Appalam Kootu, Dal With Pappads

          Appala Kootu, a dal/ lentil dish where at the end, you add fried pappads to the curry, I tasted this so many years back, I liked the taste but those were the days when I had no idea about cooking. Later I had noted it down from some magazine, I don't remember it, and then once again, totally forgot about it. Recently while sorting out things, I saw this piece of paper with the recipe, and this time I made it the very next day. It's a very simple dish, no chopping vegetables or grinding masalas involved, but the taste is awesome. It tastes very good when mixed with plain rice, also goes equally well with rotis and dosas too..

Need To Have

• Chana Dal/ Bengal Gram - 1/2 cup
• Fried Appalams/ Pappads - 5, broken into peices
• Onion - 1 medium, chopped
• Tomatoes - 2 medium, chopped
• Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped
• Grated Ginger - 1 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 3/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons
• Grated Coconut - 1 tablespoons
• Urad Dal/ Husked Black Gram - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fennel Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Chopped Coriander - 2 tablespoons

Method

          Pressure cook the chana dal with 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and keep. Break the fried appalams/ pappads into big pieces and keep.

          Heat some oil, add the urad dal and mustard seeds and fennel seeds, when it starts spluttering, add the chopped onions, garlic and ginger and saute for 2 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and curry leaves and mix for another 2 minutes.

          Now add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, chilly powder and coriander powder and salt and mix it for a minute. Then add the cooked dal and about 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and then simmer it for about 7 to 8 minutes.

          Finally add the grated coconut, broken pappad pieces and mix, then garnish with chopped coriander and remove.

Note
The appalams that I have used are the store bought ones and are made of urad dal flour and rice flour.
If you want to add some vegetables to this kootu, you can add some chopped cabbage but don't overdo it.