Parippu Curry

Parippu curry is the opening dish of the Kerala sadya, the Onam banana-leaf banquet, where the courses are eaten in a customary order beginning with rice, ghee and this dal. Moong dal cooked with coconut and a coconut-oil tempering is a basic pattern of Kerala vegetarian cooking, and parippu is its plainest, most everyday form raised to the feast. As a satvic dish without onion or garlic it belongs squarely to the temple-and-sadya tradition; no inventor or date is recorded.

Smooth, thick and golden, the moong dal cooked down until it almost dissolves, with the ground coconut giving a sweet, faintly grainy richness. The taste is gentle and rounded — mild dal, sweet coconut, a low warmth of green chili and the resinous lift of curry leaves and popped mustard from the tempering. A spoon of ghee melts into it on the rice, adding nutty fragrance. It is soft and soothing, the quiet, nourishing first mouthful of a long feast rather than a bold dish in its own right.

The dal is the gentlest cooking on the leaf. Split moong, which breaks down faster and milder than toor or chana dal, is boiled (often pressure-cooked) until it collapses, then lightly mashed for a smooth, pourable body. The ground coconut paste is stirred in toward the end and simmered only briefly, off a hard boil, so it thickens without splitting. The whole flavor turns on the tempering: mustard seeds, dried red chili and curry leaves popped in hot coconut oil until fragrant and tipped in, which perfumes an otherwise plain dal with the unmistakable Kerala aroma. There is no browning of onion or tomato, which is exactly what keeps it pale and satvic.