SPICY KARAMANI SUNDAL

SPICY KARAMANI SUNDAL

Sundal is a light snack from the South Indian state of Tamilnadu. It is generally made of legumes like chickpeas, dry green peas, black eyed beans etc. Over the years this has come to become common fare during festivals like Navartri  in many South Indian homes.

Elsewhere in this blog, you will find recipes for the popular Thenga, Manga, Pattani Sundal made with coconut, raw mango and green peas and raw mango; Corn Sundal made with fresh sweet corn , and Verkadalai Sundal, made with peanuts/groundnuts.

While sundals are usually bland, today's recipe is for a spicy sundal made with black-eyed beans. These are called Karamani in Tamil, Lobia in Hindi and Alasande in Kannada and Konkani.

The freshly ground spice powder made of dal and red chilli gives this sundal a distinctive taste.

Ingredients:

• Karamani (Black-eyed Beans), 1 cup
• Salt, to taste

For the Spice Powder:

• Channa Dal ( Bengal Gram), 1 tbsp
• Urad Dal (Black Gram Dal), 1 tbsp
• Byadgi Red Chillies, 4
• Oil, 1/2 tsp

For the Seasoning: 

• Mustard Seeds, 3/4 tsp
• Urad Dal, 3/4 tsp
• Hing, (Asafoetida), 1/8 tsp
• Red Chilli, 1, broken into halves
• Curry Leaves, 5-6 
• Oil, 2 tsp 

Method:

Wash and soak the karamani overnight or for 6-8 hours. Drain away the excess water.
Pressure cook the karamani adding the required amount of water and a little salt for 2 to 3 whistles. Make sure the karamani gets cooked but are not overcooked.
Once the cooker cools, remove the cooked karamani  drain the excess water and keep aside.

Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a kadhai and on medium flame add the channa and urad dal and red chillies and fry till the dals change colour and become fragrant and the red chillies become crisp.
Allow this to cool and powder in a small mixer jar and keep aside

Heat 2 tsp of oil in the kadhai and when it becomes hot on medium flame add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add the urad dal and saute till it changes colour
Next add the asafoetida, followed by the broken red chilli and curry leaves and saute 

To this add the cooked karamani, salt if required and the prepared spice powder
Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes for the spice powder to get well blended with the cooked karamani