This is a very brothy curry. Basically a soup. Which would normally feature "drumsticks" as the vegetable component. I'm not a huge fan of drumsticks, so I swapped in asparagus since it's now in season here. I also reduced the water quite a bit to make a thicker curry. While I found the results acceptable, neither of us were blown away by it and I probably won't be revisiting this one. It wasn't bad, just not good enough to get excited over either.

Palidu

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toor dal)
• 2-4 c. water, divided
• 1-2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. chickpea flour (besan)
• 2 tsp. dhania-jeera masala
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chiles (or 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne + 3/4 tsp. sweet paprika)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 bunch asparagus, ends snapped and cut into 5cm pieces
• 4 pieces kokum¹
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the pigeon peas, then place in a pot with 2 c. of the water.
2. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until peas are tender (20-25 minutes).
3. Meanwhile, heat ghee over medium heat.
4. Add cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
5. Add garlic paste and cook for another minute or so.
6. Add chickpea flour and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Once peas are tender, blitz with a blender.
8. Add the chickpea flour mixture and stir to combine.
9. If you want a thinner broth, add up to 2 c. of additional water.
10. Stir in masala, ground chilies, and salt.
11. Add asparagus and kokum and bring to a boil.
12. Cook for a minute, remove from heat, stir in cilantro, and serve.

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¹ I didn't have any kokum, so I tossed in a tsp. of tamarind concentrate in its place. ^Back