Toovar Mandvishing nu Dal (Pigeon Pea and Peanut Dal)

I have not been very good about keeping on top of the meal planning and groceries lately. I had been trucking along with the "<x> of the Day" cookbooks pretty well so far. But... I kind of lost my momentum and I've been having trouble getting back in the groove again. So, when dinner time rolled around and I still hadn't gotten together any of the supplies I needed for the other recipes I'd been looking at, I turned to my trusty copy of 660 Curries and paged through the legume section until I found something suitable.

Although this dal couldn't hold a candle to the green pea curry I ended up making to go with it, it was still very nice. The legumes made it filling enough to serve as a main course and the fenugreek added enough greens that it felt like we were getting our veggies as well.

Photo goes here.

Toovar Mandvishing nu Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned, split pigeon peas
• 1/2 c. raw peanuts, skinned
• 4 c. water
• 2 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves
• 1/4 c. shredded, unsweetened dried coconut (or 1/2 c. fresh)
• 1 Tbsp. crumbled jaggery
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4-6 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, halved lengthwise
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida

Directions

1. Combine the pigeon peas and peanuts and rinse well and drain.
2. Add the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Skim off and foam and add the fenugreek.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are tender (20-25 minutes).
5. Add the coconut, jaggery, salt, tamarind, turmeric, and chilies and continue to simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
6. Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
7. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
8. Stir in the asafetida and immediately remove from heat.
9. Pour the ghee mixture over the dal and serve.

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Variants

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned, split pigeon peas
• 1/2 c. raw peanuts, skinned
• 4 c. water
• 2 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves
• 1/4 c. shredded, unsweetened dried coconut (or 1/2 c. fresh)
• 1 Tbsp. crumbled jaggery
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4-6 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, halved lengthwise
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil or vegetable ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida