Cookbook:Dal
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Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Vegetable | Legumes | Cuisine of India | Cuisine of Pakistan
Dal (also spelt Dahl) is an Indian term that means split, often hulled (skin removed) dried legumes, and can cover many different types of legume. It is also the name given to many dishes prepared with dal.
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[edit] Varieties
The names give away the type of dal - chana dal is the split, hulled chana or brown chickpea, for example. Similarly, the Tamil name is the name of the legume plus parrappu, as in kadalai parrappu (see Cuisine of India for more translations). The most widely used dal in India is toor dal.
- Chana dal – brown chickpeas (Bengal gram, or chana)
- Chowli dal – black eyed peas
- Masoor dal – red lentils
- Moong dal – mung beans
- Moth dal or Moath dal
- Rajma dal – kidney beans
- Toor dal, tuvar dal, Arhar dal – pigeon peas (red gram)
- Val dal – lablab beans
- Urad dal – urad, or black gram
[edit] Preparation
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Dal is often served as an accompaniment to a main dish. The variety of lentils are used and the method of cooking varies according to region and personal taste. Typically lentils are boiled to a semi-liquid consistency, and are spiced by adding vegetable oil or ghee in which spices such as cumin and coriander seeds have been fried.
Served with roti or rice and raita. Dal is a nutritious meal in itself.
[edit] Recipe: (To serve 4)
The procedure for cooking dal in the typical Indian way is described below.
[edit] Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Moong Dal
- 1.5 Cups Water
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tbsps Cooking oil or Ghee
- 1 sprig Curry Leaves
- 1 tsp Jeera
- Salt to taste
[edit] Procedure
- Cook the dal, green chillies and turmeric powder in water, in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Leave the pressure cooker to release steam on its own.
- After the steam is released, open the pressure cooker and mash the cooked dal. Add salt to taste. Add more water if it is too thick and heat on a medium flame.
- Heat oil or ghee. When hot, add jeera and curry leaves. After it splutters, pour it over the cooked dal
- Serve hot with rice or rotis.
Note : Onion or shallots, chopped fine (1 tsp), browned in oil and added to dal, gives a characteristic taste. Mustard seeds fried in oil can also be added.
