Masoor Pandhra Rassa

I love to travel, especially for the food. I am always in search of places serving authentic fare. A few years ago on one such outing, I came across Hotel Pranjali on the Kolhapur highway. What caught my attention were the two huge figurines donned with traditional Mavla costume blowing a tutari (a traditional musical instrument) The restaurant served us authentic Tambda and Pandhra Rassa in unlimited quantities. The fiery red Tambda rassa was more to my sister’s taste. I guzzled the soothing Pandhra rassa by the gallon. The delicate flavor simply got me hooked. 

Till date I have cooked Mutton and Chicken Pandhra Rassa numerous times at home each time tweaking the recipe a bit tying to find the perfect balance. Today it so happened that I ran out of veggies but had soaked some Masoor earlier the previous night. Usually the lentils and pulses are reserved for the days we abstain from eating non veg. Somehow I find the flavors of the Masoor curry are the closest to the Chicken or Mutton curry, so on a whim decided to cook the Masoor curry but instead of using the fiery hot kanda khobra masala, I opted for the milder more subtle Pandhra Rassa.

This curry was quite a hit with the family. It has delicate flavors and absolutely no turmeric or red chilly in it. The Rassa gets its spice majorly from the peppercorns and some from the green chillies.