Tomato pappu also known as Andhra pappu or tomato dal, is a basic lentil dish from Andhra cuisine. An Andhra meal is incomplete without a lentil dish cooked with some veggie, curry leaves & spices. This tomato pappu is made very often in Telugu Speaking homes and is eaten with plain rice, ghee and Avakaya (Andhra style hot mango pickle). This is the only recipe you will ever need to make a delicious, rich and healthy Andhra pappu.

Tomato Pappu
Tomato Pappu is just dal cooked with lots of tomatoes, spices and herbs in Andhra style. “Pappu” is a Telugu Word that translates to “Dal” (lentils). Andhra tomato pappu is a winner for its simplicity and unique taste. The dish is super simple to make and starts by pressure cooking dal and tomatoes until soft.
Later the cooked tomato pappu is tempered with curry leaves, red chili, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and garlic.
With this basic Andhra pappu recipe, you can make tons of variations by adding your favorite veggies or even leafy greens. The recipe I am sharing here is the most common method followed in Telugu speaking homes and even in Andhra restaurants.
If you have ever tasted a pappu from an Authentic Andhra restaurant and loved it then this recipe may help you recreate it.
The key ingredient in a tomato pappu recipe is the tamarind that brings in a unique taste & flavor when it is pressure cooked along with the dal.
Andhra pappu is usually made with only toor dal known as kandi pappu. Feel free to use a small portion of moong dal to enhance the taste. Most times I use it that way.
More Dal recipes
Dal makhani
Dal fry
Chana dal
Masoor dal
Dal palak
How to Make Tomato Pappu (Stepwise Pics)
Pressure cook dal and tomatoes
1. I usually cook the dal directly in a pressure cooker. But for this post I have shown it in a bowl and then placed it in cooker. If you do not have a cooker you can make this in a pot.
2. Add ½ cup dal to a bowl or cooker or pot.

3. Wash the dal several times until the water runs clear. Drain the water.

4. Add 1 to 2 green chilies and cleaned a small piece of tamarind.

5. Next add 2 chopped tomatoes. I prefer to deseed the tomatoes. Pour 1 cup water and little turmeric. You can also add turmeric later after cooking. A lot of people also add a sliced onion and some red chilli powder. If you want you may add a small onion and 1/4 tsp red chilli powder.

6. Pour water in your cooker. I used about 1 ½ cups water. Place the steam rack or plate.

7. Keep the bowl in the cooker.

8. Cover the bowl.

9. Pressure cook for 3 to 5 whistles on a medium heat depending on the kind of cooker. If cooking directly in cooker, then let it whistle twice.
If cooking in a pot, add more water as needed and cook until soft.

10. When the pressure drops open the lid. Dal and tomatoes have to be soft cooked. If you have kids, you can set their portion aside before mashing the chilies and tempering. I usually do it for my younger boy.

11. Mash and check the consistency. Pour little water if needed to adjust the consistency.

12. Add salt and mix.

Tempering tomato dal
13. Poppu or Tempering can be done in 2 ways. First method is to temper in a small pan and pour it to the cooked dal. The second method is to pour the entire cooked dal to the tempering pan. This method doubles the taste and flavor of tomato pappu.
Heat 1 tablespoon ghee or oil in a pan. Add ¼ teaspoon mustard, ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds and 1 dried red chili (broken).

14. When they begin to splutter, lower the heat if needed. Add garlic and curry leaves.

15. When they turn crisp, add ½ tsp red chili powder. Skip the red chilli powder at this step or use little if you have already added to the lentils while pressure cooking.

16. Quickly mix it with ghee.

17. Pour the tomato dal to the pan.

18. Turn off the stove and mix well.

Serve tomato pappu with rice, avakaya and ghee.

Pro Tips
1. I have not used onions as we don’t like the pressure cooked flavor of onions in pappu. If you like to use add about 2 to 3 tbsp chopped onions.
2. Red chili powder is usually added to the pressure cooker along with tomatoes. Again it is personal choice, I prefer to add it to the tempering.
3. If making for toddlers or young kids, then set aside their portion after pressure cooking (before tempering with chilli). Just add ghee, salt and pepper to their portion.

Related Recipes
Recipe Card

Tomato Pappu | Andhra Tomato Dal
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
To cook pappu
- ½ cup split pigeon peas (kandi pappu or toor dal)
- 2 medium tomatoes cubed ( I also deseed)
- 1 to 2 green chilies slit or chopped
- 1 cup water
- ½ to 1 tbsp tamarind or chintapandu (use as needed)
- 1/8 tsp turmeric or haldi
Tempering tomato pappu
- 1½ tbsp Ghee (or oil)
- 1 sprig curry leaves or kadi patta
- ¼ tsp cumin (jeera)
- ¼ tsp mustard seeds
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic crushed (if you don’t use garlic, use ginger)
- 1 red chilli (broken)
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 pinch hing (optional)
Instructions
Cook lentils
- Add toor dal to a cooker or pot or a large bowl. Wash until the water runs clear. Pour 1 cup water to the dal.
- Then add tomatoes, tamarind,green chilies and turmeric.
- If using a pressure cooker then pour 1½ cups water to the pressure cooker and place the bottom plate. Place the dal bowl inside and cover. Pressure cook on a medium heat for 3 whistles. If you are coking directly in the cooker, then 2 whistles. Or you can also cook in a pot until soft.
- Once the pressure releases open the lid. Add salt and mash the dal to slightly coarse or smooth to suit your taste. To adjust the consistency you can very well add more water.
Temper Tomato Pappu
- Heat a pan with ghee or oil. Add cumin, mustard. When they begin to splutter, add red chilies, garlic and curry leaves. If needed you can add more green chili as well.
- Fry till the leaves turn crisp. Add red chili powder & hing (optional). Quickly stir in the pan and pour the mashed dal to the tempering.
- Mix well and do not cook further. Serve tomato pappu with with rice, ghee and avakaya.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Tomato Pappu Recipe first published in September 2014. Updated in June 2022.

