daal: Culinary term describing both a food and a dish. The word describes pulses such as lentils, beans and peas, but also a kind of thick Indian soup containing those ingredients.
Created from dried root resins, it’s sold in Indian food markets most often in powdered form. Referring to the legumes, Sahni estimated there are hundreds of types of dal in India, explaining that some are split, some whole, some with skin, some without. It’s among the quickest-cooking dals, which is probably why I choose it…
