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Indian Dals Names

Indian Dals Names - List of legumes and pulses names in hindi and english  | Vegan Richa

Depending on where you buy the Dals, Spices and pantry ingredients from, they might use just the English names, both English and Hindi names, or just the Hindi/Indian names (eg. in Indian stores). English names sometimes also depend on the country or shop (for eg yellow lentils can mean any of the yellow dals, but in the US in mostly petite yellow lentils are used for Mung dal(split mung bean)). Take a picture of the Grocery list from Page 12 in my book to take with you while shopping. It has both the English and Hindi names and variation of the names mentioned to make it easy to find the right spice, herb or dal!

This Page is a short Guide with the commonly used Legumes -Dals, Pulses, Lentils, beans, peas in Indian Cuisine with their common English names and Hindi names.

Indian Dal Names in Hindi and English. Glossary of Lentils, legumes, beans. | Vegan Richa

Legumes and Dals

English/ Hindi Indian Dals Names

Black Eyed Peas – Raungi, Chawli, Lobhia

Black Gram Lentils, Split and skinned – Urad Dal 

Black Gram Whole – black gram lentils – Sabut Urad (these are not black beans, not beluga lentils, not caviar black lentils). They look like black mung beans. 

Chickpeas, Brown  (Bengal Gram)- Kala Chana

Chickpeas, green – Cholia / Hara Chana

Chickpeas, split – (Split Bengal gram, split brown chickpeas) , Chana Dal 

Chickpeas, white – Garbanzo Beans, Kabuli Chana, Safed Chana,  Chole

Kidney Beans, red – Rajma

Lentils, brown (whole) – Sabut Masoor

Lentils, Red/orange/pink (split brown lentils) – Masoor Dal

Lentils, yellow petite – (Split Mung Beans) – Mung Dal

Mung Beans (green gram whole) – Hare Moong

Pigeon Peas, split – Arhar, Tuvar, Toor 

Yellow split Peas

 

Common Substitutes

Split chickpeas (Chana Dal), split pigeon peas(Toor Dal) and Split peas can be used interchangeably. Toor dal will cook faster than the others.

Red Lentils (Masoor Dal) can be used instead of Petite yellow lentils (Mung Dal). Mung Dal will take a few minutes longer to cook through. 

Mung Beans and Lentils can also be used interchangeably. Soak mung beans before use. 

Green Lentils can be used to substitute brown lentils

 

*Chickpea flour and Besan 

Chickpea flour in the US is generally ground white chickpeas. Besan is ground brown chickpeas (Kala chana, bengal gram). See the different chickpeas in the picture above. Besan is also ground finer than chickpea flour. Because of these differences, chickpea flour generally makes a thicker batter and needs more water to achieve the similar consistency as besan batter if the recipe was written for besan. The reverse applies to recipes written for chickpea flour. In general this does not matter much and both can be used interchangeably in recipes. However, if used in baking you might need to adjust the liquid accordingly.

Find out where to buy lentils beans and other pantry items locally or online on the Pantry Page. 

 

Comments

  1. Haseeb Gul says

    March 14, 2020 at 8:45 am

    Very useful

    Reply
    • MrsA says

      October 18, 2020 at 8:13 pm

      I was gifted with a bag of “lentil flour” and a bag of (yellow) graham besan flour. Can I use these to make dosas? If so, how much do I use ?

      Reply
      • Richa says

        November 13, 2020 at 9:34 pm

        Make Chilla with besan veganricha.com/?s=chilla

        Reply
  2. Kathy says

    April 1, 2020 at 5:21 pm

    I bought whole yellow peas from my Indian grocer, I was hoping you had some recipes with them! Any you would recommend? Glad to see you have Kala Chana recipes, I love regular garbanzo beans and can’t wait to try them. I’m brand new to Indian food, made two of your recipes and I’m in love with the spices! Can’t wait to try more recipes. It would be great if you had an article about what to look for at an Indian market, I was totally lost aside of trying not to go crazy buying legumes and beans.

    Reply
    • Richa says

      April 2, 2020 at 1:05 pm

      wholeyellow peas or white peas are used to make curries that are served with chaat(street style food). you can cook them like any curry like black eyed pea curry. Soak overnight and pressure cook for 10 mins.

      Reply
  3. Sangeeta Bakane says

    April 2, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    Hi Kathy,

    Glad to knoq that u’re in love with Indian spices. If u’re making cholay with canned Garbanzo beans/chickpeas, you can use Badshah chole masala /Everest chole masala; for Red Kidney curry, you can buy MDH Rajma masala. You can also use this Rajma masala for making black beans, or other beans curry. I’m sure u’ll like that too.
    Goodluck!

