Navratri Festival Recipes 2013 - Navaratri Sundal Recipes (South Indian)

I love this time of year when festival season is in full swing in India. Navaratri or Navratri always meant sundal at home and they always tasted different than when amma normally made them with meals. The most important events around Navaratri in Kerala and in my home was for Ayudha pooja and Saraswati pooja. We would arrange our school books neatly in the pooja room under a white cloth over which amma would then place small deity statues and fresh flowers. This meant no reading or studying for about 3 days and my cousins and I always took that very very seriously. We also followed a vegetarian diet during these days although a full-fledged vrat was not part of the program. I don't remember us not including onions or garlic in our food either.

Ayudha pooja was equally important in our home since both my parents were business people. My dad would keep all his ledgers and account books for pooja and do a mini one with his employees. Amma would send hot vada, sundal, and sakkara pongal for this occasion. At home, in amma's stitching unit, we would do a mini pooja for all the sewing machines and important tools like tailoring scissors and thread boxes. As a child, all of this was entertaining and fascinating, although it meant bathing first thing in the morning and wearing a pattu pavadai.

Anyway, I hope you are making memories for your own Navaratri celebrations at home. Here are some recipes I have on Edible Garden that could help with it.

NAVARATRI SUNDAL RECIPES
Kadalai Sundal
Kadalai Paruppu Sundal
Green Peas Sundal
Pattani Mangai Sundal
Green Gram Sundal
Mochai Sundal

NAVARATRI SNACKS
Medu Vada
Mysore Bonda
Paruppu Vadai
Keerai Vadai
Aval Vadai
Tamarind Rice

NAVARATRI SWEETS
Sakkarai Pongal
Paal Vadai
Maladu
Paal Payasam
Semiya Payasam

Rajma Sundal - South Indian Rajma Sundal Recipe for Navaratri

I made this Rajma sundal almost a year back and then decided to wait until Navaratri 2013 to share the recipe. How fast time flies! I am not a fan of rajma and barely cook it except for an occasional rajma masala. It's tough to cook, tough to imbibe flavours into, and generally tasteless. I know I am being harsh (sorry rajma!), but that's really how I feel. Now, a rajma sundal is something I find passable because I generally love sundals and it has that bite from freshly grated coconut which is delicious.

Rajma is one of those things you have to soak before cooking, there's no two ways about that (I do hope someone proves me wrong on this though). Soaking and pressure cooking is the way to start most sundal recipes and htis is no exception. However, I find that I prefer a generous dose of dry red chillies in my rajma sundal than green chillies which are sometimes preferred in sundal recipes.

Also check out - chana dal sundal, kadalai sundal,  green peas sundal, and pattani mangai sundal or beach sundal recipe.

RAJMA SUNDAL RECIPE

Preparation time: 8 hours
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of rajma or red kidney beans, soaked overnight
2 tsp of oil
1 tsp of split urad dal (ulutham paruppu)
3-4 of dry red chillies, torn into pieces
1/4 tsp of hing powder
1/4 cup of grated coconut
A few curry leaves or a small bunch coriander leaves
1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Drain and wash the soaked rajma and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. It's tough to cook rajma into a mush so make sure that it's cooked by pressing one between your fingertips. It should disintegrate when you put enough pressure.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and urad dal.

3. When the mustard pops and the dal turns golden brown, add the red chillies and curry leaves (I didn't have any so used chopped coriander leaves in the end). Saute the chillies for a few seconds.

4. Add the cooked, drained, rajma and mix well. Add salt.

5. FInally add the grated coconut and chopped coriander (if using).

Serve rajma sundal warm as a snack, with rice and curry as a side dish, and of course, as a neivedyam for the navratri festival.

Green Peas Sundal - South Indian Navaratri Recipes

Sundal and Navaratri festival are almost synonymous but I don't limit something as nutritious and easy to prepare as a sundal to festival season alone. Pretty much all sundals have a similar recipe and the green peas sundal is no different. The only thing that you would need to remember to do ahead is the soaking. I used dried green peas for making this green peas sundal and soaked it for about 4 hours in warm water.

Generally, fresh peas is not used for sundal since it has too much moisture and the consistency won't work well. My mom makes a thoran with fresh peas though, which is delicious and follows a slightly different recipe. So for this recipe, use dried peas - either green or white - soak it and pressure cook it before turning it into this easy and lovely sunday for your navratri cooking and preparations.

Also check out - kadalai paruppu sundal, chana sundal, mochai sundal, and green peas sundal with raw mango.

GREEN PEAS SUNDAL RECIPE

Preparation time: 4 hours
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of dry green peas
2 tsp of oil
1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds
2 dry red chillies, halved
A few curry leaves
1/4 tsp of hing
1/3 cup of grated coconut

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak the peas for about 4 hours in warm water. Pressure cook with enough water to cover them for about 15 mins or 1 whistle. We just want to cook the peas, not turn them to a mush.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the rest of the ingredients except coconut and cooked peas. Saute until the red chillies turn a darker shade - about 20 seconds.

