Nutty-Hot Green Lentil “Drops” with Tomatoes from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup mangori (see Tip)
• ½ teaspoon ground Deggi chiles (see box); or ¼ teaspoon cayenne (ground red pepper) mixed with ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon bishop’s weed
• ¼ teaspoon ground asafetida
• 1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt
• 1 or 2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, finely chopped (do not remove the seeds)
• 1 tablespoon Ghee