Chintakaya Pappucharu (Raw tamarind sambar)

Pappucharu is a recipe from Andhra cuisine which almost sounds like sambar. But with little variations, main difference is Andhra pappucharu doesn't contain any sambar powder or rasam powder. The consistency of this pappucharu is thin then sambar and we use onion, tomato and any one variety vegetable. Like drumstick, okra, cucumber but not mixed vegetables and no eggplants. Onion and tomato is must for this recipe.You can make pappucharu only with onion and tomato with out any other vegetables. Now i am going to post a pappucharu recipe with out tomato for our BM theme no Tomato gravies for this week.  

Today I am going to replace tomato with raw tamarind pickle or you can use fresh raw tamarind. I used raw tamarind pickle because we don't get fresh raw tamarind trough the year. We make this raw tamarind pickle every year in the season and store it for whole year. We can use this tamarind pickle for making chutneys, rasam, pappucharu instead of tamarind pulp. 

How to make Raw tamarind pickle..

Raw Tamarind  --  500 grams

Salt  ---  100 grams

Turmeric powder  ---  1 tab sp

Select matured (matured but not ripe once) raw tamarind and wash thoroughly and spread them on a dry cloth  let them dry well, make sure no moisture on tamarind.

Now cut raw tamarind in to small pieces and crush them in a mortar -pastel. Crush jently so that you don't crush the seed. Now remove the seeds with your hand.

Again bring back the raw tamarind to the mortar-pastel and make a coarse paste and remove in to a wide bowl.

Add salt and turmeric powder mix well and transfer this pickle in to a glass jar or ceramic jar  cover with lid and tie with a clean cloth and leave it in a clean and preserve. This will stay good for years... So Chintakaya tokku (Raw Tamarind pickle) is ready to use. You want to use this for chutneys or as it is like for chintakaya pachadi you have to wait for 3 days. After 3 days you can use this pickle.

Fresh Raw Tamarind

Mudichintakaya pachadi (raw tamarind pickle)

The second variation to make this Chintakaya Pappucharu is using raw tamarind as it is. Let's see how to take juice from raw tamarind. 

Take 5 to 6 raw tamarind pieces in a pressure cooker add 1 cup water and pressure cook for two whistels let the pressure go.

Take out from the pressure cooker and grind it with little water  remove and strain the fresh tamarind juice.

This fresh raw tamarind juice you can use to make rasam, pappucharu, sambar and pulusu verietes but you can't make chutneys with this juice. Because this is looks like juice means more watery.

If you are using the pickle then dilute a tab sp of raw tamarind pickle in a cup of water strain the juice and set a side... 

Now let's check the Chintakaya Pappucharu....

INGREDIENTS:----

Toor dal   ----  1/2 cup

Raw tamarind juice  ---  1 cup

Onion  ---  1 big cut in to slices

Drumstick  ---  2 cut in to two inch pieces

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder  ---  1/4 tea sp

Red chilli powder  --- 1 tea sp

Oil  ---  1 tab sp

Mustard seeds  ---  1/2 tea sp

Cumin seeds  --  1/2 tea sp

Dry red chillies  --   2 broken

Asafotieda  --  1/4 tea sp

Curry leaves  --- two springs

  

METHOD:---
1. Cook toor dal till soft or cook in a pressure cooker for three whistles and mash well.
2. Boil drumstick pieces and onion slices with one cup water till drumstick are tender.
3. Add tamarind juice to mashed toor dall and add red chill powder, turmeric powder, salt to taste mix well and add this dall and tamarind juice mixture to the boiling vegetables mix well.
4. Before it starts boiling heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chillies, asafoetida, curry leaves let them crackle and add this to pappucharu bring to full boil and switch off the heat.
Here i like to give a tip add a tabsp ghee to the pappucharu before you switch off the heat and close with the lid and serve after 10 minutes. This makes your pappucharu more flavorfull.
Serve Chintakaya pappucharu with rice and any side dish like potato or plantain fry(varuval) or simply with appalam.

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