What if you met someone who'd never heard of, say, french fries? Or salad? Or pizza? Sweet Pharaoh's chariot! Can you imagine?

Well, that might be just the reaction you'd get from the nearly 2 billion residents of southwest Asia if you told them you'd never heard of dal.

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the lot of you are probably down with the dal. However, on the off chance that we're welcoming a gastronomic greenhorn today, let's spend a little time with one of the world's most popular dishes: dal.

WHY YOU NEED TO LEARN THIS

Dal (the dish, not the ingredient) is easy to prepare, inexpensive, filled with protein, virtually fat-free and — need I go on?

Dal is terrific any time of day. One of my favorite things in the morning is a steaming bowl of spicy dal — over rice or folded inside a flatbread like chapati or tortilla — topped with a poached or overeasy egg. Yum.

THE STEPS YOU TAKE

Before we get to “dal the dish,” we need to spend a moment discussing “dal the ingredient.”

In a nutshell, dal the ingredient is a hulled, split legume.

And what's a legume, exactly?

It is a member of a family called Fabaceae, also called Leguminosae. This family has several hundred genera and nearly 20,000 individual species of legumes.

Legume seeds grow in pods, and each individual seed (the part we eat) has two halves (called cotyledons) surrounded by a papery husk.

Edible legumes come from a number of genera, such as lens (lentils), phaseolus (beans) and pisum (peas).

There's also a genus called vigna that includes the adzuki bean and the mung bean (even though they're not really beans). Another genus, cicer, gives us the incorrectly named garbanzo bean or chickpea.

As for dal the dish, there are exactly 17 gazillion recipes out there, using countless different legumes. Here are the most common legumes we see as dal:

Chana (Cicer arietnum): aka Bengal gram. Smaller, dark- or light-skinned relative of chickpeas. Ground, it's called gram flour or besan.

Masoor (Lens culinaris): An orange/red variation of your basic lentil.

Mattar (Pisum sativum): This dried green pea is popular in north India, cooked with potatoes or fresh cheese. Split and hulled, mattar dal is the same green split pea we Americans love in soup.

Moong (Vigna radiata): Round and dark green, moong is the source of the bean sprouts we know from Chinese cuisine. Moong dal is yellow.

Toor (Cajanus cajan): aka toovar pigeon pea (though neither a pea) or gandule bean (nor a bean). Whole pigeon peas are popular in the Andes. Hulled and split, toor dal is found in south Indian dishes like sambar.

Urad (Vigna mungo): aka black gram. Related to moong urad used in the popular Punjabi dish dal makhni, and also it's soaked and ground to make the idli and dosa popular in south India.

The general method for dal the dish involves first checking the dried legumes for stones, then often soaking the dal from 20 minutes to several hours. This decreases cooking time and dissolves indigestible carbohydrates that can cause bloating and gas. Next, the dal is simmered in water until it is soft.

Meanwhile, the tarka is prepared by heating spices in fat to draw out the flavor, then adding onion, garlic and ginger along with any finishing spices (like garam masala) or chopped tomato.

Finally, the dal and tarka are combined and served with minced cilantro and lemon or lime wedges.

Remember, there are 19 bazillion dal recipes. And that's just for soupy, porridgey concoctions like the one above. Dal also can be roasted or fried, and used to make flours and batters. Do some research. And have some fun.

Prep: 15 minutesCook: 20 minutesMakes: about 5 cups, 6 servingsThis basic method for lentil dal employs a tarka to add a burst of flavor just before serving. Other lentils can be subbed for the masoor dal. We used split moong dal.1 cup masoor dal (or other lentils)4 cups water¼ teaspoon turmeric1 tablespoon kosher salt or to taste1 ounce ghee or clarified butter or vegetable oil1 teaspoon whole cumin seed1 teaspoon black mustard seeds, optional1 to 2 whole dried red peppers, optional½ medium onion, cut into small dice1 piece (1-inch long) ginger, peeled, grated2 cloves garlic, minced1 large or 2 medium ripe tomatoes, medium diceCooked basmati riceMinced cilantro, lime wedgesCombine the dal, water, turmeric and salt in a heavy bottom saucepan over high heat. As the water heats, skim the scum from the surface. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the dal is soft, 10-15 minutes.While the dal is simmering, make the tarka: Heat a medium saucepan over medium high heat. When it is hot, add ghee or clarified butter or oil. When the fat gets hot, add the cumin seed, optional black mustard seed and optional dried red peppers. Cook until the cumin seeds begin to turn light brown and the mustard seeds start popping, 1 to 2 minutes.Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. If the garlic starts to brown, proceed to the next step immediately to cool down the pan.Stir in the tomatoes and cook to warm through, 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.When the dal is soft, drain the excess water, if you prefer. Or keep it for a soupier consistency. Stir in the tarka and adjust the seasoning.Serve this hot over basmati rice with minced cilantro and lime wedges.