“Sundal, of course,” says my friend, as I wonder what I should write about this week. Dussehra is around the corner and serendipitously I have just arranged white and black chana, green mung, rajma, thatta payir and peanuts all in a row in my new kitchen dabbas. If I add chana dal, corn and peas to that, I realise I have a sundal a day for navaratri, with some left over if I buy myself some mochai kottai (lima beans) and kollu (horse gram) too.
I wonder if there is any particular reason why sundal is made during the festive period. Maybe, they fall into the ‘allowed-to-eat’ category for those who follow food restrictions. Maybe, housewives just found it easy to plan the nine days in advance and order their groceries accordingly. Then, these sundals are rich in nutrition, and perhaps a good way to shore up on healthy food in what are inevitably days of gluttony and unwise eating.
That is the nicest thing about Navaratri — the glorious uncertainty. What prasadam is it going to be when I visit so and so’s house for Kolu? There are days when several kolu mamis go one direction and we come back home clutching donnais of the same sundal. Which is not bad because the whole family can have it for dinner. Soon, our apartments will have mouthwatering aromas wafting down the corridors. That hint of asafoetida, curry leaves and green chilli tempering... I love making sundal as much as I like eating it. I only don’t enjoy the grating-the-coconut bit. So, often I chop onions and add to the simple boiled peanut or kabuli chana or green mung. With a sprinkling of roasted jeera powder and lemon juice, it acquires a whole new taste. Also delicious. Remember to always save the stock after you boil the pulses and legumes. The rasam you make with that is just out-of-this-world.
Sundals are making a big comeback. In the popular walking areas, at least in the city I live in, men and women sell varieties of the stuff out of shiny big steel vessels. There is a hit of ginger sometimes, or even peanuts for crunch, or like one guy had done, added roasted seasame seeds. Very edgy and MasterChef-like, I thought.
What’s not to love in it? It is nutritious, makes you feel virtuous, and you can make a breakfast of it, which means you don’t have to cook breakfast that day. Raju says he can’t separate the excitement of a visit to the Marina beach on vacation with his dad and eating manga-thenga-patani sundal there. They lived in Mumbai those days, and his father told him this was the Chennai version of the Chowpatty bhelpuri! This morning, as I waited for my coffee to brew, I shelled boiled peanuts and popped them into my mouth. They were a gift from my Mala from her farm. Organic, fresh and bursting with taste. What a great sundal it would make.
