Karamani Sundal

Navarathri is a festival of worshiping the goddesses Parvathi (for creative power), Saraswathi (for wisdom) & Lakshmi (for wealth). Navarathri celebrations in Tamilnadu is incomplete without making sundal (legume salad). Generally, we offer sundal as neivedyam to deities during Navarathri. I like to prepare sundal using karamani (black eyed beans) for the soft skin & creamy texture. So I have used karamani of different colors viz., mahogany, peach & white colors and prepared 4 types of sundal.

Different types of sundal:

I have prepared classic sundal using all the 3 colors of karamani, spicy sundal using white beans, masala sundal using peach color beans & sweet sundal using mahogany beans. Both the masala sundal & sweet sundal may be liked by the children.

Karamani sundal recipe:

Since karamani beans are not so hard as chickpeas (channa) and also not so tender as moong beans, it is tricky to cook them and make soft sundal. So we need to soak them just for 1 or 2 hours, and cook for about 5 minutes. Here I have soaked karamani for 2 hours and pressure cooked them. I have added water in the ratio of 1:1 and simmered for 5 minutes after reaching high pressure. You may refer the gifs below that are self explanatory for different types of sundal recipes:

Classic sundal

I have used red chillies only for the flavor not for the heat, and I don’t like to see too many seeds of chillies in my sundal.

Spicy sundal

We can add the mixture of coconut and idli podi to enjoy the aroma of podi in sundal.

Masala sundal

I have added the mixture of coconut and curry powder (garam masala) for the delightful flavors and garnished it with grated carrot and chopped coriander leaves.

Sweet sundal

Here I have added jaggery, coconut & cardamom into this sundal.