Dal is to India what pasta is to Italy Cheap to produce highly nutritional suitable for long storage & capable of being cooked in a basic pot on an open fire dal has been providing nourishment to millions of Indians for millennia It truly is a pan-Indian dish consumed by rich & poor alike It is high protein & has practically no sugar
- in fact it is known as 'poor man's meat' in India
- hence doctors now include this as an essential item in a diet for diabetics Dal is a genuinely impressive dish of infinite variety
- there are at least 50 recipes for this humble food There are multiple ways of cooking it wide-ranging seasonings are used & there are diverse supplements to serve with it Over the centuries Indian cooks became innovative & with locally available ingredients they dished out dal to satisfy a regional palate In the process they also invented new dishes using dal lentils such as kedgeree (khichari
- a risotto made with lentil) dosas (pancakes mixed with lentil flower) vadas (lentil cakes) dhokla (baked lentil cakes) papadam (dried lentil snack) & pakoras (fritters dipped in lentil batter)