Paruppu usili is generally considered a ‘festival’ dish among Tam Brahms and is usually served during weddings. For me, it is a dish that can turn a couple of my not-so-favourite veggies into a wholesome and delicious dish. My early memories of this dish are of my mother preparing this dish, with my favourite combo of vendakkai (ladies finger) mor kuzhambu, during festivals, or when we had guests! While the traditional recipe uses beans, I have also tried making usili with cabbage and that tastes equally good.
Soak the toor dal and Bengal gram dal in separate containers for about 3 hours. Add the red chillies to the soaked dals. After 3 hours, drain the water completely, and grind the dals in the mixer along with the red chillies, hing, and salt.
Heat oil in a pan and add the ground mixture. Keep the flame low and cook it. After some time, the ground paste will start crumbling into pieces. (The other option is to steam the ground past
Cook the finely chopped kothavarangai in a pressure cooker. (Optionally, you can cook it directly in the pan, adding salt, turmeric, and some water. But since that takes longer to cook, I cook it in the pressure cooker.) In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, and when they splutter, add the urad dal, and the curry leaves. Fry it till it browns and then add the cooked beans. Finally, add the usili mixture and mix well.
It can be served with mor kuzhambu rice or sambar rice
Refrigerate leftovers
