Forgotten delicacy: Paruppu Usili

Ever since my childhood, I used to pester my mom to prepare this paruppu usili for me every single week. It’s a lentil crumble which can be prepared with vegetables like beans or banana flower or cluster beans or onion or carrots and so on. Even without the vegetable, this dish can be mixed with plain rice dotted with ghee. It not only adds body to a vegetable like beans but also a great flavour. But my personal favourite is when this dish is done with banana flower (vazhaipoo in Tamil). The combination of paruppu usili, mor kozhambhu which is a kind of stew made with butter-milk and garlic pepper jeera rasam (which is a clear soup eaten with rice) makes a tasty South Indian main course. Sundays are the perfect time to indulge in such traditional lunches followed by an extended afternoon siesta. 

It is very simple and easy to prepare and it is not time consuming. The things you need are readily available in your nearest supermarket. So why don't you look at this recipe and go shopping. This is the recipe which has been used in my family for years...so here am letting the secret out.

1/2 cup toor dal  Handful chana dal (split bengal gram dal)  2 red chillies  1 green chilli  pinch of asafoetida  Pinch of turmeric powder  2 cups chopped  banana flower (vazhaipoo in Tamil)  Oil  1/2 tsp mustard seeds  2 red chillies  Salt to taste

The process is so easy and it takes so nostalgic that you would make it over and over again...So just start cooking as it is a time tested recipe......

Wash and soak the dals for 3-4 hours.   Drain the dals well. Take the dals, 2 red chillies and one green chilli with some sea salt, a pinch of turmeric and asafoetida in a mixer. Rough grind the above. Don't make too smooth a paste. Remove the ends of the banana flower and any other fibrous parts and the bulb from inside. Chop them into small pieces. Place them in little water to which turmeric and salt has been added. In a steamer / cooker without whistle steam the above mixture for about 10 minutes. Once cooled, crumble it well with your hands. Try and take only as much water as is needed to cook the beans so that you don't have to throw away any water in the end. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Crackle the mustard seeds in the oil, add the 2 chillies. Then, add the crumbled usili and saute till it turns golden brown. This is the paruppu-usili. Saute for another 2-3 minutes. Paruppu Usili is ready to serve. Instead of   Banana Flower(Vazhappoo) , Cluster Beans(Kothavarangai),  carrots or French Beans can be used. Can be served with Rice. Let me know how it all went......wait for my next recipe Vathal Kozhambu