Karamani Sundal/ Black-Eyed Peas Snack

Hope you had a wonderful 2011 and expect even better for 2012.  Last year was really good to me as my little one started to move around the house making her mommy work more and have fun at the same time. We are expecting another bundle of joy in a few weeks.  I am eagerly waiting for the debut date. I know there will be sleepless nights and frequent diaper changes. Still it is fun when I see the bundle opens eyes and trying to convey something to me. 

Cooking will become a rare event, usually surviving on bread and eggs, some rice and if lucky get some sides to go with it. This was our schedule when my princess was born. This time I am going to follow the same pattern.   Hope everything will go smoothly and see my joy comes healthy and safe. Nowadays we are praying to the God for that. We have very few friends over here to help and with no family around, it will be difficult but we will manage. 

Only last year did I come to know about the southern tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year day as it brings good luck.  However, I made a spicy black eyed peas curry without knowing the tradition. So this time I remembered tradition, and bought a frozen black eyed peas during grocery shopping. My little one likes sundal, a kind of snack, that amma used to make for our after school. It is also an important dish that we make during Navarathri and festival when we pray to Goddess. When we were young, we loved to eat a sweet version of sundal, rather than savory version. But now I like to make a savory version. You can make sundal with any kind of legumes, especially, chickpeas,   black eyed peas, kidney beans etc and nuts like peanuts etc. Just cook the legumes/beans and then season it with coconut, mustard, red chili, and urad dal and curry leaves. It is one of the easy ways to increase your protein content in the diet.  I made black eyed peas sundal for this New Year here goes the recipe.

One year ago: Poee/Poli bread with spicy black-eyed peas curry
Two year ago: Fried green beans in Portuguese style
 Print recipe from here

What you need

Black-Eyed peas/ Karamani: 1 cup

Coconut chopped: 2 tablespoon

Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste

Red chili: 1 no

Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Urad dal: 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Olive oil: 1 teaspoon

Water: 1 ½ cup

How I made

In a pressure cooker cook the black eyed peas for about 3 whistle or about 20 minutes and drain and set aside.

Heat a medium sauce pot and add one teaspoon oil and mustard seeds, urad dal, coconut pieces, red chili and curry leaves. When mustard seeds starts popping add cooked black eyed peas and mix everything to combine well.

Enjoy it as any time snack. 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 serving (if you are liberal only 1 serving)

Verdict: Yummy, healthy

Will you make it again: Yes I will.

I am linking this delicious  snack to Hearth and Soul blog hop#81 hosted here.