3. Add the cooked peas and some salt to this. Mix well.

5. Top off with the coconut and turn off flame. Mix well again and let the flavours mingle for about an hour before serving.

Done! Easy green peas sundal is now ready.

While sundal is a popular navratri dish, you can serve it as a snack or even with rice and curry for lunch or dinner. Pretty much any legume can be made into sundal - it's light and healthy.

Kadalai Paruppu Sundal - Vinayaka Chaturthi & Navratri Recipes

Sundal is synonymous with Vinayaka Chaturthi (Ganesh Chaturthi) and Navratri in my house. While different versions of sundals show up through the year as a snack or as part of meals, the most popular time is during Vinayaka Chaturthi and the popular sundal is usually Kadalai Sundal and this Kadalai Paruppu Sundal. Amma also makes a great Black Chana Sundal during navratri but I am yet to try that myself.

We are currently staying in a temporary accommodation with a tiny kitchen and I had to buy all my groceries again but I still had the necessary items to make this delicious and easy chana dal sundal last night. The smell and flavour of it reminded me so much of celebrating festivals back in Kerala as a child. I especially love the texture of kadalai paruppu in sundal. You can also check out Payar Sundal, Pattani Mangai Sundal, and Mochakottai Sundal.

Here's an archive of Vinayaka Chaturthi Recipes from last year.

KADALAI PARUPPU SUNDAL RECIPE

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 1.5 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cups of chana dal / kadala paruppu
• 1/4 cup of grated coconut
• 1 tsp of oil
• 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
• 2 dry red chillies, torn into pieces
• 1/4 tsp of split urad dal (optional)
• 1/4 tsp of hing / asafoetida
• A few curry leaves

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak the dal in warm water for at least 30 mins. This is not a necessary step but helps to cook the dal much faster. If you don't have time or forgot to do it, just skip the soaking part.

2. Cook the dal in a pan with just enough water to cover it for about 10-12 mins. The dal should crumble when you crush between your fingers but still hold its shape. I tried using the microwave and it got done in about 12 mins. I feel stove top method is easier though.

3. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal, and hing. Let the mustard seeds pop and the dal turn golden brown.

4. Next, add the red chillies and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds.

5. Tip in the cooked dal next along with some salt. Mix well.

6. Finally add the coconut, make sure you mix well and heat it through and then remove the sundal from fire.

Sundal is a quick and easy snack that's protein-rich too. You can also serve it with rice and a curry. I often made sundal with rice and rasam for a quick dinner or weekend lunch, it just comes together so quickly.

I hope you enjoy this Kadalai Paruppu Sundal for Vinayaka Chaturthi 2013 and Navratri Festival too.

Pattani Mangai Sundal-Peas Sundal-Navaratri Recipes

Sundal to me is either channa (kadalai) sundal or payaru sundal. Although I saw the beach type sundal on Jey's and a couple other blogs, that was really the first I'd heard of them and I hadn't ever tasted it.

So it was a pleasant surprise when I landed in Coimbatore last week and my TH's mom had made pattani thenga mangai sundal (peas sundal with coconut and raw mango). It was delicious with small bites of sour mango pieces, softly cooked peas with coconut and was a great pairing with some spicy rasam and rice. It tastes great as it is for evening snack too.

Ideally, you should use the white dried peas for this and not the green kind but she said due to Navaratri, the white peas was sold out in the nearby store! Green peas is a decent substitute and that's what we used.

Pattani Thenga Mangai Sundal (Green Peas Sundal Recipe)

Preparation time: 8 hours
Cooking time: 10 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 cup dried peas (use white or green)
1/3 cup grated coconut
2-3 green chillies, split
1/4 cup diced raw mango
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
A pinch of hing (asafoetida or perungaayam)
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste

How It's Made:

1. Soak the dried peas overnight or at least for 8 hours. Drain and pressure cook for 2 whistles until soft yet not mushy. It's safer to use an open pot with boiling water to cook the peas so you can check and stop when it's done. Sometimes, pressure cooking may overcook the peas.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add the green chillies and curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds and add the cooked, drained peas and the asafoetida along with the salt. Mix well and add the diced mango and coconut.

3. Let it sit on low flame until the moisture is completely absorbed. Serve hot.

12 Easy Recipes for Navratri (Navaratri) 2012

I have vague memories of amma celebrating Navarathri (or Navratri) when I was a child. We would make a few types of sundal, some vadai, and payasam for the festival and for me, it was all about the food anyway. 

TH's family, being Brahmins, celebrate in a different way with golu and one type of sundal for each of the 9 days of navarathri. Golu is a very special thing that the entire family comes together for and on the final day, more food is made - like vadai and payasam and snacks for distribution. Married women are also given small tokens or gifts as blessings. I have especially been interested in the golu that's done for navarathri, having never really seen one or arranged one in person. One day... :) 

Anyway, here's a list of easy Navarathri recipes for 2012 from Edible Garden. Navarathri dates for 2012 is from Oct 16 to Oct 24th. Festive greetings to all of you celebrating.  

