Name: Peppery Split Green Lentils and Yellow Peas (Porithu Kootu)
Yield: Makes 4 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 2 tablespoons Ghee or canola oil; ½ cup skinned split green lentils (yellow in this form, moong dal), picked over for stones; 8 to 10 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves; 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 2 tablespoons yellow split peas (chana dal), picked over for stones; 2 tablespoons oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones; 1 medium-size russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled, cut into ¼-inch cubes, and submerged in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning; 1 medium-size red onion, cut into ¼-inch cubes; 2 teaspoons Rasam powder; ¼ teaspoon ground asafetida; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric

Preparation info

Makes
4 cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

Unique to the Tamilian Brahmins from southeastern India, this curry is flavored with a spice blend commonly used in the thin, brothlike, tamarind-based rasams. However, with the absence of tart tamarind and the inclusion of onion-smothered multiple legumes and starchy potato, this curry could not be any more different in taste and body than the rasams in this book.