Ayurvedic Cooking - Dal

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Ayurvedic Cooking - Dal

For vegetarians, beans, dals and lentils constitute an important source of nutrition - they provide protein, complex carbohydrates, fibre and vitamins. Versatile and tasty, dals and lentils lend themselves to being used to make salads, appetizers, soups, main dishes, sides and even dessert. They work well with other foods such as grains, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Mung Dal

Mung beans, split, with skins removed (also known as mung dal) are held to be excellent for all three doshas. Easier to digest than most other beans and dals, mung dal can be eaten everyday. When cooked, mung dal takes on the consistency of porridge. This dal is praised in Ayurvedic texts for its nutritional value and ease of digestion.

Mung Dal

If you’re near an Indian grocery store, other dals you can try are:

Toor dal - yellow, very nourishing, combines extremely well with vegetables.

Chana dal - also yellow, retains its shape even when fully cooked, and has a nutty flavour.

Urad dal - Found split and hulled, or split with the skins on.

 

Heaven's Banquet

Discover other Ayurvedic cookery advice in the Heaven's Banquet Ayurveda cookbook.

Heaven's Banquet: is packed with an astonishing variety of recipes, placed in a global context of cultures, histories and literatures, knit together by the author's thoughtful commitment to the Ayurvedic dietary system that defines health as that which brings body and mind together. Any system that recommends "Eating for Bliss" is worth exploring in some detail. Over 700 International Recipes with Illustrations - By Miriam Kasin Hospadar - Soft back, 610 pages.

Eight useful tips for cooking with dals and lentils:

1. Store dry beans and dals in dry, airtight containers at room temperature.

2. Try and use dals and lentils within six months -- the older they get, the longer they take to soak and cook because of lost moisture.

3. Sort dals, beans and lentils before use - you may find an occasional small stone you'll want to remove before cooking.

4. Rinse several times before you cook.

5. Some beans need soaking to aid the cooking process.

6. Do not add salt or acidic ingredients like tomatoes or lemon juice until the beans or dals are cooked.

7. Ayurveda recommends eating beans, dals and lentils that are well-cooked for easy digestion.

8. Adding spices such as cumin, black pepper and ginger to dals and beans helps the process of digestion.