Tart Whole Pigeon Peas is a hearty, meatlike Indian dish of slow-cooked whole toor dhal seasoned with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and fresh chilies, then finished with lemon juice for brightness. It's equally at home hot with flatbread or cold as a side salad.
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Put the toor dhal and water in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours.
After cooking, if there is too much water left, drain it off. (Tip: Save this liquid and use it as a base for vegetable soup.) This should be a dry dish, suitable as a salad.
Place the oil and one or two mustard seeds in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the seeds pop, add the remainder. Shake them gently over the heat, letting them pop but not burn.
Add the onions and green chilies and cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to brown.
Add all remaining ingredients except lemon juice and cook for another minute or two, until fragrant.
Add this mixture to the slow cooker along with the salt. Cook for another hour.
Sprinkle with lemon juice to serve.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days; reheat gently in a skillet with a splash of water. Freezes well for up to 3 months; thaw and reheat on the stovetop or microwave.
slow cooker
Yes. Boil the toor dhal and water in a covered pot on high heat for 45–60 minutes until tender and mostly dry, then proceed with the tempering step as written.
Drain off excess liquid (save it for soup stock). The dish should be dry, not creamy, so it works well as a salad.
Yes. Use fewer green chilies and omit or reduce the dried red chilies. The mustard seeds and curry leaves provide flavor without extreme heat.
Yes. Scale all ingredients proportionally. Cooking time on high remains 3 hours for the dhal, then 1 hour after tempering, regardless of batch size.
Toor dhal (also pigeon peas or toor bean) is a dried legume common in Indian cuisine, available at Indian markets, specialty grocers, and online. This recipe calls for whole, skin-on toor dhal for texture and heartiness.
