Thotakura Pappu and Dahi Mirch

Thotakura or Amaranth or Maat ki bhaji or Chawli ki bhaji are the names of my favorite leafy vegetable in different languages. Sometimes when the whole family would go on road trips we would stop at Andhra Meal hotels...I don't know if they still exist because when the Golden Quadrilateral road project was built to connect various cities of India, the road was built to by-pass the villages. So it was also by-passing all the old hotels and meal places.
               Anyway in those hotels my favorite dish was ThotaKura Pappu. This Dal dish I make it either thick or a little thinner consistency with some other side dish. Today I made Bell pepper with yogurt and it was amazing. So here's the recipes

Maat ki Bhaji Dal (Lentils with Amaranth leaves)

Thotakura Pappu

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup toor dal (toasted)
2. 3-4 cups Amaranth leaves chopped along with stems
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, urad dal,mustard seeds, salt, chilly powder , turmeric
5. 1 big or 2 small garlic pods chopped 
6. 1 big or 2 small tomatoes chopped
7. 2 dried red chillies broken
8. Few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker add the dal, tomatoes and leaves along with turmeric with 2 cups water and cook for 4 whistles. Let all the steam escape and open the cooker and mash the dal a little. Add one more cup of water and bring to a boil. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds and urad dal along with red chillies and curry leaves for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and fry for one more minute. Add the dal to this and the rest of the ingredients. Stir and bring to a boil. SImmer for 5-7 minutes. garnish with cilantro if desired and serve with hot rice

Dahi Mirch (Capsicum and potato in yogurt gravy)

Dahi Mirch Salan

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 green and 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper cut into cubes
2. 2 medium small potatoes boiled
3. 2 tablespoons oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, salt, chilly powder
5. 1/2-3/4 cup plain yogurt beaten
6. 1/2 cup milk
7. 1 heaped teaspoon besan (chickpea flour)
8. 1 teaspoon kasuri methi

Peel the potatoes and mash 1 and set aside. Cut the other potato into small pieces. Heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a minute. Add the potato pieces and fry for 5 minutes. Add capsicum or bell pepper and fry for few more minutes. Move them to one side of the pan and add besan to it and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the milk and yogurt mix and mix well. Add chilly powder and turmeric and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Cut the heat. Add salt and kasuri methi stir to combine and serve hot