Dishes of spiced chickpeas can be found across all of India. This is the Punjabi chole, or channa masala, as it is more commonly known..
Lentils are the main source of protein for the great majority of Indian people.
The cuisine for cooking lentils and legumes is diverse. This section contains some of our favourite lentil dishes. Some are easy and quick. Some are quite complex, fitting the importance of this staple food.
In our home, lentils are a comfort food. The Hyderabadi mixed lentils, and dal with egg are not to be missed.
Cooking lentils can be quick if you use a pressure cooker, and not too long if you cook them on the stove top. Soaking them first will make a big difference to both time and the results.
Preparations of black-eyed peas are common across all of India. This is the Goan way. It has plenty of chilli and coconut and a touch of tomato. This dish, alsande tonak, is a robust, spicy, hot preparation.
A simple dal, dal omeletter is a yellow dal with pickled chillies and a sliced omelette stirred through. Wholesome, flavourful everyday food.
This dish epitomises the taste and style of the Punjab. A smooth texture, delicate flavour layers and a hint of chilli makes this dish of lentils and red kidney beans a global favourite.
The Bengali version of tarka dal. Peyaj dal has a slightly sweet taste because of the way the onions are caramelised in jaggery and balances the bite of the chilli.
This delicious, nourishing dish of mixed dal is a family favourite and is so healthy. Called keoti dal, it is from Hyderabad and is quite robustly spiced.
Creamy, nutritious, protein-rich, iron and mineral-rich, fibre-rich, dal palang is probably the healthiest dish in this cookbook.
Lentils, with spiced oil added just before serving are eaten all across India. There are wide regional differences - this one is our family version and is typical of the Rajasthani cuisine.
A very simple and basic recipe for cooking dal. In this recipe, split pigeon peas are cooked with split red lentils to produce a simple dal. This dal uppu paruppu or dhandar can be used as the basis of other dishes, such as tarka dal, or dal with eggs. It also makes a great side dish. Another comfort food recipe.
These are savoury fried snacks, originating from the south of India. They can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, doughnuts, or dumplings. This recipe for medu vada is our family recipe for a simple lentil-based vada.
Sambar is a dish from the tradition of lentil-based vegetable soups from southern India. This is our family recipe for a simple vegetable sambar, or sabzi sambar.
Dal, when referred to as an ingredient, is often taken to mean lentils, but really refers to a split version of any number of lentils, peas, chickpeas, kidney beans and so on. This essay looks at these ingredients.