Yellow Lentils

Using Yellow Lentils in Indian Cooking

Have a look on the Dhal Curry Guide page for some more general information about lentils.

Here are three of the main types of yellow lentils. They all look similar, but each needs to be cooked differently.

Chana Dhal

This is fairly large and has a slight curve in shape and comes from the native variety of Indian chickpea which is the black chickpea. This variety of chickpea is smaller than the common white one and has a brown coat. The de-husked split black chickpea gives rise to Chana dhal and is yellow in colour.

Yellow Split pea

This comes from the fully mature green-pea that is dried, split and the coat removed. The yellow split pea looks very similar to Chana Dhal but is a touch lighter and creamier in colour. It is also very much cheaper.

Toor dhal

This is a smaller, flatter, glossy looking split yellow lentil that comes from the pigeon pea. The pigeon pea has a reddish brown coat seed-coat of the whole seed may be red, or brown. Toor dhal has this gloss because it is coated in castor oil to help preserve it.