Breakfast
Whole green-gram curry for puttu — a lighter Kerala morning gravy than kadala.
About
Cherupayar curry (Malayalam: ചെറുപയർ കറി) is made from whole green gram — the mung bean, Vigna radiata. It is the everyday alternative to kadala curry when black chickpeas are not on the stove: a lighter, protein-rich gravy for puttu, chapathi, or rice. English Wikipedia notes that in Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu whole mung beans are boiled as a dry or lightly sauced plate, often eaten with congee; in Kerala the breakfast form is this coconut-oil curry.
Cherupayar is green gram (mung bean, also moong). The curry uses the whole green seed, not split yellow moong dal. Onion, tomato, green chilli, turmeric, and a mustard-curry-leaf tempering in coconut oil are the usual Kerala base. Some kitchens grind a little coconut into the gravy; others keep it thinner. The pulse is high in protein, fibre, and B vitamins — Malayalam Wikipedia lists it among India’s everyday nutritious grams.
Soak the whole gram, then simmer or pressure-cook until the skins just split. Temper mustard and curry leaves in coconut oil, sauté onion and chilli, add tomato and turmeric, then the cooked payar and salt. Cook until the gravy clings to the beans. A roasted-coconut paste makes a thicker, kadala-like version; skipping coconut keeps it closer to the dry South Indian green-gram stir that Wikipedia describes with grated coconut.
Homes pour it over puttu — including chemba-rice puttu — or eat it with chapathi and rice. Papadam and banana often sit on the same plate. Payar thoran, a dry coconut stir-fry of the same gram, is a lunch side rather than this breakfast gravy. English Wikipedia also records whole mung beans with congee (kanji) in Kerala and neighbouring states.
Sprouted cherupayar is cooked as a separate curry, sometimes with chickpeas. Cherupayar kanji — green-gram porridge with coconut and a little sweetness — is a monsoon and kalari food in the Malayalam article. Split moong dal soups (mug dal) belong to Bengal and the north, not this whole-bean Kerala curry.
Gallery
How it is steamed, served, and varied — open any image for a larger view.
5 photos
More dishes
Other famous plates from Kerala’s kitchen.