This delicious Mochai Sundal for Navaratri (from double beans) is easy to make. I had planned it as part of my Navaratri Naivedyam post, and couldn't make up my mind whether to make plain sundal or with ginger and lemon or with a masala spice mix. The solution of course was to make all three types and leave it to you to decide which one you like the most.
Making Three Sundal Flavours
The Sundal is easy to put together but does need some planning in advance as the double beans need to be soaked overnight or for 8-10 hours.
Once the beans are drained and rinsed (as explained in the recipe below) and pressure cooked, the rest of the cooking takes only a few minutes. I have found the best way to pressure cook them is on high till one whistle and then on low heat for another two whistles, so that the beans are cooked through and just short of mushy.
Water volumes recommended in the recipe below will help get your perfect mochai Sundal.
The varieties I have given here are:
- Traditional basic Mochai Sundal for Navaratri with a light tempering of mustard seeds, dry red chili and curry leaves, and the addition of grated coconut.
2. A flavourful lemon ginger chili mochai Sundal with grated coconut. This one is really my favourite, especially as I had fresh large curry leaves with a heady aroma to add to the Sundal.
3. A delicious spiced masala mocha Sundal without coconut and with home made easy sundal spice mix.
You could soak and boil the beans and then make all three varieties too, if you like. Just keep the spice powder and grated coconut ready and add the ingredients applicable for each variety.
Measurements given in the Recipe are for 1 cup of dry beans or 3 cups of cooked mochai.
Serving Mochai Sundal
While you could make mochai sundal for Navaratri naivedyam, it also makes for a great lunch box item or an evening snack/ tiffin. It can be had cold and does not require reheating, however it tastes good when hot too.
The lemon ginger version though should not be heated once lemon juice has been added. If you do intend to have it later after heating it, it is best to add the lemon juice and coriander only after you have re-heated and just before you eat.
Legumes such as double beans, lima beans, fave beans, rajma (kidney beans) beans are nutritious. For a better understanding of nutritional and health benefits, you may like to read this article.
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Mochai Sundal For Navaratri In Three Flavours
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Frying pan
- Spice grinder/ mixie/ grinding stone
Ingredients
For cooking Mochai/ Double Beans for any of the three Flavours:
- 1 cup Dry Double beans - white or red
- 2 cups Water - for soaking the beans
- 2 cups Water - for boiling / pressure cooking beans
- ½ teaspoon Salt - while boiling/ pressure cooking
For Plain/ Basic Mocha Sundal with Coconut
- 2 tablespoons Nalla Ennai / Til oil / Sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 pinch Hing/ asafoetida
- 2 Dry Red Chilies - stalk removed
- 1 sprig Curry leaves - about 10 leaves, shredded (torn to small pieces)
- 1 pinch Salt
- ¼ cup Grated coconut
For Lemon Ginger Sundal with Coconut
- 2 tablespoons Nalla Ennai / Til oil / Sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon Kadala paruppu/ channa dal/ split Bengal gram
- 1 or 2 Green chilies - sliced
- 1 cm Ginger piece - peeled and minced (sliced very small)
- 1 sprig Curry Leaves - about 10 leaves, shredded (torn)
- 1 pinch Salt
- ¼ cup Grated Coconut
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - shredded (torn)
For Spiced Mix for Spiced Masala Sundal: Makes ¾ cup spice mix
- 2 tablespoons Kadala paruppu/ channa dal/ split Bengal gram
- 2 tablespoons Whole Ulutham paruppu/ sabut urad dal/ Whole Black Gram
- 1 tablespoon Ground nuts/ Peanuts
- ¼ cup Coriander seeds
- 2 Dry Red Chilies
- 1 pinch Hing/ asafoetida
- 1 sprig Curry leaves - about 10 leaves
For Spiced Masala Mochai Sundal
- 2 tablespoons Nalla Ennai / Til oil / Sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1 sprig Curry leaves - about 10 leaves, shredded (torn)
- 1 pinch Salt
Instructions
For Any of the 3 Flavours of Mochai Sundal - Basic, Lemon and Ginger, Spiced:
- Wash, drain and soak dry mochai kottai/ double beans in double the volume of water, overnight or for 8 to 10 hours.After soaking, drain and rinse in fresh water 2 to 3 times. Drain.
