Indian Grains and Legumes, 101

[nessa]

On another isle of Taj Imports, I found myself very perplexed.

So many different types of legumes, so little time.

So theres something labled channa on one side of the isle, and it looked like chickpeas/garbanzo beans. Then on the other side was something called channa but it was yellow and looked to be split.

Chana/channa is a major source of confusion for me. When I read a recipe asking for chana/channa, do I use the yellow split looking number, or do I use chickpeas? Oily or dry? I've been using chickpeas. I bought some of the yellow ones this time, however because its time to branch out.

There were other yellow legumes, some had dal in the name, some looked split, others whole, there were red, green, black etc. There was even a Horse Dal.

I figured it was called that due to its varigation looking like that of some pinto horses or appaloosas. Most of them I recognized as some kind of lentil.

Does dal mean lentil, and channa mean bean?

I have used a whole yellow... thing... it was sort of rice shaped, as opposed to lentil shaped. I forget its name. It could have had channa in the name somewhere? I used it with some of the red dal (masoor i *think*) and some chickpeas to make parippu vada. Yum. The person who gave me the recipe was verbally telling me the recipe, it wasnt written, and said channa. So I used what I thought was channa. It was really fabulous but I still want to make sure I'm using the right legume for the right dish, until I get experienced enough to mix and match with abandon.

I've searched around on google but I'm still as in the dark as I was before.

Can someone shed some light on Indian pulses for me? Where can I go, what can I read to demystify these protein packed powerhouses?

[gingerly]

this might be a place to start

[nessa]

This. Is. FANTABULOUS!!!!!!!!

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!

How amazing that there are so many, and so many names, so similar, and that they can be often interchanged. Looks like I bought channa dal, and last time, I had masoor (maybe red chief) and moong. I now see that moong are the yellow mung beans that are inside some of those delightful chinese fried sesame balls. THERE's an addiction....

one more mystery unraveled.

I saw those bengal grams and was terribly intrigued. I'll have to find a recipe for them now too. So many lucious legumes, so little time. There are just so many delightful ways to make legumes, its amazing that I ever get around to cooking meat. Good thing I bought asafoetida this time around......

Again, thanks for this wonderful link. I have a page from them bookmarked for thai ingredients, but totally forgot about that site!

[Sleepy_Dragon]

So why kabli channa instead of chole? Is it just different dialects?

Pat

[Sleepy_Dragon]

...nevermind, just read the chole thread!

Pat

[kusumlg]

Here's an extract from my cookbook describing Dal or Indian lentils. The main thing to understand is that the same dal, e.g., Mung can be whole, or split with the green shell or split with the shell removed. You lose the fiber when the shell is removed but it is faster to cook.

Dal (Indian lentils)— generally available as dry, Indian lentils may be whole, or split with peel, or split without peel. Different types include:

Chana (split yellow) made from brown chickpeas (not yellow chickpeas or kabali chana)

Masoor (whole dark brown or split reddish. The split

dal becomes yellow when cooked.)

Moth (whole brown)

Mung (whole green, split green & yellow with peel,

or peeled yellow)

Toor (whole brownish, split dark yellow,

or split with oil coating)

Urad (whole black, split black & white with peel,

or peeled light yellow).

Kusum

[Monica Bhide]

...nevermind, just read the chole thread!

Pat

Pat - you are like me .. talking to yourself in posts

[chromedome]

I've had this one from the library and found it very informative.

Edited May 26, 2004 by chromedome (log)