If you love relishing piping hot fluffy idlis, crispy vadas and tantalizing dosas on your breakfast table and feel energetic for the rest of the day – then it’s time you give a shout-out to our own protein loaded bean- the Black Gram.

Native to the Indian subcontinent and mostly grown in the coastal Andhra Pradesh in our country, these smooth, cylindrical oval shaped black gram beans go with the botanical name Vigna mungo and are popularly known as Urad Dal in Hindi, minapappu in Telugu, Vulundhu in Tamil. Prized as Maa Ki Daal by the Punjabis, these lentils are available in various avatars as whole, dehulled and in the form of split bean.

Black gram grows on an erect, hairy bush with stems diffusing from the base reaching up to 30 to 100 cm in height with trifoliate leaves, sporting tiny, yellow flowers. The fruit looks cylindrical while its hairy pods contain up to 4 to 10 black seeds. This fast-growing plant has in fact made India the largest producer of black gram in the world with 1.5 million tonnes of seeds annually, followed by Fiji, Mauritius, Africa and Caribbean countries.

Used extensively in South Indian cuisine, black gram is a rich source of protein, Vitamin B, potassium, calcium, iron, niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. In few parts of Southern India, eating crispy vadas made from urad dal is a tradition during the harvest festival Sankranti/Pongal, as it meets the protein requirements of the vegetarians, in the winter season.

And when soaked in water Urad dal which exhibits mucilaginous texture is grinded along with rice to make various recipes.