India, April 23 -- At first light in Shirajgaon village in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, women move through red gram fields, feeling for pods that are full but still green. The harvest basket fills slowly. By the time the winter sun begins to warm the dry air, vegetables for the day have already been collected.

After harvesting, the pods are shelled by hand. Some are cooked for breakfast, some go into a spiced curry for lunch, and some are boiled later in the field over an open fire. This is red gram before it becomes dal.

Across the dryland districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada, red gram, locally called toor, serves many purposes before it reaches the market. It is a crop farmers rely on when rain is scarce, a seasonal vegetable that c...