Stormy Night Lentils – Pigeon Pea Lentils with Dill and Radish

Stormy night lentils feature pigeon peas or Tuvar Dal with Radish and Dill.  Radishes are around a plenty, but dill is a little bit of a visitor in my kitchen.  These lentils  with dill were first made when we had superstorm Sandy. Trapped in a storm, I made this with what I had on hand.

It features on and off, when I have lots of dill around and crave comfort and warmth. I love this bowl of goodness when it rains, definitely when it snows and of course anything in between.

Hurricane Sandy is blowing, blistering and making her way through New York. I have been winking, ok, closing my eyes through all the new since friday and listening to things getting bad to worse. Once upon a time, one could ignore weather warnings and it would go away. Things were not quite so precise a few years back and maybe this is my version of memory, the weatherman always seemed to exaggerate and at the end of things it all worked out much better. Of course, I have since learnt my lesson.

The Breakdown of Dal

On the Indian table, we have dal or lentils almost everyday. It gives us simple wholesome balanced nutrition. Therefore to keep things interesting we have an assortment of dal recipes offering us every kind of variation and seasoning. Tuvar dal or pigeon peas are more common in Northern India.  Of course, it is used in South India for a Sambhar. And here and there of course, it shows up on the Bengali plate, such as in this recipe for lentils with green mangoes. A dal is essentially a stew made of lentils. It offers a great base to use any vegetable that you have on hand, like I have done with the radish. I literally have added in 2 cups of grated white radish.  These lentils with dill, are the only way I mesh dill and lentils.

It’s all about the Tarka

After a dal is cooked through, usually in a pressure cooker in Indian homes. The dal is finished with a process called tarka. This consists of finishing the lentils with spices toasted in hot oil. The hot oil is then poured into the lentils. Lastly if needed, the dal is finished with a souring agent, in this case lime juice and fresh herbs. More commonly, that tends to be cilantro or mint. But today dill is having a moment in my kitchen. Now, there is something called a dal tarka, where we start with the tempering process. However, that is a little special.

Bottom line, if you are looking for ways with beans and lentils, just pick up an Indian cookbook. Here is a link to mine. This recipe uses an instant pot, however any pressure cooker or just simmering for a long time on the stovetop will do. See the notes for stove top instructions.