Name: Pigeon Peas with Chiles and Jaggery (Toovar Nu Dal)
Yield: Makes 4 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Ghee or canola oil; 1 tablespoon crumbled (or chopped) jaggery or firmly packed dark brown sugar; 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; 12 to 15 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves; 1 medium-size tomato, cored and finely chopped; 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, stems removed, slit in half lengthwise (do not remove the seeds); 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger; ¼ teaspoon ground asafetida; 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds; 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Preparation info

Makes
4 cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

Every Gujarati-speaking household with roots in India’s northwest has a version of Toovar nu dal. The spices vary ever so slightly among households, but the creamy, sweet-hot combination always includes pungent chiles and sweet jaggery. (Sometimes white granulated sugar is used instead, but I prefer the complex, molasses-like jaggery, which you can find in any store that stocks Indian groceries—or failing that, dark brown sugar.)