This dish features a small, dark brown chickpea called kala chana dal . Generally, it is hard to find, stocked only by Indian or Middle Eastern grocery stores, so it's a good idea to buy a few pounds at a time and keep it on hand for variety in your dal cooking. Chole...

This earthy, high-protein bean dish, typical in the Punjab, is ideal for the cold winter months, and can be the main attraction of lunch. Although it goes well with hot rice, I especially recommend it with hot flatbreads, perhaps Griddle-Baked Paper-Thin Whole Wheat...

In South India, sambar is always made with toovar dal but it can be combined with almost any vegetable. Besides the green beans, carrots and eggplant suggested in this recipe, you could try broad beans, radishes, fennel root, kohlrabi, parsnip, cauliflower, summer or...

As opposed to thinnish dal soup, this dish is "dry" and "textured": each bit of dal stands tender yet plump, separate from the others. To achieve this, the dal is cooked in a small quantity of water until it is soft but not broken down. This dish contains fresh...

Here is a hearty, wholesome, thick dal soup. Although the cooking time is long, this recipe is by no means laborious, and the delicious result is well worth the time. Some of the spices and seasonings are cooked along with the dals to allow their qualities to permeate...