Indian Dal / Various Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies.

You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five.

Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas. Some of our family favorite dal recipes are

• Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) 
• Tadka Dal

Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean. Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like

• Mung Dal Kheer 
• Mung Dal Puranpoli

Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas. Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal. 

• Puranpoli/Holige/Ubbati
• Gujarati Dhokla
• Chana Dal Sabji/Curry

Whole Red Lentils or Masoor are black with the skin on, while the lentils are orange in color. Masoor Dal or Red Lentils when cooked, turn yellow in color.

• Masoor Tamatar Dal
• Masoor Dal with Spring Mix Greens
  

Urad dal is also known as Udid dal or Split Black Gram. Urad dal is an important ingredient in South Indian breakfast items Idli and Dosa and the North Indian Daal Makhani.