RUMOURED FORBIDDEN

It's time to banish the fears around khesari dal, or grass pea, and relish the nutritious legume

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

I WOULD have never tried grass pea had an acquaintance not brought me some from her village in Jharkhand. The legume (Lathyrus sativus), also known as khesari dal in Hindi, lang in Marathi and laag in Gujarati, has been infamous for causing lathyrism, an irreversible neurological disease that leads to paralysis of lower limbs. But my acquaintance assured me that people in her village consume it regularly.

Traditionally, the legume, which resembles toor dal (pigeon pea), is consumed in the form of sattu, a protein-rich flour made from a mixture of pulses and cereals, added with wheat flour to make rotis and puris, or simply boiled to prepare a dal. On my acquaintance's suggestion, I used the grass pea to make pakoris (fritters) and added them to a potato curry (see recipe).

PERSISTENT PRESENCE

The use of grass pea is common among the poor, since it is one of the cheapest legumes and grows easily in fallow fields, can be rotated with any crop and needs little to no investment. It is also tolerant to drought, salinity and water logging and resistant to pests and biotic stress. In terms of nutrition, grass pea has high levels of proteins, second only to soybean, and even has the compound L-homoarginine that is beneficial to heart health.