Lentil Dessert for My Legume Love Affair

My entry for My legume love affair, started by Susan about a year ago.

My mom loves experimenting in the kitchen. One of the delights of her life is to play detective in the kitchen - basically figure out how a particular dish she liked was made and try and do it on her own. I guess that's something I inherited from her.

Recently, she went to a lunch hosted by a friend and had a really interesting lentil dessert and the next day couldn't resist trying to create it on her own. It turned out to be really simple, delicious and healthy!

Ingredients:

Tapioca pearls - 1 handful

1 cup yellow moong dhal

Jaggery - about 2 tablespoons, grated

1.5 cups milk

Handful raisins

7-8 pieces cardamom, peeled and powdered

Handful cashews, roasted in ghee

Cook the moong dhal with approximately twice as much water until very soft and almost pasty. Wash the tapioca pearls several times in water until they turn soft and fluff up.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, add the moong dhal, milk, jaggery, tapioca pearls and raisins and cook until the pearls are translucent, stirring occasionally.

Add the powdered cardamom and stir to mix. Top with cashews and serve. This dessert can be served either cold or hot - when cold it will be somewhat stiff, while when hot it is runny like a thick milkshake.