Tori Ambat (Pigeon Pea Curry)

I made a deal! Yes to cook and post since she does not get Pigeon Peas fresh or frozen in her part of the world. Purnima of Cook was commenting on the other Pigeon Pea dish I had cooked and it brought back memories of her shelling them as a child. On checking how she remembers them being cooked, she gave me this delicious recipe. I have never seen fresh pigeon peas in their pods but I do get the frozen ones. The dish is also heading over to JFI-Toor Dal hosted by dear Linda. Purnima,the smell of the pigeon peas cooking was wonderful so was the dish. The family loved eating it with both chapathis and rice.

Ingredients
1. 3/4 Cup Pigeon Peas
2. 1 Potato peeled and cubed
3. 1/4 Red Onion chopped fine
4. 1 tsp ghee (Purnima said coconut oil)
5. 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
6. salt to taste

Paste
1. a cherry sized tamarind ball
2. 2 tbsp coconut
3. 2 red chilies (I did not have badegi chilies)

Blend the above to a smooth paste adding a bit of water

Method
1. In a sauce pan boil the pigeon peas and potatoes with salt (1/4 cup water)
2. When the potatoes are almost cooked add the paste and bring it to a boil
3. In a separate pan heat the ghee, season with cumin, add the onions and saute till slightly brown and add to the peas,
4. Cover with the lid for the flavors to blend in.

Tori Ambat, Anita's Sookhi Gobhi Aloo, Chapati

Serve with chapatis or rice.

Novel Reading
The inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
I have read so much about the book, it having won the Booker Prize and all. The prose is beautiful but the fact that the tale is sad all around is what bothered me and the cynic in me also sees hypocrisy, the main reason why I don't want to read English books by authors from the subcontinent.