Improved Yam-in-Gravy

Description
This is (roughly) a Tamil recipe from a cookbook that I bought in Bangalore, called "A Cook's Tour of South India". I doubt it's available here. Fat-free-ized only by the deletion of ¼ cup of oil.

Ingredients

 * 2 cups of small red lentils
 * about 5 cups water
 * 2 tsp [[black mustard seeds]
 * 5 medium to large yams, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
 * enough water to cover the yams by about ½"
 * 1 tsp turmeric
 * 2 tsp tamarind concentrate, blended with water so it dissolves easily in the pot (ever bite a lump of tamarind concentrate?)
 * 1 tsp (or more) compounded asafoetida
 * 1 tsp (optional) finely ground dried coconut
 * ½ cup rice milk
 * ½ cup fresh cilantro
 * a handful of fresh or dried curry leaves
 * salt to taste
 * fresh chili paste to taste
 * 2 tbsp – ¼ cup chickpea (gram or besan) flour mixed with water

Directions

 * 1) Simmer the lentils in the water while you are doing everything else.
 * 2) In a separate, large pot, dry pop (like making popcorn, over medium heat) the black mustard seeds
 * 3) Add to the pot the yams, enough water to cover them, turmeric, tamarind concentrate, blended with water so it dissolves easily in the pot, asafoetida, dried coconut, microwaved with ½ cup rice milk
 * 4) Simmer yams until soft but not falling apart.
 * 5) When lentils are soft (takes about ½ hr if you got the right kind) drain off any water you can and add lentils to the yam pot.
 * 6) Stir and cook, adding more water if mixture is too thick (texture of a thick soup is good, texture of refried beans is "too thick").
 * 7) Then add cilantro, curry leaves, salt to taste, fresh chili paste, chickpea flour mixed with water and gradually thinned to avoid lumps.
 * 8) Dribble into the soup while stirring.
 * 9) The chickpea flour replaces hand-ground chickpeas or mung beans, which thicken the stew, making the sauce more "gravylike". Yum!
 * 10) Also, using the red chili paste (a violently hot Vietnamese concoction with citric acid added to fresh ground chilies) improves the taste. Yum.