Pigeon Pea Fritters with a Yogurt-Tomato Sauce

Name: Pigeon Pea Fritters with a Yogurt-Tomato Sauce (Toram Paruppu Vadai)
Yield: Makes about 25 Fritters (Serves 10 to 12)
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt; 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; ¼ cup yellow split peas (chana dal), picked over for stones, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and drained; ¼ cup finely chopped red onion; 1 tablespoon canola oil; 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 1 medium-size tomato, cored and finely chopped; 1 or 2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, finely chopped (do not remove the seeds); 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 3 or 4 red Thai or cayenne chiles, to taste, stems removed; 1 cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones; ½ teaspoon ground asafetida; Canola oil for deep-frying; 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

Toram Paruppu Vadai

Preparation info

Makes about 25 Fritters (Serves
10 to 12
)

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

This combination of fritter and sauce, referred to as vadai-pachadi in Tamil-speaking kitchens, is an absolute must for weddings and auspicious religious functions. The yellow split peas, left whole but soaked until tender, provide a delicious crunch to these spicy fritters.

Ingredients

For the fritters

1 cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones
3 or 4 red Thai or cayenne chiles, t

Method

Place the pigeon peas in a medium-size bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with water and rinse the peas by rubbing them between your fingertips. The water will become cloudy. Drain this water. Repeat three or four times, until the water remains relatively clear; drain. Now fill the bowl halfway with warm water and add the chiles to the peas. Allow the peas and chiles to soften by