Ingredients

• 185 g 1 cup split pigeon pea | toor dal | thuvaram paruppu
• 4 drumsticks
• 150 g shallots | sambar onions | chinna vengayam, after peeling them I got 125 g
• 200 g tomatoes
• 6 g garlic, peeled
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 2- cm ball of tamarind
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves, to garnish

To Temper

• 4 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• A sprig of curry leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek powder
• 5 dry red chillies, broken in half with the seeds gently tapped out
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 green chilly, deseeded (optional; if you’re using the green chilly, reduce the dry red chillies by two)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 4 cups of water

1. 1Rinse the split pigeon pea and soak it in water for half an hour. Also soak the ball of tamarind in a cup of water.
2. 2Meanwhile you can peel the onions and garlic and drumsticks. For the drumsticks, you can use a peeler or a knife. If you’re using a knife, you will have to place the drumstick flat on your cutting board, hold it down with one hand and wielding a knife in the other, scrape the peel away, either with strokes in the same direction or both directions. Like you were sharpening a knife. You could hold the drumstick in your hand, and place the tip on the cutting board instead of the entire vegetable on the cutting board. Then cut it up into 2- or 3-inch pieces.
3. 3Roughly chop the onions and tomatoes, and drain the toor dal.
4. 4Place a heavy bottomed vessel or a pressure cooker on medium heat and add to it the soaked and drained toor dal.
5. 5Add three cups of water, the chilli powder, salt, and the tomatoes and garlic.
6. 6Cover and cook until it is half cooked.
7. 7Open the lid and add the cut up drumsticks. Close the lid and cook until both the drumsticks and the toor dal are cooked. Once it cooks, gently remove the drumsticks and mash the cooked toor dal with a ladle. If your have become soft, skip this step as moving them around will break them.
8. 8While the drumstick lentil curry is cooking you can get the remaining ingredients ready for tempering.
9. 9Heat the oil in a small kadai or wok or frying pan, and once it get hot, add the mustard seeds.
10. 10Once they crackle, add the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds and dry red chillies.
11. 11Sauté for 15 seconds and add the onions, curry leaves and green chilly.
12. 12Fry until the onions are light pink, then add the ginger garlic paste and let it fry for a minute.
13. 13Add the coriander powder, fenugreek powder, asafoetida powder, and turmeric powder. Sauté for a few minutes.
14. 14Add the tamarind water to this fragrant tempering, and let it come to a boil.
15. 15After a few minutes pour this boiling mixture into the hot drumstick lentil curry.
16. 16Gently mix it about, sprinkle the coriander leaves on top, and cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
17. 17Serve hot with rice. You could add teaspoon of ghee or butter to enhance the flavour. Mmmmm… yummy murungakkai parappu saadam.