Never skip soaking lentils in water. Chef Kunal Kapur explains why (2024)

Grace Bains Published: 5 Oct 2021, 16:38 pm IST

Love it or hate it, you can’t afford to ignore lentils. Lentils are a good source of folate, iron, magnesium, and potassium, and can help reduce the risk of heart diseases and lower blood levels of damaging LDL cholesterol. This means that consuming lentils such as masoor dal or moong daal will improve overall health.

Apart from consuming lentils, you must also ensure that you’re cooking them in the right manner in order to reap all the benefits! Recently, chef Kunal Kapur took to Instagram to share his insights on the importance of soaking lentils.

He said, “Well, lentils are easy to make, packed with protein and nutrients and they taste delicious. The only problem? They taste a bit off, cook uneven and cause digestive issues for some. But #KamaalHai we have found the best and an easy solution which is ‘soaking Lentils in water’. Do you all already do this? Yes or no. If not, then you must start now!”

Check out the post here:

Here’s why soaking lentils is important

On the importance of soaking lentils, chef Kunal laid down the following facts for his followers:

Fact 1: Soaking lentils improves digestion and nutrition absorption as it can neutralise lectins and phytates present that may cause gas and bloating.

Fact 2: Soaking lentils also reduces its cooking time. It also brings prana (life) into the legume.

Here’s how to soak lentils (dal)

Step 1: Collect the lentils in a bowl and wash it with water.

Step 2: Change the water 3 to 4 times and wash the lentils gently by rubbing it with your fingers.

Step 3: Now add the lentils to a bowl and fill it with water.

Tips to keep in mind when soaking lentils

Chef Kunal provided a few key tips to be mindful of when soaking lentils

Tip 1: It is advisable to soak whole lentils like moong, tuvar, urad, and masoor for 8 to 12 hours.

Tip 2: Split lentils like moong dal chilka should be soaked for 6 to 8 hours.

Tip 3: Heavy legumes like rajma and chana/chole should be soaked for 12-18 hours.

Tip 4: Simply soaking the lentils and legumes overnight would be the best option, as recommended by chef Kunal.

So ladies, try to incorporate the habit of soaking the lentils to derive maximum benefits from it!