masala chickpeas
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..
dal
Dal – the quintessential Indian dish.
black-eyed pea curry
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.
dal with egg
A simple dal, dal omeletter is a yellow dal with pickled chillies and a sliced omelette stirred through. Wholesome, flavourful everyday food.
dal makhani
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.
Bengali dal
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.
Hyderabadi mixed dal
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.
dal with spinach
Creamy, nutritious, protein-rich, iron and mineral-rich, fibre-rich, dal palang is probably the healthiest dish in this cookbook.
tarka dal
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.
yellow dal
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.
lentil dumplings
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.
vegetable sambar
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.
what is dal?
Dal, when referred to as an ingredient, is often taken to mean lentils, but really refers to lentils, peas, chickpeas, kidney beans and so on. This essay looks at these ingredients.