The market · Beans and pulses · South Asia, The Middle East, East Africa

Red lentils

Split, hulled lentils that cook in minutes and collapse into softness.

earthy · mild

What to do with it

Classics built on it
Sri LankanParippuRed lentils cooked soft in coconut milk with turmeric and green chilli, then tempered with onion, mustard seed, curry leaves and rampe.No one here has made it yetTurkishMercimek çorbasıRed lentils cooked with onion, carrot and a little potato, blended smooth, with red pepper butter and a wedge of lemon.No one here has made it yetEthiopianMisir watRed lentils cooked in a berbere-spiced onion base until soft and thick — the everyday fasting stew.No one here has made it yet

Goes with

ground cuminturmericberbere

Knowing it

Where to buy
Anywhere; South Asian grocers sell them as masoor dal.

Kitchens that keep it in

West Bengal — eastern India, on the Ganges deltaBengaliFish, rice and mustard: a delta kitchen of sharp mustard oil and freshwater fish, eaten in courses from bitter to sweet, and ending with some of India's most famous sweets.9 classicsSri Lanka — an island in the Indian Ocean, off the southern tip of IndiaSri LankanRice and curry, coconut and heat: an island's cooking of dark-roasted spice, sour goraka and fierce sambols, shaped by Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher kitchens.10 classicsTurkey — Anatolia and Thrace, between the Black Sea and the MediterraneanTurkishKebabs off the charcoal, yoghurt with nearly everything, vegetables slow-cooked in olive oil and pastry rolled thin as paper — the cooking of Anatolia and the Ottoman table.10 classicsEthiopia and EritreaEthiopianStews called wat, deep with berbere and spiced butter, eaten with the hands from a shared platter of sour, spongy injera.9 classics

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