Aish Cooks

Thenga Maanga Pattani Sundal / Dried peas salad with green mango and coconut

Another Navratri special and a snack that just might bring back beach memories for those from Chennai 🙂

My favorite part of this beach sundal, given I’ve never had it in a beach setting, is the tanginess that hits you every time a bit of the mango finds its way in. Simply awesome! Takes hardly anytime to make if you discount the soaking period for the dried peas, which is highly recommended for a healthful means of consuming any dried beans or legumes. Traditionally this sundal is made with the white color version of the dried peas, also called vatana, but I only had the green ones handy and it tastes about the same. You could also substitute the peas with chickpeas (black or white). Navaratri is almost drawing to a close.. so if you haven’t had sundal in a while, here’s the perfect excuse to get cooking and take that ride down the memory lane!

Source: Adapted from the way mom makes chick peas sundal

Serves: 4

Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Dried peas (white or green) – 1 cup, soaked overnight or at least 4-5 hours
2. Chopped green mango – 1/2 cup
3. Dry Red Chilies – 2 or 3
4. Green chilies – 2 or 3, slit
5. Ginger – 1 tbsp, chopped
6. Coconut – 1/4 cup, shredded or chopped
7. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
8. Urad dal – 1 tbsp
9. Bengal gram dal (Chana dal or kadala paruppu) – 1 tbsp
10. Asafoetida / Hing – 1 tsp
11. Turmeric – 1 tsp
12. Curry leaves – few
13. Salt – to taste
14. Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Cook the peas with some salt and turmeric until fully done but firm. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat some oil in a pan, add the mustard,  chana dal and urad dal. Allow the mustard to crackle and dals to slightly turn brown.
3. Add the dry red chilies, curry leaves, hing, green chilies, ginger and saute for a minute on med heat.
4. Add the chopped mango with some salt and saute for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the coconut and stir fry for a couple of minutes until lightly toasted.
6. Add the cooked peas and saute until everything is combined together.

Serve hot with tea or anytime of the day as nibble-food!

Notes:

This version makes a crunchy version of the sundal with firm cooked peas. To make it a bit more mushy, the peas can be pressure cooked until much softer and easily mash-able and then combined with the other ingredients.