Moong Sundal

If you are looking for a sundal that doubles as a healthy snack, does not require too much preparation, then here is one.

Again you can make this as a sundal, as a side salad or a snack for those hungry tea time bites.

Difficulty level : Easy

Time: Preparation time ( 2 hours), Cook Time ( 10 min)

Ingredients:

• a cup or two of moong dal
• salt
• a pinch of turmeric
• water
• little bit of lime juice

To temper:

• oil
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsps urad dal (split black gram dal)
• 3 green chilies slit or chopped in small pieces, or you can use 4 red chilies
• 1 to 2 tbsps grated coconut (fresh is always better)
• 2 to 3 nos curry leaves or a bunch of cilantro chopped finely
• hing ( a pinch of asafoetida)

Method de Preparation:

1. Soak the moong dal in a vessel immersed in water for an hour. Drain it and leave it as such for 1 hr. When you touch it you will find it soft when pressed but not mushy. 
2. In the meantime get all the ingredients for tempering ready - chop the chilies and curry leaves finely.
3. Take oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard. Allow to splutter and add the urad dal and the hing. Soon after add the curry leaves and the green or red chilies. Mix in the moong dal, allow to blend together. Add salt.  You can add cilantro instead of the curry leaves if you like too.
4. At the end squeeze some lime juice for taste. And it is ready!

Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal

Talking of beach sundals, one other that is extremely famous is the thenga -manga - pattani sundal ( coconut - mango (raw) - peas).  This Navarathri I got to try out different sundals, one on each day of the festival.  Here is the recipe for the same.

Again you can make this as a sundal, as a side salad or a snack for those hungry tea time bites.

Difficulty level : Easy

Time: Preparation time ( 11 hours), Cook Time ( 10 min)

Ingredients:

• a cup or two of raw white or green peas
• salt
• a pinch of turmeric
• water
• little bit of lime juice

To temper:

• oil
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsps urad dal (split black gram dal)
• 3 green chilies slit or chopped in small pieces, or you can use 4 red chilies
• 1 to 2 tbsps grated coconut (fresh is always better)
• 2 to 3 nos curry leaves
• hing ( a pinch of asafoetida)
• small pieces of cut raw mango ( a couple of tbsps) - with the skin is great

Method de Preparation:

1. Soak the peas in a vessel immersed in water overnight. Pressure cook with a pinch of turmeric with water just immersing the lentils. Make sure to not overcook or they will end up mushy. They will still taste good but will not be separate, like how mine ended up.
2. When cooked ( should feel soft when pressed and no longer hard), drain excess water and keep aside.
3. In the meantime get all the ingredients for tempering ready - chop the chilies, mango and curry leaves finely.
4. Take oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard. Allow to splutter and add the urad dal and the hing. Soon after add the curry leaves and the green or red chilies. Mix in the peas, mango and coconut and add salt as needed.
5. At the end squeeze some lime juice for taste. And it is ready!

Tools of the Trade Tuesdays: My Masala Box (Stainless Steel Masala Dabba)

It is not an exaggeration to say that along with all the heirlooms a mom gives her daughter - this masala dabba is a prime addition to her kitchen. Such a simple yet effective design, most Indian homes have one. The number of boxes inside, whether each has a spoon, lid etc vary slightly but the purpose remains universally same - A simple box that holds a variety of spices one uses commonly in cooking esp. for seasoning. 

Having them close together really helps when you need to drop them into oil/ghee for tadka in unison or one after the other pretty quickly.

Below are pictures of my masala dabba that my mother gave me. It has 7 containers and I only use one spoon that goes across all these spices.

clockwise (from top center) - pepper corn, turmeric, chana dal (split chickpea), jeera (cumin), menthium (fenugreek seeds), urad dal (black gram) and in the center is mustard. I tend to use this masala dabba to store spices usually used for seasoning in south Indian cooking.

These are available fairly inexpensively in most Indian pathra kadais ( vessel stores) , but for all others who would love to have it in their kitchen, here is a deluxe version on Amazon that is not too bad on the wallet - Stainless Masala Dabba Deluxe.