Mochai sundal

Typical Indian snacks are made with dals, less oil and more spices. No wonder these foods are considered divine and offered during holy days by Indians. Here is one snack called sundal made with field beans.
Fresh field beans (pachai mochai) was a rare sight to see in my birth place. So mom used to do this sundal with dried field beans (kanja mochai). I have also made this dish with dried beans.
Many years back when we went to my Gandhi chithi's house in Madurai for a vacation, I had an opportunity to see the fresh beans with pods there. I enjoyed peeling them off sitting around the big platter filled with these bean pods and listening to my chithi and amma talking and giggling with my sister :) Chithi cooked some mochai along with pod and salt and we had that also without tempering. That plain beans too tasted very delicious. Then she made some masala curry using this. Those days were memorable for me, playing with my loving sister, brothers and eating moon light dinners. Some scenes are like video in our minds and we replay them and cherish all those memories. Whenever  I look back, I  thank God for my family and those golden moments.
After marriage, the few years in Chennai brought me all the seasonal vegetables I love, as hubby too enjoys tasting the rare vegetables . So if you love field beans, do try this recipe and enjoy.


Sundal - Indian salad with various beans.
Hindi - Val dal / English - Hyacinth bean or field bean / Tamil - Mochai payeru or mochai kai or mochai kottai / Telugu - Anapa kayalu or Ginjalu
 

Ingredients:
dried mochai - 1/2 cup
 oil - 1 tsp
fennel - 1 tsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
salt - to taste
dry red chilly - 1
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To grind:
shredded coconut -2 tbsp
ginger - 1 inch
cumin - 1/2 tsp
green chilly - 1

Preparation:
(If we are using the fresh beans no need to pressure cook. Just cook by stove top method).
For dried mochai:  Dry roast the mochai kottai, till we see dark spots on the outer layer and a nice aroma. Then rinse it with water twice. Add water till it gets well immersed. Soak overnight or an hour. Add turmeric and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
(we can cook it in stove top also, but it will take an hour).
Grind the items given without adding water to a coarse mixture.
Heat oil in a wok. Add fennel seeds. As soon as it turns red, add the curry leaves, dry red chilly and immediately add the cooked vaal (mochai). Add required salt, ground mixture and fry till it looks loose without any moisture.
Switch off. Mochai sundal is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or side dish with rice and puli kulambu.

Inippu sundal

Sundal / sprout stir fry is a healthy Indian-snack.While all the other sundals remain spicy there are a few variations too.  Karamani and green gram are more suitable for making a sweeter version. It can be classified as a healthy dessert because of the benefits of red cow peas.

Other names: thattam payaru inippu sundal , karamani, red cow peas, red chowri, red chawli, azuki beans, small red beans.

Sweet karamani sundal.

Ingredients:

Red cow peas - 1 cup
jaggery - 1 cup (or less)
freshly shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cardamom - 2
ghee / coconut oil - 1 tsp
cashew - 4
raisin - few

How to cook the cow peas?

Add twice the measure of  water to the unsoaked karamani (red cow peas) and pressure cook till 2 whistle. Then reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.
If soaked overnight: add enough water to cover karamani (red cow peas) and pressure cook till 1 whistle. Then reduce heat to minimum and cook for 5 minutes.
Soaked red chowri can be cooked in stove top too. But it will require more water and time.
Dry roasting the bean reduces the cooking time in stove top method.

Method:

Wash and cook the red chowri beans. Drain the excess water from cooked dhal. The water can be used in making curries, soup, rasam etc.

In a separate vessel add 1/2 cup water to jaggery and dissolve it by heating. Pour the clear jaggery solution to a bowl and discard the sediments.

Heat the oil / ghee in a wok and put the cashews, raisins. Let the raisin puff in minimum heat. Pour the jaggery solution and heat till it gets thick.Add the cooked beans and reduce heat. Wait till it looses the excess moisture and turns grainy.

Switch off and sprinkle the cardamom powder, shredded coconut. Mix well.

Sweet Sundal is ready!

Serving Suggestion:

Serve as snack.
It can be wrapped inside a chapati and served as sweet rolls.
Excess inippu sundal can be kept frozen and used later for making  boli / sweet paratha, susiyam or stuffed kozhukattai.

Sundal

Here is a well known healthy snack, the sundal. In India sundals are very regular during festivals,  temple offerings etc. It occupies a major role in Navarathiri pooja, a prominent Hindu festival in India. The Navarathiri or Dhasara is celebrated 10 days continuously. It is a celebration of Goddess Ambal's victory .The ladies arrange Golu (scene depicting culture using idols)  and offer these sundals to the God and distribute to the guests as prasatham.

Memories: It varies from region to region and  depends on which God they consider as their main deity . In my native place (dad's home town), the major Goddess is Bagavathy Amman and so Navarathiri is celebrated to honor the ladies of a family. The unmarried girls are considered as Goddesses and offered many gifts while participating in the function. In my dad's family the aim of the  function is to welcome the daughters who are given in marriage and to pamper the homesick girls , of course with her husband too:) Some do the fasting the whole day (9 days and the 10 th day is full of feasts) , powder the rice manually (using ural + ulakkai), make rice flour lamps (mavillakku) , sweet dumplings (kolukkattai) and in the evening there will be singing and poojas and a lot of yummy goodies to all:) .

Konda kadalai sundal.

Ingredients:

White or red chick peas - 100 gm (1 coffee mug full)
coconut oil - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
dry red chillies - 3
curry leaf - 2 sprig
mustard seed - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
water (to cook) - to immerse and 1 cup standing over.

Method:

Soak the chick peas over night.Fast Soaking can be done in hot water for 6 to 8 hours along with some baking soda. The peas will double in size after soaking.

The easiest way is to buy a canned one, but I prefer the home cooked ones better .

Remove the soaked water (must). Wash again and add some more water. Pressure cook the peas with more water to stand above the peas. Let it whistle once, then reduce the flame and cook in low flame for 15 minutes. Release pressure and take out. Add salt, drain the water.

Heat oil in a wok. Splutter the mustard seeds. Reduce flame and add the red chillies, curry leaves and wait till the chillies turn dark red. Add the cooked channa and stir fry till it looses all the water. Check the salt and put lot of freshly grated coconut. Switch off immediately.

Serving suggestion:

Serve as snack with tea / coffee.
It is my habit to make some chundal with variety rice like puli saatham (Yummy!).
This is a very healthy protein rich snack with nearly 100 calories per cup.
We can make many chundals like this from various lentils like whole green gram (pachai payaru), channa dhal (kadalai paruppu), moon dhal (paasi paruppu), cow peas (thattam payaru), field beans (mochai /val) etc.