IMHO, chana dal (split chickpea lentil) is like the Dilip Kumar of dals.
Matlab, it’s very versatile.
Matlab, you can cook it in infinite ways, and it’ll always taste good.
For example, you can make delicious pakodas out of its paste.
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You can make delicious tikkis out of it.
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And of course, you can have it in its purest form as dal.
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So it was high time someone acknowledged its versatility.
And according to a report by The Times Of India, that someone turned out to be none other than the Oxford English Dictionary that has included the words ‘chana’ and ‘chana dal’ in its latest edition.
Ba-Dum-Tss!
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Isi baat pe ek zoke toh banta hai.
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Apart from our desi words, a word called ‘Zyzzyva’ too has been added in this year’s update. We didn’t know what it meant, but man it was fun to pronounce it.
Apparently, Zyzzyva is a genus of weevils; South American beetles that are destructive to plants.
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Chana and chana dal happen to be two of the 600 words that were included in the updated version of Oxford Dictionary.
Let’s hope more Indian dals find a place in the next year’s edition.