Veg Recipes of India

Glossary of Legumes, Lentils or Pulses in English, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi

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indian daals lentils

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The Glossary of legumes and lentils or pulses used mainly in Indian Cuisine is presented here. The first column consists of their names in English, whilst the second column consists of their names translated in Hindi.The names of the legumes, lentils are listed in an alphabetical order.

Just for your information :-

  • In Hindi, the word ‘ Sabut’ is used for lentils which are whole.
  • The word ‘ Dal ‘ is used for split lentils.
  • The word ‘ Dhuli ‘ is used for split and husked/skinned lentils.
englishhinditamilmarathi
bengal gram flourbesankadalai mavu
bengal gram spilt and skinnedchana dal, chane ki dal,
booter dal		kadalai paruppuharbaryachi,
chanyachi dal
bengal gram wholekala chana, chanaharbhara
black eyed beans, cow peaslobhiya, lobiya, chawli, chavlikaramani
black gram skinnedurad dhuliulluttam paruppu
black gram spliturad chilka
black gram wholeurad sabut, urad sabootmuzhu ulundhu
white chick peas,
garbanzo beans		kabuli channa,
safed chole, chole		kondai kadalai
field bean,
hyacinth bean, lablab		val
green gram dalmoong dalpayatham paruppu
green gram splitmoong chilkamugachi dal
green gram wholemoong sabut, mung sabutpayarumug
horse gramkulthi, kulithkollu
lentil dal, pink lentilmasoor dal, masar dal,
masur dal
moth beanmoth, matki, matakitaittai pairu
peasmutter, matar, mattarpattanni
dried green peashara matar
dried white peassafed matar
black peaskala vatana
peas spilt, green peas spiltmatar dal, green matar dal
pigeon peas spilt and skinnedarhar, tuvar, toor, tur daltovarum paruppu
red kidney beansrajmarajma
soybeanbhatma

note – if you know the name of any legumes/lentils/pulses in any regional indian language and want to update it in this post… then do leave it in the comment section and we will update the post.

if we have missed any legumes, then also you can let us know. thanks in advance.

Related Culinary Posts:

  1. Glossary of Indian Fruits
  2. Glossary of Indian Spices in English and Hindi
  3. Glossary of Cereals Grains in English and Hindi
  4. Glossary of Indian Dry Fruits in English and Hindi




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{ 97 Responses }

  4. Please add Telugu Names (Andhra Pradesh & Telangana)

    Bengal Gram Flour Senaga Pindi
    Bengal Gram Split and Skinned Senaga Pappu
    Bengal Gram Whole Senagalu
    Black Gram Dal (Skinned) Minapappu
    Black Gram Split (with husk) Pottu Minapappu
    Black Gram Whole Minugulu
    Green Gram Dal (Skinned) Pesara Pappu
    Green Gram Split (with husk) Pottu Pesara Pappu
    Green Gram Whole Pesalu
    Horse Gram Ulavalu
    Peas Batanilu
    Red Kidney Beans Rajma

    • thanks a lot mani for this information. will add. the entire post needs a change and due to shortage of time, i am not able to work on it. once i change the whole post, i will add all the details. thanks again.

  5. What are brown lentils?
    In hindi. They say it is masoor but masoor is called red lentils. Are both brown and red lentils same?

  9. Thank u for giving us this valuable knowledge if u r missing some more lentils so plz update bcoz i thing some r missing

  10. please add in Marathi
    1. Besan Pit
    2. Harbaryachi Dal
    3. Harbhara
    4. chavli
    5. Uddad
    6. Uddachi dal
    7.
    8. Kabuli Harbara
    9. Val
    10. Mug Dal

  17. Hello Amit

    It was a basket of informative knowledge.
    Thanks. By the way what is the local commercial name for American beans.

  18. Thanks a lot. very informative and great site. It was very useful for me in last hour as i was really struggling to get the names in English for importing some.

  19. Thanks for creating this list of cross reference. What is red gram and split red lentils? Is that masoor dal or pink lentils? I have a recipe book that calls out for red pumpkin. Is that the same as the orange pumpkin we have here in the U.S. that we carve during Halloween?

