Sundal is a South Indian dish made with legumes, coconut, tempering spices & curry leaves. Various whole lentils or legumes like chickpeas, horse gram, red kidney beans, mung beans etc can be used. Serve this as a side or as a snack. It is also offered to the Hindu deities during pooja.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 6 minutes
- Cook time: 25 minutes
- Total time: 31 minutes
- Yield: 3
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: South Indian
Ingredients
- ½ cup chana (or green gram (about 1.5 cups soaked))
- ½ to ¾ cup water for cooking ((I use ½ cup))
- 1 ½ tablespoon Ghee (or oil)
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin (/ jeera)
- 1 teaspoon urad dal ((optional for flavor))
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 to 2 red chilies (broken)
- ½ teaspoon ginger (grated (optional))
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric (/ haldi)
- 1 Pinch hing (/ asofoetida)
- ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 2 tbsps coconut (fresh grated)
Method
Preparation
- Add chana to a large pot and rinse them very well a few times.
- Pour fresh water and soak. If using chana soak overnight. If using green gram you can soak for just 30 mins.
- Once they are soaked, drain the water and rinse them well.
- Add them to a pressure cooker or pot along with water. Pressure cook on a medium heat.
- If using chana then cook for 4 whistles. If using green gram cook for 2 whistles.
- When the pressure releases, open the lid and check. Chana or green gram should be soft cooked yet hold shape and not turn mushy.
Tempering sundal
- Heat a pan with ghee for seasoning. Add cumin, mustard and urad dal. Saute until the dal turns golden.
- Add curry leaves and red chilies. When the leaves turn crisp, add ginger and hing.
- Drain the excess water if any left. Add the chana/ green gram, turmeric and salt.
- Add coconut. Mix and switch off.
- Offer sundal as a naivedyam to the deities or enjoy as snack.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.