Beach Sundal
After moving to Chennai for my schooling, my family and I enjoyed spending our Sunday evenings at Marina Beach in Chennai, India. Unlike beaches here, Marina Beach has many street-food stalls where they sell varieties of sundal. Beach sundal was and still is my favorite. This made me look forward to Sundays. During rainy season in India, we could not go to the beach, and this made us all crave for sundal. Finally, after lot trial & error, my aunt figured the below recipe, which is very close to how I remember eating it at the beach.
Desika Products:
Peanut Oil
RECIPE FOR BEACH SUNDAL
Ingredients:
Serves: 4
Whole Dried Yellow Peas - 1 1/4 cup
Fresh Ginger - 2-inch piece
Garlic - 2 pods
Green Chilies - 2 to 3
Peanut oil - 2 tsp
Water - 3 cups (cooking) + 1/2 cup grinding
Salt as needed
TOPPINGS FOR SUNDAL:
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Carrot -1
Lime - 1
Cilantro - Handful
Instructions:
Wash and soak the yellow peas in 3 cups water overnight or at least 8 hours
Pressure cook it for 3 whistles. If cooking on stove top, cook until the peas become soft but not too mushy
While it is pressure cooking, finely chop onion, tomato, and cilantro. Grate the carrot. Set all of this aside for topping.
Peel the skin from fresh ginger & garlic. Cut the green chilies into 2 pieces
Add everything in step 3 and a ladleful of cooked yellow peas to a mixer jar with half cup water and grind to a smooth paste
In a wok or kadai, heat up the oil and add the ground paste and cook until the raw smell goes away, stirring constantly
Now add the remaining cooked peas and add salt as needed. Cook this for another 3 to 5 mins
Sundal is now ready. My family likes to eat this topped with fresh vegetables listed above with some sweet sauce, a wedge of lime, and baked samosas and kachoris on the side.
Tips & Tricks:
When you grind the yellow peas with ginger, garlic and chilies, you can also add a fistful of mint for a minty taste.