Name: Split Green Lentils with Bitter Melon (Teto Dal)
Yield: Makes 4 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 1 cup skinned split green lentils (yellow in this form, moong dal), picked over for stones; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 4 small to medium-size bitter melons (about 1 pound total); 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems for garnishing; 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar

Preparation info

Makes
4 cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

In a brightly lit cubicle at a software-consulting firm in Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, Sangha Mitra Ray chatted with me about Bengali foods from her childhood. The burgundy saree draped around her petite body highlighted her Western-style short haircut. Sangha described how her family’s eating habits have changed (olive oil replacing higher-fat mustard oil, for example). She still cooks west Bengal classics for her husband and their daught