By Kayla Whitehouse | Photography By Tri Nguyen | Fall 2025
A staple of Indian cuisine, dal (lentils) are a highly nutritious and versatile source of lean vegetarian protein. Falling into the category of pulses along with dried beans, peas and chickpeas, lentils are packed with fiber and nutrients, an option great for the heart— and the soul. For many in the Indian diaspora, dal carries fond memories of family and of comforting dishes prepared lovingly at home.
Reena Miglani, co-founder of Saffron in downtown San Carlos, grew up with the Ayurvedic wisdom that eating a variety of lentils is as necessary as eating a variety of fruits and vegetables; each dal carries its own nutritional properties. Reena fondly recalls returning home from school to her mom’s daily rotation of dal, the
inspiration for Daal of the Day at Saffron.
Her mom, a homemaker, would serve meals thali style (in various small bowls on a round platter), dishing out salad, yogurt-based raita and a changing hot vegetable with rice or roti. The biggest bowl of all belonged to the star of the show: dal. Her mom would then vanish back to the kitchen to make a tarka, heating ghee to crackling and tempering it with green chili and cumin seeds. Once Miglani’s mom reappeared with the tarka pan, everyone would get a bit of this sizzling ghee drizzled over their dal, and that’s when the meal would officially begin.
Daal of the Day at Saffron honors both sentimentality and nutrition, featuring a rotation of yellow and green moong dal, spinach moong dal, chana dal, urad dal, a mix of five lentils called pancharanga dal, black chickpeas and toor dal—tarka included! Miglani recalls, “I can picture my childhood house in New Delhi, and sitting around the walnut table with my family. There’s the feeling of nostalgia having your mom cook for you.”
The aromas, the taste, the experience of a particular dish, are a powerful conduit for memories, reminding us of the people and places that have shaped who we are. For Chef Dev Raj at Broadway Masala in downtown Redwood City, this dish is Dal Makhani. A beloved North Indian classic, Dal Makhani is celebrated for its rich, creamy, flavorful profile. The name itself gives a clue to its deliciousness: dal means lentils, and makhani means buttery, literally translating to “buttery dal.” It’s a labor of love, with very traditional Dal Makhani slow- cooking for up to 20 hours.
“I first learned about Dal Makhani not through a recipe, but through a feeling—one that came from watching my mother prepare her Dal Makhani by stirring slowly on a low wood-fire flame. The care she put into stirring made it seem as though time itself was one of the ingredients. It was the first time I saw food being treated with so much care. No rushing, no shortcuts, just patience.” —Dev Raj, Broadway Masala
Chef Raj recalls that, “I first learned about Dal Makhani not through a recipe, but through a feeling— one that came from watching my mother prepare her Dal Makhani by stirring slowly on a low wood-fire flame. The care she put into stirring made it seem as though time itself was one of the ingredients. It was the first time I saw food being treated with so much care. No rushing, no shortcuts, just patience.”
With patience, the black dal softens into a thick, velvety consistency, naturally creamy before the butter is even added. The Dal Makhani on Broadway Masala’s menu holds a special place in Chef Raj’s heart. While he’s adapted to advanced techniques to shorten the cooking time, he takes pride in the origins of the richness and taste.
“I will always remember the love my mother put into the preparation,” he says, “and the depth in taste that her care produced; the charred smokiness, the creaminess, the softness of the urad dal.
The rich flavors of a daily dal’s tarka or the smokiness of Dal Makhani highlight the savory uses of lentils. However, there’s a misconception about dal that Sheetal Shivalkar, founder and chef of Puranpoli in Santa Clara, dispels in her restaurant. “Many people think that lentils are just for soup, but lentils can be made in so many ways, and they can be made sweet,” Shivalkar explains.
Puranpoli’s namesake dish is a South Indian sweetened flatbread prepared at home for major Hindu festivals like Holi, Dussehra and Diwali. Known by other names (like bobbatlu in Tamil), puranpoli is the Marathi name for this classic sweet, and such a unique linguistic signifier of her home state of Maharashtra that Shivalkar chose it to represent her restaurant.
Puranpoli is made by soaking chana dal overnight, then boiling them until mashed. Jaggery, a natural sweetener from sugarcane, and ground cardamom are then added to the mashed lentils and cooked to a thick paste. The filling is rolled into balls, then stuffed into a flour-based dough and rolled into sweetened flatbreads. When she was first opening Puranpoli in 2020, Shivalkar’s mom came from India to guide her on the recipe and technique, bringing memories of past festival celebrations alive in the restaurant.
“Many people think that lentils are just for soup, but lentils can be made in so many ways, and they can be made sweet,” Shivalkar explains. —Sheetal Shivalkar, Puranpoli
In the beginning, Shivalkar thought she might be able to sell 100 Puranpoli a day. She now sells 250 daily, with that number surpassing 1,000 a day during festival times. Customers line up early in the morning to wait, and Shivalkar has a seasonal staff of four women who exclusively prepare Puranpoli during the festive season. Regardless of the increased demand, Puranpoli always arrive as Shivalkar guarantees: warm, fresh and made by hand. A taste of home.
Kayla Whitehouse is a San Francisco–based freelance writer who is drawn to the ways that food intersects with family, culture and everyday life. She enjoys writing about the significance behind the recipes and traditions that make us who we are.
Tri Nguyen has a passion for storytelling through photos and videos. He thinks of his subjects as stories waiting to be told. He is a full-time photographer based in the SF Bay Area. tringuyenphotography.com
