Legumes, bread and rice
A simple stew of lentils, known more popularly as dhal, and its garnish of rice or flat unleavened bread (roti or chapati), was for centuries on end the daily fare of the hundreds of millions of poor in India, and is a basic element of the diet in the vegetarian south.
In Great Britain, dried legumes gave substance to the daily stews of the country folk and the medieval monasteries, and were considered as excellent fodder for horses and cattle, but were certainly not considered a delicious dish worthy of the table in a home with refined aspirations.
For this reason, in British India, legumes were usually mixed with rice and served as food for children or animals, forming part of the household lunchtime or even dinner at the Spartan table of a family of missionaries, but the serving of dhal roti at a society dinner on an important occasion would undoubtedly have scandalised most of the guests, and would have caused some talk about the eccentricity of the host of the evening.
Of the many legumes eaten in India, the most familiar to the English was a small, salmon-coloured variety, known as masoor or mussor dhal. This is almost identical to the red or common pardina lentil, and has the advantage that it does not need to be soaked, and cooks exceptionally quickly.
