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.
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.
Haseeb Gul says
March 14, 2020 at 8:45 amVery useful
Kathy says
April 1, 2020 at 5:21 pmI 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.
Richa says
April 2, 2020 at 1:05 pmwholeyellow 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.
Sangeeta Bakane says
April 2, 2020 at 5:26 pmHi 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!
Angela N Nelson says
May 7, 2020 at 4:03 pmI have a couple pounds of yellow split peas. Can I make dosas with them?
Richa says
May 7, 2020 at 4:33 pmYou can use them in combination with the Urad dal lentils and rice for dosa
Whitney says
May 12, 2020 at 4:47 pmThank 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!
Richa says
May 12, 2020 at 5:07 pmIt’s more like mung beans. Cooking time is similar as well.
Yes whole Masoor or Indian brown lentils
Arielle Gagnon says
May 12, 2020 at 6:11 pmI’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!
Ulhas Vaidya says
May 23, 2020 at 7:19 amWe have grown black coloured tur.Split dal is yellowish with brownish tinge.Is it safe to use for edible purposes?
Richa says
May 23, 2020 at 8:22 pmI don’t know
JAYASHREE says
June 4, 2020 at 4:39 amThanks a lot for this assorted list 🙂
Pongodhall says
August 18, 2020 at 12:54 amThanks 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)
Richa says
August 18, 2020 at 10:26 amUrad 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.
Ross says
August 20, 2020 at 2:37 amThank you for posting this.
I’ll copy it and keep it handy when I’m in my Indian kitchen.
Alyssa Roberts says
October 1, 2020 at 5:14 pmThank you for posting this!! So very helpful.
bev says
October 16, 2020 at 11:52 pmI’ve only used Toor dal in the past but do you have a favorite dal, one you recommend above others?
Richa says
October 17, 2020 at 10:42 amEach 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.
Bindu says
October 21, 2020 at 11:48 amMam 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?
Richa says
October 21, 2020 at 2:04 pmYes 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
Bindu says
October 21, 2020 at 11:50 amI meant thinking.. And not rhi king.. Sorry😊
Bindu says
October 21, 2020 at 9:59 pmThank you for reply