Lentils & Dals A–Z

Lentils and beans are the cheapest genuinely useful food on this site. Protein, fibre and slow carbohydrate in one ingredient, and the food group with the strongest evidence behind it for blood sugar and cholesterol of anything in a normal kitchen.

Why they work when other "healthy" foods disappoint

The fibre in pulses is largely soluble. It forms a gel in the gut that slows sugar absorption and physically carries some cholesterol out with it. That is a mechanical effect, not a marketing claim, and it is why dal shows up in serious dietary guidance for both diabetes and cholesterol.

There is a second effect worth knowing: a lentil meal lowers the blood sugar response of your next meal too. Dal at lunch measurably flattens the spike from dinner.

Indian dals

Toor, moong, masoor, urad, chana, rajma, lobia, kala chana. Split dals cook fast and digest easily. Whole pulses hold more fibre and their skins, but need soaking.

Moong dal is the gentlest. It is the one given to people recovering from illness across South Asia, and that reputation is earned — it is the easiest on an irritated gut.

Beans and chickpeas

Rajma, chana, black beans, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, soybeans. More filling than lentils, longer cooking, more fibre.

The gas problem, and how to actually fix it

This is the reason people give up on pulses, and it is solvable.

• Soak overnight and throw the water away. The compounds that cause gas leach into the soaking water. Keeping it defeats the purpose.
• Rinse tinned beans well. Same principle, and it removes a lot of the added salt.
• Add asafoetida, ginger, cumin or ajwain. Every pulse-eating culture independently arrived at a carminative spice. They were not guessing.
• Build up slowly. Going from no pulses to daily dal will cause trouble. Your gut bacteria adapt over two to three weeks — start small.
• Cook them properly soft. Undercooked beans are far harder to digest.

Buying and storing

• Old pulses never soften. If beans refuse to cook after hours, they are old, not undercooked. Buy from somewhere with turnover.
• Airtight, dark, dry. They keep for a year easily.
• Salt at the end. Salting early toughens the skins and slows cooking.
• Tinned is fine. Rinse them and you have lost very little.

Who should be careful

• Kidney disease: pulses are high in potassium and phosphorus, and protein often needs limiting. This is one where you genuinely need your doctor's numbers.
• Gout: pulses contain moderate purines. Evidence suggests plant purines are far less of a problem than meat and seafood purines, but if you flare after dal, trust your own pattern.
• IBS: pulses are high-FODMAP. Small portions, well soaked and well cooked, are tolerated better than large ones. Tinned and rinsed is often easier than dried.
• Red kidney beans must be boiled hard for at least ten minutes. Raw or undercooked kidney beans contain a toxin that causes serious vomiting. A slow cooker alone does not always reach the temperature needed — boil them first.

Browse the full list

Every pulse below has its own page. Use the filter or the A–Z jump to find one quickly.