    Reply
  4. Angela N Nelson says

    May 7, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    I have a couple pounds of yellow split peas. Can I make dosas with them?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      May 7, 2020 at 4:33 pm

      You can use them in combination with the Urad dal lentils and rice for dosa

      Reply
  5. Whitney says

    May 12, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    Thank you for this guide! Where does horse gram fit in? My husband brought some home and wow it took a long time to cook. Tasted great though. He also bought besan one time when he intended to buy whole wheat flour- those were some interesting muffins.

    What would you say is the best substitute for brown brewer lentils? Whole masoor?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Richa says

      May 12, 2020 at 5:07 pm

      It’s more like mung beans. Cooking time is similar as well.
      Yes whole Masoor or Indian brown lentils

      Reply
  6. Arielle Gagnon says

    May 12, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    I’ve been looking for something like this forever! I always wanted to know the names but always get confused! Thank you so much for putting this up!

    Reply
  7. Ulhas Vaidya says

    May 23, 2020 at 7:19 am

    We have grown black coloured tur.Split dal is yellowish with brownish tinge.Is it safe to use for edible purposes?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      May 23, 2020 at 8:22 pm

      I don’t know

      Reply
  8. JAYASHREE says

    June 4, 2020 at 4:39 am

    Thanks a lot for this assorted list 🙂

    Reply
  9. Pongodhall says

    August 18, 2020 at 12:54 am

    Thanks fir this list. I still have a problem reading up in subs fir Urad dal. Lists say this or that And another says it’s wrong as it’s sticky etc. What do you recommend ( I like paniyarum, handvo, dhokla etc)

    Reply
    • Richa says

      August 18, 2020 at 10:26 am

      Urad dal Is difficult to substitute if being used for fermentation. As the other lentils don’t ferment as easily. You can however use similar rentals such as moong dal or red lentils in recipes where Urad dal is not the only ingredient(dosa batter etc) Add some yeast to help with the fermentation.

      Reply
  10. Ross says

    August 20, 2020 at 2:37 am

    Thank you for posting this.
    I’ll copy it and keep it handy when I’m in my Indian kitchen.

    Reply
  11. Alyssa Roberts says

    October 1, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Thank you for posting this!! So very helpful.

    Reply
  12. bev says

    October 16, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    I’ve only used Toor dal in the past but do you have a favorite dal, one you recommend above others?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      October 17, 2020 at 10:42 am

      Each of the dals have their own flavors and work with certain recipes. For eg Toor dal and moong dal make a great South Indian Sambhar, Masoor dal is light and easy, sabut Masoor makes a great lentil soup, and so on. I have favorites for certain recipes, not one one particular I would favor over others overall.

      Reply
  13. Bindu says

    October 21, 2020 at 11:48 am

    Mam what about green lentils.. Wat r they.. I have seen in lot of videos… I was rhi king its green variation of sabut masoor dal.. Am i right?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      October 21, 2020 at 2:04 pm

      Yes depending on the country, there are different types of lentils. They are green or light brown or dark brown or black and each has a slightly different flavor. Most have similar cook times

      Reply
  14. Bindu says

    October 21, 2020 at 11:50 am

    I meant thinking.. And not rhi king.. Sorry😊

    Reply
  15. Bindu says

    October 21, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    Thank you for reply

    Reply
  16. Hannah says

    November 11, 2020 at 6:44 am

    Hello,

    This is very useful! I have a question, can I substitute chana dal for red lentils? I’ve found a great tarka dal recipe that uses chana dal but I only have red lentils!

    Thanks in advance 🙂

    Reply
    • Richa says

      November 11, 2020 at 12:23 pm

      Yes use red lentils. You will need a little bit less water plus the red lentils will cook faster so in 15 minutes

      Reply
  17. Vegan_hen says

    January 4, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    Wow! That was extremely detailed and useful. Thank you

    Reply
    • Richa says

      January 4, 2021 at 2:24 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  18. Mauli Shah says

    January 11, 2021 at 10:44 am

    Hi.. can you tell me what does yellow split peas mean in Hindi?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      January 13, 2021 at 3:59 pm

      I haven’t seen yellow split peas in India. The closest is Vatana. You get whole green and white vatana and split green pea and split white peas. If you find yellow vatana or Matar ki dal that would be yellow split peas

      Reply
  19. Dr Mauli Shah says

    January 12, 2021 at 12:11 am

    What are yellow split peas? Are they toor daal?

    Reply
    • Richa says

      January 13, 2021 at 3:57 pm

      Toor dal is pigeon pea. Yellow pea is yellow vatana or yellow Matar , split

      Reply
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