1. Kadalai Sundal 

2. Mochakkottai Sundal

{Imagine a beautiful picture of mochakkottai sundal here that amma made. 

Picasa albums gobbled it up because it was that pretty}

3. Payar Sundal / Green Gram Sundal

4. Masala Vada / Masal Vade

5. Ulundu Vadai / Medhu Vadai

     6. Aval Vadai

7. Thayir Vadai / Dahi Vada

8. Maladu / Pottukadalai Urundai

9. Besan Ladoo

10. Paruppu Payasam

11. Semiya Payasam

12. Paal Payasam

Wishing all reader of Edible Garden a wonderful Navratri (Navarathri) Festival 2012.

Mysore Bonda | Mysore Bajji | Ulundu Bonda Recipe

I didn't even realise that something called Mysore Bonda existed until I was complaining to my MIL that I can never master the shape of ulundu vadai and end up making them into round blobs each time.

She suggested I just alter the recipe slightly and call them Mysore Bondas instead. Genius! So while I master getting the shape of ulundu vadai right, here's something I am going to use in the mean time.

Make no mistake, ulundu vadai (or medhu vadai) and Mysore bonda have the same basic ingredients but they do have some differences. For instance, we add fresh coconut pieces (thenga kothu) in Mysore Bonda that gives it a lovely texture. Also, our version uses no ginger.

Mysore Bonda or Ulundu Bonda Recipe

Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 20-25 bondas
Recipe Source: MIL

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of urad dal / ulutham paruppu / uzhunnu parippu
4 tbsp of fresh coconut pieces (thenga kothu)
2 of green chillies
1 tbsp of whole black peppercorns
A few of fresh curry leaves
Salt of to taste
Oil of for deep frying

How to Make Mysore Bonda:

1. Soak the urad dal in water for about 2 hours. Grind with little water to a smooth paste along with the green chillies and salt. The amount of water depends on the quality and age of the urad dal you are using. Don't add too much water or the bondas will become too oily. Add little at a time and if the dal is grinding up fine, stop there.

2. Add the peppercorns, coconut pieces, and curry leaves to the ground urad dal batter. Mix well. The batter looks a bit looser in the below picture because of the mixing we did, so no need to add water after grinding.

3. Heat oil in a kadai and add spoonfuls of batter into it. I just use my fingertips, take a small blog of batter, shape it roughly into a ball and drop it in. Start with one bonda to make sure it's hot enough. If the oil sizzles around the bonda as you drop it in, then it's ready. Don't make it smoking hot.

4. Fry until the bondas are golden brown. Don't overcrowd them in the oil, otherwise, they oil temperature will go down too much resulting in soggy oily bondas.

5. Drain on a kitchen napkin. I usually fry one and test it for spice/saltiness/doneness and then proceed with the rest of the batch.

Notes:
- you can add some grated ginger to the batter if you'd like
- the fresh coconut pieces are a star ingredient so try to get your hands on some. grated coconut may not work so that's not a good substitute
- i served these with tomato thokku once and bottled vatha kozhambu from Grand Sweets another time. regular thenga chutney (coconut chutney) works well too
- serve hot or at least warm. if they sit for a bit, they get soft. still edible but definitely not as tasty

Paal Vadai | Diwali Sweets Recipe

I was lamenting to amma on the phone on Sunday saying how I had wanted to make some sweets for Diwali but nothing really happened. Then she goes "have you posted paal vadai yet?"

Me: "Paal vadai? Have I eaten that before?"

Amma: "What are you saying? I used to make it all the time when you kids were smaller!"

Me: "I... don't.. remember.."

Amma: "OK, it's very easy. Here's how you make it"

And so I made it!

Once made, it looks a bit like gulab jamun but don't get misled by the looks. This sweet is remarkable in it's sheer simplicity.

Paal Vadai Recipe
Recipe source: amma
Makes about 6 vadai

Ingredients:
1 cup of skinned, whole urad dal / ulutham paruppu
A pinch of salt
2-3 cups of milk (more or less)

For jaggery syrup:
5 tbsp of grated jaggery (or brown sugar)
10-12 tbsp of water
1 pod of cardamom

How I Made It:

1. Soak the urad dal in enough water to cover it by 3 inches for about 1 to 2 hours.

2. Grind the soaked dal with enough added milk to make a thick, custard-like batter. It should have the consistency of the batter you would grind for medhu vada. Add salt and mix well.

3. Heat oil to almost smoking point and add small quantities of batter into it. No need to shape them, just make them into small lime-sized balls.

4. Fry until golden brown and drain on kitchen towels.

5. For jaggery syrup, mix the jaggery and water and bring to boil. Peel and add the cardamom pod, including the skin.

6. Remove the syrup from fire and dunk the fried urad balls in. Keep covered and let it soak well.

That's it! Serve warm or at room temperature. The flavour is predominantly that of urad dal so it's quite unique and delicious.

You can also make these in white sugar syrup, just omit the cardamom pod in that case, it may overpower the flavour.