Dal Chawal: 85 Vegetarian Indian Recipes Combining the Power of Dal and Rice - Sapna Punjabi - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Sapna Punjabi

GENRE: Cookery

PUBLICATION DATE: April 8, 2025.

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A good cookbook for those wanting to try the two staples of Indian cuisine: dal (lentils) and chawal (rice). Great variety of recipes, combined with the power of ayurvedic knowledge and nutritional expertise. Love how it doesn’t compromise on authenticity of process or accuracy of nomenclature just to make the recipes *palatable* to Westerners. I found the recipes easy enough for beginners. But the ingredients and recipes are mostly familiar to me as I belong to this culture, so my opinion won't exactly be representative of Western opinion.

Dal-chawal in its various options is comfort food for most Indians. While there is no standard “Indian cuisine” (we have a variation in cuisine after every few hundred kilometres!), dal and chawal are used in myriad ways across the country. Chawal is the Hindi word for rice. Dal is Hindi for all types of lentils. The book expands the definition of dal to include dried beans and legumes that are connected to dals. For example, kala chana and its big brother kabuli chana are included because of chana dal; rajma is missing as there’s no dal associated with it.

The author is a lifelong vegetarian, a registered nutritionist, and trained in Ayurveda. She uses this combined knowledge to present eighty-five vegetarian recipes from across India, with most recipes using dal and/or chawal. The recipes primarily use ingredients that are available in the USA (either in large grocery stores stocking Indian foodstuff or online), so by no means is this a comprehensive look at all the dal and rice varieties available in India. But it is a good starting point.

Indian cooking has a strong base in the holistic practices of Ayurveda, the world’s oldest indigenous medicinal practice. Whether we know it or not, we incorporate Ayurvedic principles in our cooking. This book explores key Ayurvedic terms and concepts after the introductory note, and also has a section on the cosmic influences of dal and rice. These were a bit too esoteric even for me despite my familiarity with many of the words. So just in case this initial content overwhelms you, don’t stress about it and move to the next section, which is on essential spices of Indian cuisine and more layperson-friendly IMHO.

There are a multitude of dishes using dal, or chawal, or both, and this book offers a great example of the variety possible. It begins with all the dal recipes, then the rice recipes, and then the combo dal-rice recipes. There are two special sections at the end for dishes without dal or rice, but complementing the earlier recipes as accompaniments: Chutney + Achar (‘achar’ means pickle – Indian pickles are not at all like American pickles) and Digestive Drinks.

The recipes are sectionally grouped by ingredients instead of menu categories such as starters or desserts or appetisers. I liked this innovative idea. So if you have tur dal at home, you don’t need to search through pages to see which recipes use that dal. Instead, just go to the ‘Tur dal’ section and choose what you wanna make! The English names of all the ingredients are also provided. (I was today years old when I discovered that “chile” is the US spelling of “chilli”. I thought “chile” was a typo! 😬)

For each ingredient, there is an introduction on its history, health benefits, and subtypes before getting to the recipes. The recipes are true to the Indian spirit, with most dishes being authentic Indian dishes than modernised fusion recipes. I appreciate how the recipes retain their Indian names, with an English explanation in much smaller font under the original name. Every recipe comes with best pairing suggestions and ayurvedic notes.

To me, most of the recipes were very easy and workable even for newbies. Many are also quick recipes. (Well, as quick as Indian cuisine can be! 🤭) Then again, as someone who has seen these ingredients and many of these dishes throughout my life, I cannot know if non-South Asians attempting Indian cuisine through this book will feel the same way. Also, the recipe procedure is written in paragraphs instead of numbered steps; some might find this a hindrance.

There is an alphabetized index at the end, with the indexing done by ingredients, recipes, ayurvedic terms, menu categories and dish type. Quite extensive and helpful!

The cover photo shows the hands of the author’s mother – I found this so sweet and respectful! There are plenty of scrumptious-looking photos inside the book as well, many of which had me salivating. (I have a weakness for Indian food!) However, two issues regarding the photos. One, many recipes don’t come with accompanying photographs of the final dish. This will be a hurdle to those who use photos to understand the final look of the recipe as well as to quickly filter the type of dish and its appeal. (This factor is even more important as the recipes retain their Indian names. For example, this Indian knows that “Sambhar” is a gravy dish. Would outsiders know this before reading the recipe if there’s no photo and the English title just says “South Indian Toor Dal”?) Second, there are many excellent photos of raw dals and rice, but there are no accompanying labels. This might make it tough to newbies to identify the items. Take the below pic, for example. How many of you can name the seven ingredients in the pic, all of which are variations of raw rice?

(Photo taken from the book. Copyright © 2025: Nitya Jain.)

Indian cooking is known to be economical, healthy, and delicious, but it is not easy for those unfamiliar with our spices and processes. This book does simplify the process to a great extent. In an age where homecooking is slowly losing its value thanks to the ease of processed and packaged meals, I hope such simple and yummy recipes can motivate more people to prepare food at home and enjoy their taste as well as health benefits.

The book contains only vegetarian recipes, but to those who do eat non-veg food, I can vouch that nothing goes as well with Indian-style masala fish fry or tandoori chicken as steaming hot plain rice with tadka dal. 😋

My thanks to Hardie Grant Publishing for providing the DRC of “Dal Chawal : 85 Vegetarian Indian Recipes Combining the Power of Dal and Rice” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.