Warm Pigeon Pea Salad With Roasted Butternut Squash and Spiced Onions

Split pigeon peas, or toor dal, are traditionally used to make dals and South Indian sambhar, a lentil and vegetable stew served with dosas. But their ability to retain their structure well during cooking makes them an excellent legume to use in salads. One example is this hearty and filling pigeon pea salad that's rich with sweet morsels of roasted butternut squash, gently cooked spiced onions, and a simple dressing made from lemon juice, olive oil, and a bit of Dijon mustard and honey. It pairs wonderfully with thin slices of grilled steak, roast lamb, or chicken, but can also be eaten alone as a one-bowl vegetarian meal.

Preparing the Pigeon Peas

Pigeon peas, like other beans, contain pectin, a fiber that contributes to their firmness. The key to cooking pigeons peas so that they're tender but not falling apart is to salt both the soaking and cooking water. As I’ve written previously, beans harden when they undergo two enzymatic reactions: first, when calcium and magnesium attach themselves to pectin, and second, when an enzyme called pectin esterase modifies the pectin and makes it even more difficult to dissolve. When salt comes into contact with the calcium and magnesium attached to the pectin inside the peas, it takes the place of calcium and magnesium and makes the pectin more soluble, resulting in a more tender bean.

Though you may be tempted to add the baking soda I also recommend in my bean-brining article, this is one case where I'd suggest avoiding it, as the peas may become mushy and no longer retain their distinct texture in the final salad. The salt alone is enough.

Roasting the Butternut Squash

Roasting butternut squash caramelizes the gourd’s sugars, bringing out its natural sweetness. I dice the squash fairly small here—about 1/4-inch—so that it melds nicely with the peas and onions in the salad. Because it's so small, we want to brown it as quickly as possible to avoid overcooking the squash to the point of being mush. I accomplish this two ways. First, I use a relatively high oven temperature of about 425ºF. On top of that, I preheat the baking sheet so that the squash starts to sizzle as soon as it hits the pan.

For the Onions and Dressing

To infuse the salad with sweet and warm spices, I gently sauté diced onion until very tender, then add a medley of spices for the last minute, just long enough to bloom their flavor in the oil. Red chile flakes add a baseline heat, while allspice adds a well-rounded warm-spice profile, and turmeric infuses the onions with both a beautiful yellow color and earthy notes that pair well with both the squash and the pigeon peas.

The dressing for this dish is very simple—just fresh lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and a bit of honey to round out the sharp flavors of lemon and mustard. I prefer the smoothness of Dijon over grainy varieties of mustard, as I find that the more coarse texture doesn’t work as well here.