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Introduction to
Lentils
Types of Lentils
How to buy/ store lentils
Nutritive value of lentils
Cleaning Lentils
Cooking Lentils and Recipes for Newbies
Lentils
have been around for over ten thousand years BC in India. Even our
ancient stories and rhymes often refer to pappu & dal (lentils).
Types of Lentils:
Lentils are called dal/pappu/parrupu/bele (and I'm sure there are other names for them in India) depending on the language spoken in the area. Dal is the most common name now.
Different kinds of dal are used for different dishes.
Sometimes, as in `plain dal' dishes, one dal can be substituted for
another.
In other recipes, like idlis or `pesarhettu'(a thick Indian pancake), one has to stick with the
specified dal.
All dals in recipes are split dals unless otherwise specified.
Here is a short introduction to the different kinds of dals. The names I
use here are the Hindi names: the ones you would ask for the dals by, in
an Indian grocery store.
A: Most commonly used split dals.
Channa: yellow, rounded.
Toor: yellow, flat.
Moong: yellow, oblong .
Moong with skin: yellow with a green cover.
Urad: white, oblong
Masoor: tiny, round, pink.
B: Whole dals
Channa: looks like tiny yellow peas, has a loose brown skin and is commonly sold as `fried channa'
Toor: has a light beige skin.
Moong: green
Urad: black
Masoor: medium brown
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How to buy/ store lentils:
Check the bags in the store closely for any sign of insect movement in
the bag.
Pick up the bag and look at the bottom…if there is a powdery residue,
there is insect infestation.
If you open the bag and the dal smells, take it back to the store.
All fresh dals should be odorless.
If there are two or more varieties of the same kind: e.g. toor, pick the
one that you like the best.
I store my lentils in the freezer for the first two weeks…this kills any
insect eggs in the bag.
As I buy the ten-pound bags to save trips to the Indian grocery store,
and there are only two of us at home now, I store my dals in the
refrigerator in the garage.
Though we have only two really hot months in California, I have found
bugs getting into/hatching in the dals and then invading everything in the pantry. Channa especially seems to
attract the most insects as the latter bore into the dal to lay their eggs, which then hatch in the heat.
According to one smart Tupperware lady, storing anything from the Indian Grocery store in the freezer for two weeks before putting it in the pantry, kills all insects and their eggs/larvae.
If you see the words `oily toor dal’, oiling the dal is a method used to
keep insects out of the dal.
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Nutritive value of lentils:
There are many excellent websites dealing with facts and figures so I’m
not going to go into that here.
All I know is: lentils combined with rice makes a whole protein.
Lentils offer nutrition without fat.
Channa dal, helps keep my blood sugar under control.
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Cleaning Lentils:
One of the daily chores in our house for the servants/my mother, was
picking through the lentils for the following day’s cooking to make sure
they were stone, debris, and insect free.
When aunts/cousins visited, the women would sit cleaning lentils, rice or
wheat and chatting in the afternoons.
I hated being given this chore, but I loved sitting with the ladies and
listening to the family stories.
Lentils were placed on a plate or a special tray called a `soop'. The
`soop’ was a woven cane/brass or aluminum tray, with a 3 inch lip at the back and
women would shake the contents side to side and then with a dexterous
flick of the wrists toss the contents just a little to get most of the
stones and debris to the edge. When I try it, everything goes flying in
the air!
The other skill was washing the lentils and rice, with the pot set at an
angle, being rocked gently back and forth, while the hand, in the
pot, picked up a handful of the lentils at a time, from the water, to
deposit in another vessel…and sure enough, at the very bottom, would be
all the small stones that didn’t belong in the pot!
Luckily for us, we buy `cleaned' lentils now.
I still follow my mother’s golden rule and wash them thrice before
cooking.
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ON TO: Cooking Lentils and Recipes for Newbies
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