Famous for its multi-cultural cuisine, dal serves as a prominent source of protein in the diet. The fragrance of bubbling dal wafting from the kitchen, giving off bursts of the pungent hing, aromatic kadhi patta and spicy mirchi is a wonderful memory since our childhood days. Most kids would have wrinkled their noses at a bowl of dal at mealtimes. Pulse is an essential ingredient of a diet plan for health-conscious people who want to keep themselves fit. Each Indian kitchen dishes out dals in various avatars like plain dal, with veggies and green leafy vegetables, or just with aromatic tempering along with ghee.

Besides the popular toor dal, urad dal and moong dal, the Indian kitchen is full of superfoods in the form of beans, legumes, pulses. These include black-eyed peas, a popular ingredient in Punjabi recipes and moth beans, which are infused with spicy flavours and incorporated into Misal Pav chaat recipes in Maharashtra.

Dal is everyone’s comfort food. Let’s see what makes pulses – the power-packed staples?

Pulses are extremely rich in nutritional content and low in fats and cholesterol making it a power-packed staple. Pulses are rich in:

1. Proteins 

 2. Essential amino acids

3.  Fibres

4. Carbohydrates

5. Antioxidants like polyphenols

 6. Folate and iron

7.  Minerals such as calcium, zinc, magnesium, potassium

Besides that, pulses have some incredible health benefits as well

1. Great Nourishment Agent: As a wonderful source of proteins, fibres, antioxidants, and complex carbohydrates, pulses provide great nourishment to our body. As a part of the balanced diet, it makes your stomach full and gives day-long energy.

2. Rejuvenate the appetite: High in proteins, complex carbohydrates and fibres, it helps digest food slowly and give you a feeling of fullness. It also helps to increase the energy production in cells and improvise the metabolism.

3. Improves heart health: Adding pulses and legumes to your daily meal lowers the chances to suffer from cardiovascular problems. High on nutrients, with less amount of fat and cholesterol, dal makes your heart stronger than ever before and reduces the risk of a heart attack. Also, high potassium and a low amount of sodium present in the pulse help regulate blood pressure.

4. Regulates blood sugar: The low glycemic index (GI) in pulses helps regulate the blood sugar levels in the body. Pulses such as beans, chickpeas, green gram are useful to control increased blood sugar levels.

5. Aids Weight Loss: Dal helps enhance the functioning of the cholecystokinin hormone. As a result, it makes you feel full and improves your metabolism. Thus, it contributes to controlling weight by preventing you from overeating.

6. Improves Digestive Health: The yellow dal helps produce butyrate, a short-chained fatty acid, which helps maintain the health of the intestinal walls. It has anti-inflammatory properties that prevent the accumulation of gas. This yellow dal is easy to digest and is an excellent food to maintain a healthy body.