Slow-Cooked Onion with Pigeon Peas

Name: Slow-Cooked Onion with Pigeon Peas (Dal Fry)
Yield: Makes 4 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 12 to 15 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves; ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 1 medium-size tomato, cored and finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, stems removed, cut crosswise inton ½-inch-thick slices (do not remove the seeds); 1 small red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced; 1 cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones; 2 tablespoons Ghee or canola oil; 2 tablespoons Ghee or canola oil; ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds, ground; 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground; ½ teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds, ground; ½ teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds, ground; 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, stems removed, cut crosswise inton ½-inch-thick slices (do not remove the seeds); 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, stems removed, cut crosswise inton ½-inch-thick slices (do not remove the seeds); 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt

Dal Fry

Preparation info

Makes
4
cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

Some versions of dal fry literally swim in clarified butter. Fried onions make up part of the flavor base, along with the cooked dal that “fries” in additional ghee, all of which comes together to make an unhealthy, but mighty tasty, curry. This low-fat version is my sister Mathangi’s favorite, and she makes it at least once a week because her family asks for it at every meal.

Ingredients

Asia
India
Main course
Gluten-free
Vegan

Ingredients

Method