Five-Spiced Whole Pigeon Peas

Well, this didn't work. First, the owner of the Indian grocery where I went told me that nigella seeds were black sesame seeds (they aren't) and that I could use white sesame seeds in their place (you can, but since nigella seeds are different it didn't work). This grocery also didn't sell whole peas, only split, and he said you could easily substitute. Split are quick cooking and won't give the same texture as called for in the recipe, plus the cooking method is different. I cooked them as called for in Pigeon Peas with Chiles and Jaggery on page 426, and went with this recipe to finish. It ended up being a starchy, pasty mess with hardly any flavor.

I know messing with recipes shouldn't be reviewed, but I had no choice since I went off the advice of a well-meaning man who didn't speak much English, but if you are going to make this know that even though I did change one tiny spice and a different way of cooking the peas, it probably will taste very similar, which is not at all.