Humble dals cannot be ignored in Indian cuisines. Just scroll through the social media pages using the hashtag #Indianfood, and you will get thousands of popular Indian recipes. Most of them have at least one dal as an ingredient and Dal can easily go with any dish by enhancing the taste and healthiness.
We have a diverse range of lentils and pulses. Colloquially we all call it Dals. The most popular and widely used dals are toor dal, chana dal, moong dal, urad dal, masoor dal and a few more. Every dal is highly nutritious and the benefits vary for each dal. Toor dal contains magnesium, urad dal contains potassium, masoor dal contains more iron and chana dal contains more B complex vitamins.
Chefs and homemakers know the importance of dal in bringing taste and the depth of flavour. But we don’t talk much about dals because it is used in conjunction with other ingredients. Urad dal is an important ingredient but when we think of dosa batter rice comes first to our mind and Urad makes the dish wholesome and nutritious. Dals are used in a lot of chutnies as an ingredient.
In India, Dals are often used as an accompaniment to the rice or roti being consumed. The portion size of dal is usually smaller than the amount it should be. Many are still not prioritizing the use of dal in the regular diet and that is the reason a portion of children and women in India are malnutritious. We can consume this in different forms. This can be consumed even as a snack, at any time. You can make soups, cutlets, breads, vadas, chutnies and there are many more ways you can consume it.
You can make the dishes creatively with bursting flavours, dollops of texture and something delicious in every bite. You can be as adventurous as you like because most dals are subtle and it complements other ingredients. You can mix and match and there lies all the fun.
Dals are a great source of plant based protein.
