Name: Lentil and aubergine curry
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 225 g/8 oz/1 cup pigeon peas (toor dhal); 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 large aubergine (eggplant), quartered lengthways and cut into 2.5cm/1 in pieces; 30 ml/2 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves and stalks, finely chopped; 225 g/8 oz fresh tomatoes, chopped; 2.5 ml/½ tsp black mustard seeds; 2.5 ml/½ tsp black peppercorns; 7.5 ml/1½ tsp salt, or to taste; 15 ml/1 tbsp coriander seeds; 5 ml/1 tsp cumin seeds; 1–4 dried red chillies, broken up; 30 ml/2 tbsp tamarind juice or the juice of 1 lime

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook

By Mridula Baljekar

Published 2017

About

A really perfect partner dish for Steamed Rice Cakes this curry, Sambhar, is equally delicious with boiled basmati rice and, interestingly, with crusty white bread, too. The choice of vegetables used in the dish is flexible - in this version aubergine and tomatoes are used. Pigeon peas are now widely available from most Indian shops.