Lentil recipes are important part of vegetarian diet. How to cook lentils

Lentil recipes are an important part of any vegetarian diet

Lentils are widely used in vegetarian cooking for their nutritional value. Lentils are one of the healthiest food ingredients.

Lentils include pulses, beans, dals, legumes. They contain high level of proteins, vitamin B1, dietary fiber, minerals, iron ect. They are rich in protein next to soya. Lentils are recommended for diabetics.

The types of lentils includes:

English Name - Indian Name

Red lentil - MasoorGreen lentil - Moong bean, or Mung bean or GreenGram Black lentil - Black Gram, Whole Urad BeanChickpea - Bengal Gram, ChanaPigeon pea, Yellow lentil - Toor, Toovar, AraharKidney bean - RajmaCow pea, black eyed pea - Lobia or chowli

Lentils are used whole or split. Whole lentils are more nutririous because of their husks. When the husk - skin is removed from the whole lentil and the lentil is split, the split lentil is refered to as dal or daal in Indian languages. The cooked lentil recipe, either made with whole or split lentil is also called as Dal.

So the Indian Dal which you get in restaurants is made with a variety of whole or split lentil. The dals are refered according to the variety of lentil that is split.

moong dal, mung dal, green gram dal toovar dal, toor dal, tur dal, arahar dal

The lentils are used to make a main dish such as Khichadi - a rice and lentil dish, to make a side dish such as mung bean curry or to make a snack as fried chickpeas.

The cooking time of lentils is short. The split lentil, that is, dal, cooks still faster. It is combined with rice as it has similar cooking time such as in Khichadi. Cooked lentils become thick so water is used to thin it.

Dal Fry - serve with rice and roti - bread.Spinach Dal - Palak Dal - Spinach and lentil curry, a yummy accompaniment for rice or bread.Sambar - Vegetable/Lentil dish-Serve with Idli, Plain Steamed Rice and DosaChickpea recipes- More about chickpeas. Rasam - serve as appetizer, soup, and also with Plain Steamed RiceMung Bean Curry- Lentil curry to serve with rice/roti/bread. Can use other beans/lentils too. Mung Beans and Rice Dish - Khichadi. - Quick One Dish Meal.How to cook chickpeas. - Easy and simple way to cook chickpeas.Fried Chickpeas - healthy snackDahi Vada - A cool snack with urad dal (white lentil) and yogurt.

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