  20. TELUGU NAMES

    BENGAL GRAM WHOLE: PACCHI SANAGALU
    BEAGAL GRAM SPLIT: PACCHI SANAGA PAPPU
    BEAGAL GRAM FRIED: VEYINCHINA SANAGA PAPPU
    BENGAL GRAM FOOR: SENAGA PINDI
    BLACK GRAM WHOLE: MINUMULU
    BLACK GRAM SPLIT: MINAPA PAPPU
    GREEN GRAM WHOLE: PACCHI PESALU
    GREEN GRAM SPLIT: PESARA PAPPU
    REDGRAM WHOLE: KANDULU
    RED GRAM SPLIT: KADI PAPPU
    GREAN PEAS : PACCHI BHATALILU
    DRY GREAN PEAS: ENDU BHATANILU

  24. Hi, Sorry to bother you but would it be possible to link pictures to each of these? I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what to buy and my mum’s no where nearby to ask! Or if you know of a website that has pictures, that would be great too! Thanks so much!

  25. Please see if you can keep the picture of each in respective rows.. it will help quickly to relate

    • thanks vinaya. its a good suggestion but will make the page very heavy to load. thats why we have not implemented till now. but will surely give a second thought.

  26. Waal is a Konkan coastal bean with a hard shell and can only be cooked only when sprouted.its legume .Give synonyms.

  28. Please add the following Tamil translations:
    black eyed beans, cow peas – Karamani
    black gram skinned – ulluttam paruppu
    black gram whole – muzhu ulundhu
    white chick peas – kondai kadalai
    green gram dal – payatham paruppu
    green gram whole – payaru
    horse gram – kollu
    peas – pattanni
    pigeon peas spilt and skinned – tovarum paruppu

    Regards,
    Prem

  30. Namashkar chief
    kindly add few names in Gujarati
    like
    Chola =brown seeds ,also in dal form when husk is removed
    fried Fafda is made from Chola ki dal in Gujarat

    Tuver whole seeds

    Val whole >off white colour
    and Val ki dal

    Math whole and dal
    Mathia papad is made in Gujarat during Diwali

  31. Is there a difference in taste when it comes to split masoor (pinkish) and sabut masoor (brown)?
    Or are they the same?

    • yes there is a difference in the taste as well as the consistency of the dal. basically both are same lentil. whole masoor is a complete lentil with the husk on it. while pinkish/orangish masoor is halved lentil and the husk has been removed.

      • Thank you for the table– it is difficult sometimes to find the thing recipe writers are talking about. I saw a recipe that used “kaalu/field beans” and my local Indian grocer did not know what they were. It looks like they may be val, but I’m still not sure.

        American English apparently differs on some of the names. We consider lentils to be legumes. Please see Wikipedia on this, although there are many other sources that will confirm this usage.

        Also, green gram whole are more frequently called just “mung beans” in American English. Except in Indian stores, they’re not generally available split or split and hulled. The whole ones are sometimes (or usually?) used for sprouting.

        Split peas here are available in green (most usually used for soup) and yellow types.

        Black beans here are common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), used in Latin-American, Southwestern and Californian dishes. They’re sometimes called “black turtle beans”. There are also “Beluga lentils” or black lentils, which are tiny black legumes, the same shape as mung beans, but a little smaller, and black instead of green.

        I hope this helps, although it may suggest that a column be added for “American usage”. That could be a problem because we have no names for many of the legumes in your table, and we have many varieties of common beans which seem to have no Indian equivalents.

        • thanks for the suggestions and for the mentioning the various beans found in america. i have made a note of this and will try to add the american usage in some days. field beans are vaal. here its vice versa for lentils and legumes. i will check wikipedia.

  36. Thanx a lot for this glossaries! now i got a better idea about the dals and i can search for it. u just made my day n_n!

  37. Hi,

    Just wondering if I could use toor dahl in place of moong dahl for Korean pancakes. They are called Bindaetteok (Korean Mung Bean Pancakes). I guess it must be the amount of carbohydrate in the beans that hold them together. Not sure.

  39. Hi,

    Is french Lentil the same thing as moong whole ?

    The other day i ate a fish dish prepared with french lentils, I wanted to try the dish at home and closest lentil in color and size was moong whole, any thought on that ? 🙂

  40. Very good information indeed.
    However I could not get english name for JAWAS seed. can you please send me.
    Thanks & regards
    B. D. Bade

  41. hw i wished if u hd posted images of the lentils along with their names.. :)neways no problem i wl google it..thanks for posting

  43. In one of d recipes I read, it was written ‘beans’ so which bean should I consider

  45. Plz correct ,
    pigeön pea is not tuvar dal or arhar dal.

    As far as i knw it is called as kala chana
    or chana dal