Toor dahl vs Yellow Split Pea lentils

Toor Dahl is on the left, Yellow Split Peas on the right, split peas are more yellow and slightly larger

Indian food has a lot of amazing ingredients.  Lentils (an amazing protein rich "superfood") are something I am still trying to learn more about and understand.  It is ubiquitous in Indian Cuisine.

One of the best dishes using lentils, is a South Indian speciality called Sambar.  I would describe sambar as a very flavourful lentil curry, often with the consistency of a soup.  It is spicy, often loaded with vegetables, and really good for you.  In the South, we eat it for breakfast, it often comes as a side with dosas, idlis and vadas. 

In researching sambar recipes, the recipes vary from person to person and region to region, but the one consistency seems to be the dahl/lentil you use.  Most recipes, as well as family members, say that Toor Dahl is the best dahl to use for sambar.  Toor dahl is split yellow pigeon peas.  In it's split form, it looks very, very similar to yellow split peas.  Yellow split peas are readily available in most grocery stores, that is the one I bought for a long time.  I have never been able to find whole yellow pigeon peas, but it seems most sambar recipes call for the split variety.

But if you look very closely, they are completely different grains, and they taste completely different.

I find that yellow split peas tend to become very grainy, and mushy when cooked down.  Where toor dahl, maintains a smoother texture, and can stay intact inside a sambar, for a grain with a little bite.

Toor dahl is available in Indian grocery stores, sometimes they come with an oily coating. The oily coating needs to be washed off, so opt for the non-oily stuff if you can find it.

Some websites will tell you that toor dahl and yellow split peas are one in the same. They are not.  If you're trying to make sambar, endeavor to find toor dahl at an Indian grocery store.  It will make a better sambar.