South Indian Green Tomato Dal Thakkali Masiyal

You might also like these recipes for vegan fried green tomatoes and green tomato stew. This incredibly delicious South Indian Green Tomato Dal, which goes by the name of Thakkali Masiyal in Tamil Nadu where it springs from, is quite easily one of my favorite recipes to make each summer. Partly because that’s the only time of year I can actually get green, unripe tomatoes – in my backyard. Here in the northeastern United States, where I live, I have never actually seen anyone selling green tomatoes, although it could be different in the south where green tomatoes are consumed. So if I want to make this recipe, I have no recourse but to make my own tomatoes. Green tomatoes have a rather delightful and somewhat subdued tartness, which make them a great ingredient to cook with. I make all kinds of recipes when I am lucky to have a good green tomato harvest. This dal, Desi’s favorite, is almost certainly the first dish I make when the tomato vine starts to sprout green globes. This is a ridiculously simple dal and one that you can put together in minutes if you have the right ingredients on hand. Some people use ripe or underripe tomatoes in this dish, and you can certainly do that, but you won’t get quite the same flavor, so it’s worth looking for and finding the green tomatoes if you don’t grow your own. The dal needs nine ingredients, and you probably already have them if you cook Indian food on a regular basis, but if you don’t you can skip three of them – the blackgram dal, the asafetida and the fenugreek seeds. These ingredients make this dal more traditional, but if you can’t get your hands on them, don’t sweat it because you’ll still have a delicious dal.

How to make Green Tomato Dal

Start out by cooking ¾ths of a cup of mung lentils. This is easiest in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but you can also do this on the stovetop. To cook on the stovetop, add ½ teaspoon of turmeric to the lentils, cover with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and continue cooking another 20 minutes or until the lentils are very tender and mushy. Chop 5 medium green tomatoes into a dice of about half an inch. Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to sputter, add the blackgram or urad dal, if using, asafetida, if using, and fenugreek seeds, if using. If you’re not using the last three ingredients, just skip ahead and add the curry leaves next, saute them for a few seconds, then add the green tomatoes. Stir everything well to mix, then turn the heat to medium-low, cover the saucepan and let the tomatoes cook about 5-10 minutes until they’re soft. Add the cooked lentils or dal, add the sambar powder and salt. Mix well and let the dal come to a boil. Add water at any stage if it starts to look too thick. When you add water, always check to see if you need more salt. Let the dal continue to boil on low heat for another five minutes, then turn off the heat and add the cilantro.

Serve

Traditionally, you’d eat this with an Indian flatbread like chapati, or with boiled rice. You can serve an Indian sabzi or vegetable side with the dal. For some reason, I’ve always loved pairing a stir-fried okra sabzi with this dal, and they go beautifully together. You can also serve it with this Curried Carrot Salad, which would be perfect, or with this easy Aloo Matar. If you don’t want to go to the trouble, just serve the dal with rice and some poppadum and an Indian pickle, like this lime pickle or carrot pickle, for a delicious meal.