Dal


In Indian cuisine, dal are dried, split pulses that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pulses in the world. The term is also used for various soups prepared from these pulses. These pulses are among the leading staple foods in South Asian countries, and form an important part of the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent.

Etymology

The word dāl derives from the Sanskrit verbal root dal- "to split", which is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- "to split, divide".

History

Lentils are among the most ancient cultivated foods; they have been found in human settlements dating back to the Bronze Age. Researchers have dated the preparation and cooking of split dal as far back as 800–300 BC.
Dal as a staple food has been mentioned in many ancient religious texts, including the Yajurveda and the Mahayana Buddhist Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra.

Use

Dal are often prepared in three different forms:
  • Unhulled and whole, known as sabut, such as sabut urad dal or mung sabut;
  • Unhulled and split, known as chilka, such as chilka urad dal or mung dal chilka;
  • Hulled and split, known as dhuli, e.g. urad dhuli, or mung dhuli.
The hulling of a pulse is intended to improve digestibility and palatability. It also affects the nutrition provided by the dish, significantly increasing protein and reducing dietary fibre content. Pulses with their outer hulls intact are also quite popular in the Indian subcontinent as the main cuisine. Over 50 different varieties of pulses are known in the Indian subcontinent.
Dal is frequently eaten with flatbreads, such as rotis or chapatis, or with rice. The latter combination is called dal bhat in Nepali, Gujarati, and various other Indian languages. In addition, certain types of dal are fried, salted, and eaten as a dry snack, and a variety of savory snacks are made by frying a paste made from soaked and ground dals in different combinations, to which other ingredients, such as spices and nuts may be added.
Dal preparations are eaten with rice, chapati and naan on the Indian subcontinent. The manner in which it is cooked and presented varies by region. In South India, dal is often called "paruppu". It is primarily used to make a dish called sambar. It is also used to make parippu that is mixed with charu and rice. Ground chana dal is used to make a paste called besan, which is used in the preparation of many dishes including bhaji and Mediterranean dishes like farinata.

Preparation

Most dal recipes are quite simple to prepare. The standard preparation begins with boiling a variety of dal in water with some turmeric, salt to taste, and then adding a fried garnish at the end of the cooking process. In some recipes, tomatoes, kokum, unripe mango, jaggery, or other ingredients are added while cooking the dal, often to impart a sweet-sour flavour.
The fried garnish for dal goes by many names, including chaunk, tadka/tarka, bagar, fodni, and phoran. The ingredients in the chaunk for each variety of dal vary by region and individual tastes. The raw spices are first fried for a few seconds in the hot oil on medium/low heat. This is generally followed by ginger, garlic, and onion, which are generally fried for 10 minutes. After the onion turns golden brown, ground spices are added. The chaunk is then poured over the cooked dal.

Nutrition

As the main ingredient of dal is the pulse used, it gains much of its nutritional properties from the pulse.
Note: All nutrient values including protein are in %DV per 100 grams of the food item. Significant values are highlighted in light gray color and bold letters.
Cooking reduction = % Maximum typical reduction in nutrients due to boiling without draining for ovo-lacto-vegetables group.

Common ingredients