Navadhanya Sundal (South Indian Salad with 9 Legumes)

Navadhanya Sundal (South Indian Salad with 9 Legumes) by DK on Sep 28, 2016

Mixed Beans Sundal Recipe | Mixed Lentils Sundal Recipes | 9 Legumes Salad Recipe

The festival of Navarathri is celebrated with so much aplomb in India. Nava meaning 9 and rathiri meaning night; during these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Devi are worshipped. The highlight being preparation of different forms of Sundal during this time and distributed to everyone visiting their homes; Kadalai paruppu Sundal, Kara Kondakadalai Sundal (Spicy Black Chickpeas Salad), Rajma (Kidney Beans) Sundal, Peanuts Sundal, Payaru Sundal (Sprouted Green Gram Salad), Kondakadalai Sundal (Chickpeas Sundal) to name just a few! Yes, just a few - I have not even scratched the surface. Given the number of legumes, the possibilities are endless especially knowing the ingenuity of the Indian cooks :)

If you love legumes as much as I do, your pantry is possibly carrying quite a few varieties at this moment. Just choose the ones you like and make this extremely simple, almost effortless and nutritious snack right away. Some need overnight soaking while few others just an hour or two. But if you have dabbled in the food/digestion science long enough, you know that a long soak helps in removal of phytic acid from legumes/whole grains thereby helping our bodies absorb the nutrients better. If time is your enemy then in those cases - I would suggest many ready made options at groceries now a days. The local Indian groceries probably carry even ready made sprouted brown chickpeas, mung etc. Or if you absolutely insist, go for the canned chickpeas/lentils after thoroughly rinsing it out in cold water first.

Since its Navarathiri, I have symbolically used 9 legumes in this recipe. Er, you could even call me out on saying I just had too many of them to put to good use. Either way, that's a good enough excuse to make these, no? :) I have used a freshly made spice mix to add a wonderful zing to the beans. But you can skip and just temper it along with curry leaves or coconut. Or just use your own seasoning - this one works quite well for any of your creative juices.

Cook time: 15 to 30 min
Prep time: 4 to 8 hours
Serves: 1-2 people
Yields: Around 1 cup

Ingredients

For the Legumes Mix

Tips

1 tbsp Horsegram (Kollu)
1 tbsp Black Eyed Peas (Karamani)
1 tbsp Red Black Eyed Peas ( Sivappu Karamani)
1 tbsp Whole Green Mung (Pachai Payaru)
1 tbsp Val Dal (Dry Mochai)
1 tbsp Dry Peas (Pattani)
1 tbsp KIdney Beans (Rajma/Sivappu Payaru)
1 tbsp Brown Chickpeas (Karuppu Kondakadalai)
1 tbsp White Chickpeas (Vellai Kondakadalai)
1 tbsp Green Chickpeas (Optionally added in this recipe)

For the Spice Powder (Kara Podi)

1 tbsp Coriander Seeds (Daniya)
1 tbsp split Urad Dal
4-6 Dry Red Chillies, or as per taste
1/4 tsp Whole Peppercorns

For Tempering

1 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 tsp Urad dal
3-4 Dry Red Chillies , or as per taste
few sprigs of Curry Leaves
1/4 cup Grated Coconut, or as needed (optional)
2-3 tsp Ghee/Coconut Oil
Salt to taste

Tips

You can use any type of legume mix that you have in your pantry. I mention the ones I have used. Whole Legumes need overnight soak like Chickpeas, Kidney Beans etc while lentils need 3-4 hours at least.

Method

1. Soak the lentils and beans together overnight. If you are upto it, you can sprout them as well.

2. Drain and rinse them well.

3. Place them in a pressure cooker along with required salt, with enough water to cover it.

4. Cook until soft but not mushy. I think I took 6-7 whistles - around 12-15min. Set aside.

5. While that was cooking, alternatively prepare the spice powder. Dry roast them in a pan until aromatic and slightly reddish brown. You can add some ghee/oil to roast as well.

6. Cool it slightly and add it to your spice blender. I use a coffee bean grinder and its perfect for all my spice powders.

7. Grind into smooth powder. You possibly will have extra. You can store and use them for other sundals or on your vegetables. Set aside.

8. In the same pan used for dry roasting, add a little ghee/virgin coconut oil (for a profound coconut flavor) and temper the ingredients - mustard goes in first. And when it pops add the remaining.

9. Add the boiled legumes,

10. followed by coconut, if using.

11. Last goes in the spice powder. Add as much or as little as you prefer. Toss to mix.

Serve. Not only during Navarathri, I make these on and off to appease my 3Pm dreaded hour when hunger pangs hit me. These are nutritious and extremely filling without weighing me down.