Dal

In Indian cuisine, ***dal*** (also spelled ***daal*** or ***dhal*** in English; pronunciation: , are dried, split  lentils, peas, and beans that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of them in the world. The term is also used for  soups prepared from these pulses. They are among the most important staple foods in South Asian countries

## Use

The most common way of preparing dal is in the form of a soup to which onions, tomatoes and various spices may be added. The outer husk may or may not be stripped off. Almost all types of dal come in three forms: (1) unhulled or _sabut_ (meaning whole in Hindi), e.g., _sabut urad dal_ or _mung sabut_; (2) split with hull left on the split halves is described as _chilka_ (which means shell in Hindi), e.g. _chilka urad dal_, _mung dal chilka_; (3) split and hulled or _dhuli_ (meaning washed), e.g., _urad dhuli_ or _mung dhuli_ in Hindi.

Dal is frequently eaten with flatbreads  such as _rotis_ or _chapatis,_ or with rice. Some types of dal are fried and salted and eaten as a dry snack. 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 (commonly cashews) may be added.

## Common ingredients

- Pigeon pea, i.e., yellow pigeon pea, is available either plain or oily.  It is the main ingredient for the dish _sambar_. In Karnataka, it is called _togari bele_ and is an important ingredient in _bisi bele bath_. It is called _kandi pappu_ in Telugu and is used in the preparation of a staple dish _pappu charu_. It is also known as arhar dal in northern India.
- _Chana dal_ is produced by removing the outer layer of black chickpeas and then splitting the kernel_._ Machines can do this or it can be done at home by soaking the whole chickpeas and removing the loose skins by rubbing.  In Karnataka it is called . Other varieties of chickpea may be used, e.g., _kabuli dal_.

- Yellow split peas are very common in the Indian communities of Guyana, Fiji, Suriname, Jamaica, South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and are popular amongst Indians in the United States as well as India. There, it is referred to generically as dal and is the most popular dal. The whole dried yellow pea is the main ingredient in the common Bengali street food _ghugni_.
- Split mung beans  is by far the most popular in Bangladesh and West Bengal. It is used in parts of South India, such as in the Tamil dish _ven pongal_. Roasted and lightly salted or spiced mung bean is a popular snack in most parts of India.
- _Urad dal_, sometimes referred to as "black gram", is a primary ingredient of the south Indian dishes _idli_ and _dosa_. It is one of the main ingredients of East Indian (Odia and Bengali or Assamese) _bori_, sun-dried dumplings. The Punjabi version is .  It is rich in protein.
- _Masoor dal:_ split red lentils.
- _Rajma dal_: split kidney beans.
- _Mussyang_ is made from dals of various colours found in various hilly regions of Nepal.
- _Panchratna dal_ (Hindi) ("five jewels") is a mixture of five varieties of dal, which produces a dish with a unique flavour.
- _Navrangi Dal_ is a lesser known Dal variety from Himachal Pradesh. It is mostly cultivated in Himachal and is multicoloured.
- _Moth Bean_: is an Indian dal main ingredient for popular Indian snack bikaneri bhujia and Maharashtrian snacks misal and usal.
- Pulses may be split but not hulled; they are distinguished from hulled dals by adding the word _chilka_ (skin).

## Infobox (food)

- **name**: Dal
- **image**: 3 types of lentil.png
- **caption**: Lentils are a staple ingredient in cuisines from the Indian subcontinent. Clockwise from upper right: split red lentils, common green whole lentils, and Le Puy Green lentil, Le Puy lentils. Whole lentils have their outer coats visible.
- **alternate name**: Daal, dail, dahl, pappu, ooti
- **region**: Indian subcontinent
- **main ingredient**: Lentils, peas or beans
- **image size**: 300