Abstract
Dal is prepared by cooking the split pulses in boiling water and subsequently seasoning with oil, salt and spices. Small quantity of pulses is also used for preparing fried dal, noodles and roasted and puffed snacks, sodium carbonate was used in the soaking treatment for preparation of instant pigeon-pea dal. The combination of three factors, salt concentration (0.5 – 1.0%), cooking time (8–12 min.) and flaking thickness (0.5 – 1.0 mm) were used. Four sensory parameters; colour, odour, taste and overall acceptability and two reconstitution time and rehydration ratio were evaluated. A combination of salt concentration of 1.0%, cooking time of 10 min. and flaking thickness of 1.0 mm were found to be the optimum combination for the developed product.