Whole masoor still has its brown skin on, and that skin changes everything. Where split red lentils dissolve into a puree in twenty minutes, these keep their shape and their bite.

Same lentil, completely different dish.

Soak an hour if you have it, then simmer until tender but intact. Make a dry masoor sabzi with onion and tomato, add them to a mixed dal, or cook them into a thick soup where you want to see what you are eating.

Available at Curry Corner in North Melbourne.