Upeseru (Indian Lentils with Greens)
Upeseru is a village dish from Karnataka in southern India, built from lentils and greens and eaten with ragi balls. The cook gets two things from one pot: a dry dish of lentils and spinach, and the drained cooking water, which becomes a sharp, garlicky broth. A chutney of green chilli, tamarind, peppercorn and cumin goes in at the table, with lemon to finish.
Instructions
Heat the oil and fry the mustard seed, curry leaves, diced onion and split green chillies until the onions are partly browned.
While that cooks, put the lentils on the stove with their cooking liquid and add the chopped spinach. Boil until the spinach is tender.
Drain the lentils and greens, and keep the cooking water in a separate container for the sauce.
Stir the fried spice mixture into the drained lentils and greens, and add salt to taste. Keep the pan on the heat until the flavours have blended.
For the chutney, lightly dry-roast the chillies and tamarind if you like. Grind them with the coriander, garlic, peppercorns and cumin, adding a little water, until you have a paste.
Bring the reserved spinach-lentil water to a boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
To serve, stir a spoonful of the chutney into the hot broth and squeeze in the lemon juice. Serve the lentils and greens with the broth and with mudde (ragi balls).
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