- Red lentils – takes the least time to cook
- Channa – (yellow) – has a nutty flavor
- Toor – (yellow) good to cook in combination with vegetables
- Whole moong dhal – (green) which can be sprouted, also good uncooked in salads
- Split moong dhal – yellow – and good cooked in combination with rice
- Black whole dhal – used in north Indian cooking and good in combination with red kidney beans (also a split version)
- Urad dhal – white – used for making breakfast dishes in the south i.e. pancakes, rice cakes etc and also for raitas, rices and vegetables dishes when fried in small quantities.
- Kitshidi dhal – green - split moong dhal
Beans
All beans/peas must be soaked for at least 5 hours (or overnight) otherwise they are not easily digested. It takes al least 1 ½ hour to 2 hours to cook the beans/peas but if you have a pressure cooker then it’s much faster – 5 minutes!
- Red kidney beans – used in north Indian dishes a lot
- Black eyed beans – used in both north and south Indian dishes
- Chick peas – used in north and south Indian dishes and sometimes eaten as a snack on its own with spices
