura.

Growing up my Mom would make podi pappu often with methi and palakura. The regular style soupy Palakura Pappu or methi pappu was very rarely made because we were fussy to eat that.

About Palakura Pappu

The main difference between the 2 was pressure cooking the lentils and palak together for the regular style dish, while podi palakura pappu is cooked in a pot taking care not to overcook the lentils and the leafy greens.

The podi pappu is usually finished with an aromatic tempering that includes the curd chilies (chala/ majjiga mirapakayalu). It is best mixed with hot rice and ghee for a delicious meal. This dal also goes well with roti, chapati or ragi roti. Kids will love this version.

Until I began to cook myself I didn’t realize pressure cooking alters the flavors of palakura completely and that’s why growing up I never liked the soupy version. So to make the soupy version, now I always pressure cook the dal first and then add the chopped spinach directly and let simmer until wilted. To this I add the thalimpu/ tempering.

Traditionally to make this dish, dal, palakura, garlic, tomatoes, onions, chilies, tamarind, turmeric and red chili powder are pressure cooked all at once, until soft. It is finished off with a tempering of mustard, cumin, red chilies, garlic, hing and curry leaves.

This is the actual Andhra style Palakura Pappu that’s followed by a lot of people. But I really feel sad for the greens being treated so harshly in the pressure cooker.

Though I pressure cook my other pappu dishes like Sorakaya pappu, Beerakaya pappu, Mango dal and Tomato pappu, I prefer not to do that with my greens. Because they are delicate and don’t really need longer cooking. I have updated these recipes recently to include all these versions. I also have 2 more versions of Dal palak here.

Ingredients

• Pappu: Traditionally toor dal is the standard lentil used to make this dish. But a lot of times I add little moong dal along with toor dal for flavor and texture. For the podi pappu, we I use only moong dal.
• Palakura: Use young spinach or baby spinach. Mature spinach takes longer to cook and can have a metallic taste. But if that’s what you have, remove the stalks and use only the leaves.
• Aromatics: Onions, garlic and green chilies add flavor and heat.
• Tomatoes: I generally do not use tomatoes in my palakura pappu but instead use tamarind or lemon juice. I have not used tomatoes in any versions in this post. If you eat low oxalate diet, avoid using them with palak completely.

More Palak recipes
Spinach curry
Palak rice
Spinach omelette
Palak pakoda

Photo Guide

I have shared the podi pappu version in the recipe card below.

Step by step Photo Instructions

1. Add ½ cup pappu/ toor dal to a pressure cooker or a sauce pan and rinse well thrice. Pour 1¼ cups water. Optionally you may add 2 tablespoons chopped onions/shallot, 1 green chili, 1 garlic clove, 1 small tomato (deseeded and chopped). I have not used any of the optional ingredients. Pressure cook for 2 whistles on a medium heat or in the instant pot for 10 mins. When the pressure drops, open the lid and mash the dal slightly.

To cook in a sauce pan, bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to medium and cook until tender, adding more hot water as you cook.

2. While the dal cooks, pluck spinach leaves (2 cups/100 grams/4 to 5 ounce) and wash them in lot of water several times. Drain them and chop. Add the chopped palakura to the hot dal and let cook until wilted. If your dal is too thick you may add a splash of hot water.

3. When the spinach is cooked completely, it looks wilted and blends well with dal. Add ⅓ teaspoon sea salt (start with less), ⅛ teaspoon turmeric and strained tamarind water (start with less). Stir and mix well. Taste test to adjust salt and tamarind.

Temper

4. Heat 1½ to 2 tablespoon ghee or oil in a pan. Add ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 broken dried red chili, 1 chopped green chili (optional for extra heat) and garlic. When the spices splutter, add curry leaves (pat dry first) and hing. Turn off. (If you want you can stir in ⅓ teaspoon red chili powder for green chilies). I have added the tamarind water here instead of the previous step.

5. Pour the thalimpu/seasoning to the dal. Mix and stir.

Palakaura pappu is ready to serve with chapathi or rice.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card