Most Indian restaurants also serve this in a thali. In South India or in Andhra restaurants it is served as menthi kura pappu. The south Indian version has curry leaves in the seasoning. To make methi dal, usually all the ingredients are just dumped in the cooker and pressure cooked till soft. Then a seasoning or tadka is made separately and poured over it. This seasoning brings out the flavors of the whole spices, garlic, red chilies and curry leaves. To make this methi dal we don’t use a lot of spice powders like the other dishes. This simple dal can be served with plain rice, roti, ragi sankati or mudde, cooked millets or with phulka. To make methi dal, lentils and methi leaves can be cooked together. But I have added the methi leaves after cooking dal just not to overcook them. The leaves can are sauteed in oil or ghee along with the temper and added to the cooked dal. To make andhra style menthi kura pappu, most people use tamarind to give a sour taste to the dal. I don’t prefer to use tamarind most times so I try with other ingredients like amchur powder,dry mango slices, a piece of fresh raw mango or lemon juice. If you don’t like your dal to be sour, you can skip the sour ingredient. For more Dal recipes,Dal fryDal palakMoong dal recipeChana dal recipeTomato pappu Gongura pappu
