Pigeon pea is a distant relative of the common bean, native to India, and now grown throughout the tropics. In India it’s called toor dal or redgram because the tough seed coat of many varieties is reddish brown, though it’s most often hulled and split, and the cotyledons are yellow. It’s been cultivated for around 2,000 years, and is made into a simple porridge. Like the other grams, it contains little in the way of antinutritional factors.
From the book On Food and Cooking (2nd edition) by Harold McGee. © 2004 Harold McGee.
By permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.