Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Maharashtrian lentils

This is one of more than 40 stewed lentil recipes in Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries.  He calls it "kokum moong aur masoor dal."  There are two kinds of lentils--split, skinned whole green lentils (which are yellow) and split, skinned brown lentils (which are salmon colored, but disintegrate and turn yellow in the pot).

Flavoring comes from a bed of sauteed onion and garlic and numerous spices and other ingredients, most notably coconut and kokum.  Kokum is the dried fruit of a tree in West India.  It is slightly sour and has a unique earthy taste.

It's a shame that dal isn't more photogenic.

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