INDIA, May 25, 2018 (Scroll): “Pull of Pulses,” by Salma Husain and Vijay Thukral, details the cultural history of lentils. In India the word dal is commonly used for lentils, a generic term used for an enormous number of lentils which range in color. Lentils to India are as the meatloaf is to Europe and the United States. Ranging from yellow and red to deep black, these tiny disc-shaped members of the legume family are eaten in some form at least twice a day in any self-respecting Indian household, according to Kavita Mehta, founder of the web-based Indian Foods Co. In fact, India is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of lentils, which are known here as dal.
Cultivated from the earliest days of civilisation, lentils are somewhat indispensable to the Indian diet. Dal with rice either as a separate dish or combined and cooked as in the khichri, can be termed the national dish of India. It is a popular food of the rich as well as the poor, ruling the kitchen in all corners of the country, though different regions prefer different tastes, spices and combinations. Lentils are of several kinds and each variety is as important as others. K.T. Achaya in his book, “Indian Food: A Historical Companion” (Oxford University Press; 1994), mentions that pulses of several kinds such as maashs (urad) mansura (masoor), mudga (moong) and kalaya (peas or matar) are mentioned in the Yajurveda. About a century later the Markandeya Purana and Vishnu Purana refer to chickpea (chana) as well.
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