- Add enough water to just cover the beans completely and add ½ teaspoon salt. Pressure cook on high heat till 1 whistle of the cooker and on low for 2 more whistles. Remove from heat and open the cooker once steam has been released on its own. If cooking in a pot on the stove, add water to about an inch above the surface of the beans, add salt, bring to a boil and then simmer on medium or low heat for 20 to 30 minutes till beans are cooked through and soft. Drain the cooked beans and pat dry with a kitchen towel to remove any moisture.
Option 1. Tempering for Traditional Basic/ Plain Mochai Sundal with Coconut:
- Heat a frying pan, add oil. Sesame oil or Coconut oil give the best results for this sundal, or else a mild flavoured vegetable oil such as sunflower oil
- Add mustard seeds, let them burst on low flame.Add asafoetida (hing) and dry chilies. Add more chilies if you like the sundal spicy. Turn the chilies so that both sides are fried.Shred curry leaves and add. Stand back if they are fresh leaves as oil may splash out.
- Add cooked drained mochai beans. I add a pinch of salt at this stage, in addition to the salt added initially when the beans were pressure cooked. You may like to first taste the cooked beans before adding salt now.Stir well till all moisture has evaporated (about 2 minutes). The beans tend to catch and brown at the bottom of the hot pan, hence stirring is important.Add grated coconut, stir once and transfer the mochai sundal to a heat proof serving dish or naivedyam vessel.
Option 2. Tempering for Lemon Ginger Mochai Sundal with Coconut:
- Heat a frying pan, add oil. Til (Sesame) oil or Coconut oil give the best results for this sundal, or else a mild flavoured vegetable oil such as sunflower oil
- Add mustard seeds, let them burst on low flame.Add Channa dal/ Kadala paruppu and saute for 20 seconds on low heat, till the dal begins to change colour/darken without letting it get black.Add sliced green chilies. Add more chilies if you like the sundal spicy. Turn the chilies so that both sides are fried.Add minced gingerShred curry leaves and add. Stand back if they are fresh leaves as oil may splash out.
- Add cooked drained mochai beans. I add a pinch of salt at this stage, in addition to the salt added initially when the beans were pressure cooked. You may like to first taste the cooked beans before adding salt now.Stir well till all moisture has evaporated (about 2 minutes). The beans tend to catch and brown at the bottom of the hot pan, hence stirring is important.Add grated coconut, stir once and transfer the mochai sundal to a heat proof serving dish or naivedyam vessel. Add lemon juice and garnish the sundal with coriander leaves. If intending to re-heat and have later, add the lemon and coriander at that time after re-heating, so that they taste fresh.
Option 3. To Make Sundal Spice Mix (Makes ¾ cup spice mix)
- Dry Roast each of the items from ingredients above separately and transfer to heat proof bowl. Coriander seeds, hing and dry chilies may be roasted together. Curry leaves to be roasted till they are dry and no moisture remains, so that the spice mix is also dry and can be kept for several weeks.Grind all the roasted ingredients together to a powder. The remaining Spice mix after using for sundal may be stored in an airtight contained and used as curry powder.
Tempering for Spiced Masala Mochai Sundal:
- Heat a frying pan, add oil. Til oil gives the best results for this sundal, or else a mild flavoured vegetable oil such as sunflower oil.
- Add mustard seeds, let them burst on low flame.Shred curry leaves and add. Stand back if they are fresh leaves as oil may splash out.
- Add ½ to 1 tablespoon of the prepared Spice mix. Stir it into the oilAdd cooked drained mochai beans and stir into the spice mix immediately as the beans may catch at the bottom of the pan. I add a pinch of salt at this stage, in addition to the salt added initially when the beans were pressure cooked. You may like to first taste the cooked beans before adding salt now.Stir well till all moisture has evaporated (about 2 minutes). Transfer the mochai sundal to a heat proof serving dish or naivedyam vessel. Your Spiced Masala Sundal is ready.
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