[jseliger]

Interesting -- thanks for the tip. Do you have any recipes / other ideas on how to use it, aside from beans?

Incidentally, a while back there was a food thread in which I learned one of my new favorite recipes for dal:

Anyway, my favorite dal recipe is thus (six servings, keeps forever):

1 1/2 c. dried lentils/split peas/etc... 4 c. water 1 1/2 tsp salt 3 tbs butter/oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp ground tumeric a small stick of cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon) 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp fresh/ground ginger 1/4 tsp mustard seeds 6 cloves garlic

Cook the lentils. Cook some rice. Heat the butter in the pan and then fry all the spices until the cumin and mustard seeds begin to pop. Pour the spice mixture into the lentils and mix. Possible toppings include: plain yogurt with dill (dried or fresh) diced cucumber, any variety of chutney. I'd add a recipe for chutney, but the cooking and canning process is too long to put here.

Thanks to whoever posted it. I often put carrots and potatoes in with the lentils and mix up the spices some, but variations on the same basic idea work really well.