arhar dal

Dal in Hindi, or pulses (in Indian English) are really lentils of different kinds that are available in Purvanchal. There are five varieties of lentils commonly used - arhar, moong, masur, urad, chana. Our of these urad, masur and moong are eaten in husked and non-husked forms. That is more than one for every day in the week.

Lentils are a good source of proteins, the reason why a vegetarian meal inextricably depends on lentils. There are many ways to cook lentils, but the one that requires least spices and is arguably the healthiest - is that of arhar dal (pigeon peas).

The preparation is extremely simple. You take half-pound pigeon peas, wash it and add it to boiling water. In about two minutes, add salt and turmeric (1/2 teaspoon). Nothing else needed. Remember that turmeric is not a hot spice and so adding more of it would not make the lentil soup spicier. To spice it up you would need some more work. Generally though the spices are added in other side-dishes.

Dal is meant to be simple and soupy - so that it mixes everything else in itself. Since turmeric is not an intense in taste by itself, it lets the real taste of arhar come out in the soup. The arhar plants are harvested in spring and leave behind the tough stems after the harvest. The smell of arhar still reminds of the few attempts I had made to walk through the arhar fields at night, only before my getting my feet hurt.

The other dal that is very often made with exactly the same recipe is red masoor. There are many other ways turmeric is used that we would cover later in other posts.