Thanks for the recipe! Great for someone like me, living in the US, away from home :)!
Why do it say do not cook further after tempering? Just curious.
Hi Kishore,
Thank you so much! With this kind of tadka, if the dal is cooked further it will splatter a lot. Also another reason is that a lot of Telugu speaking people feel after adding the tempering dal should not be cooked longer as it may lose the flavor. Hope this helps.
So simple yet so good, thank you!? The taste of fried garlic is just perfect there. Although I added 6 small cloves. I have done it twice this week, once with onion and the other without. I agree with your taste and comment and next time I skip onion also ?
Hello Helis,
Glad to know! Yes skip the onions it tastes better
🙂
Cooked this just now. Being a north Indian, I had always loved the uniqueness in its flavour. You made it super easy to cook. It tastes delicious! Thank you so much for posting!
Welcome Anshu
Glad you liked it. Thank you!
Awesome ! Thanks for sharing !
I have made this recipe like a million times already. I add a bit of jaggery to the mix and it is super:)
Glad you like it!
Amazing , easy to make and delicious recipe! I just have 2 suggestions, please don’t get me wrong, I love the recipe but I found two things that might help future users:
1. Tamarind is mentioned as an ingredient but, in the textual recipe, there is no mention of when to add it. It is there in the pictorial step-by-step recipe though.
2. If we need to make more servings, do we double all the ingredients? I did that but, again maybe mentioning it might help!
Your recipe is great, ma’am and helped me a lot but, I thought these suggestions might help future users. Hope you don’t mind 🙂 Thank you once again!
Hello Sneha,
Thank you so much! Yes true it will surely help other readers. I have updated it. Yes the recipe can be doubled. Thank again for your time. So glad to know you liked it.
🙂
I made this recipe and it was very yummy. Thanks SwathiJi.
Hi Aditi
You are welcome! Thank you
I like the way you teach with the pics step by step. It is easy to understand……?
Thank you!
Dal is not mashing properly. What to do? Even after 8 whistles it’s not mashing to smooth consistency. Is there pressure cooker problem?
Also why did u put Dal in pot & then pressure cooked it? U can directly put it in the cooker right?
Hi Saraswati,
If the dal is too old stock or if you do not add enough water then dal will not get cooked. In the recipe I have given the option to cook directly as well. We make tomato pappu this way. Dal in one bowl and rice in another bowl. Mine does it in 3 whistles with this method.
For cooking millets in the pressure cooker can you tell me what is the ratio of water for one cup of millet and how many whistle. Thanks
Hi Lalitha,
Which millets do you want to cook? Each kind has a different cook time.
usually 1:3 is good, 1 cup millet, 3 cups water
I like the way u teach step by step wit very clear pics
Thanks Ayesha!
Hi Mam,
Can we add hing to the papu?
Yes You can add
Hey swasthi..I am just loving your recipes..making cooking easy for me..thank you so much.
But there is some problem with this site it seems as it is showing reload page again n again..kindly look into this.thank you?
Welcome Geetha
Thanks for trying the recipes. I didnt understand the problem. Can you pls tell me in detail
Hi swasthi how r u ? Tried tomato pappu several times always tasts good thank u for the recipe
Hey Supriya You are welcome
I am good. Thanks for asking.
🙂
How are you doing?
I want to learn all south indian snaks , curry, breakfast etc
Hi swathi…ds web site is vert useful to learn cooking…and to learn how to make yummy healthy food…thnk u so much nd thnx to indianhealthyfood page….
Welcome Pavani
Glad to know the recipes are useful.
Thank you
Really like this with the tamarind
Thank you
I was very poor in cooking until my late twenties. Then I married an Irish man who loves Indian food. Following your recipes with images has made cooking a walk in the park for me. I have tried some very interesting recipes from here. Thanks a million for doing what you do.
Glad to know you Maddy. You are welcome.
Really happy to know the recipes have helped you.
Thanks for the feedback.
Dear mam
I am working on a story for The Hindu Metro Plus (Chennai, India) on native Indian cuisine and we have listed Tomato Pappu as one of the recipes.
Could you give us permission to use this image (with credit) or could you send us the image used in the above link for publication? We would need it as soon as possible.
Awaiting your response
Thanking you
Warm Regards
Harshini
Hi Harshini,
Thanks for contacting. I have sent the image to your email. Do let me know once it is published.
Love your recipes very much. Tomato pappu very nice and easy. Thanks
Welcome and thank you prathima
Thanks, very nice
welcome