It’s Navratri time and everyone is busy with the pujas, the celebrations, dressing up colourfully and dancing their hearts out in the evenings. On each day of the navaratri festival, ‘sundal’ or spiced pulses, lentils and legumes are offered to the Gods and Goddesses as naivedyam. The same is then offered to the guests as prasadam. Today I’m here to share a simple recipe for “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“.
Navaratri is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India. While it’s Durga Puja in West Bengal, it’s Navratri in Gujarat and in South India, it’s the tradition of Golu that’s celebrated. It is a festival of dance and worship. We are all aware of Durga Puja and that it is a celebration of good over evil, of the fight of Maa Durga against Mahishasura. The word Navaratri is made of two words, Nava means nine and Ratri means nights. During Navratri, Goddess Durga is worshipped in nine different forms.
Navaratri is divided into three-day sets, each devoted to a different aspect of the supreme goddess. The first three days are devoted to Durga, to destroy all our vices, impurities, and defects. The next three days are devoted to Lakshmi, the giver of spiritual and material wealth), and the last set of three days is devoted to Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom.
In Tamilnadu and other South Indian states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, golu is one of the main aspects of Navaratri. Golu is a display of dolls of Gods and Goddesses, celestial beings, martyrs, saints, mortals, animals, reptiles, and other such dolls arranged on steps that are set up using wooden or metal planks. Some arrangements might have five steps, seven steps or nine steps generally. But it is always in odd numbers. As per belief the concept of arranging these Navrathri dolls on the plank is to depict that Goddess Mahishasuramardini is sitting in her golu, prior to the slaying of the demon Mahishasura.
Arranging Navrathri golu is also an event in itself. It means inviting neighbours, friends and other relatives to visit and view the golu decorated. So then comes the sundal of the “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal” , which is offered as a prasad to the guests.
Let’s get back to today’s recipe for “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“. I can associate Sundal to mainly two things – one navaratri and the other – Beach! The beaches in Chennai and other places in Tamilnadu are always remembered with the sale of different kinds of spicy, tangy sundals. We will come back to the beach sundal in another post, today let’s talk about navaratri sundal, “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“.
It is difficult to arrive at a consensus about the reason or significance of offering sundal during Navaratri. Some believe that offering Sundal during Navarathri is purely for the nutritional value, which during the dull days of September-October, when the weather’s really not too peppy, people are tired and that is the reason wise saints prescribe protein and vitamin rich sundals to rejuvenate people. They also make up for the deficit in vegetable supply during these months since these lentils/pulses are rich in proteins and minerals.
Another theory states that sundal is given as an offering to appease the nava-grahaas or nine planets. According to this theory, traditionally they cooked and offered only the nava-dhaanyas or lentils associated with the nine planets, namely wheat, rice, tuvar dal, moong (green gram) dal, chana dal, white field beans, sesame seeds, horse gram and urad dal. Today I’m sharing a sundal variety made with rajma, “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“.
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Off to the recipe for “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“,
Step-by-Step process in making”Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal”:
- Soak rajma/kidney beans/black beans in water for at least 7-8 hours or overnight. Drain water, wash the soaked rajma in fresh water and pressure cook rajma with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 cups water up to 3 whistles and drain the liquid. If cooking over stove top, boil in salted water till soft.
- Drain the water and keep it aside.
- For the spice mix powder, heat a pan over medium heat and dry roast coriander seeds, channa dal and red chilli till golden brown.
- Now add curry leaves and turn off the heat.
- When it is cool, make it into a coarse powder.
- To make “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“, heat the same pan over medium heat, add the oil. Once the oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
- When it splutters add asafoetida.
- To this add curry leaves and sauté till the leaves splutter.
- Now add in the boiled rajma and sauté for a minute.
- Now add 1 tablespoon of the ground spice mix (prepared in above step) to the rajma and mix well.
- Sauté for a minute and add grated coconut. Mix well and adjust salt if required.
NOTE:
- Store remaining ground spice mix in a dry air tight container to use later for any other dish.
- You can also add some lemon juice and garnish “Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal” with coriander. This is an optional step.
“Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal“ is ready for offering as neiveidhyam or serve with any gravy and plain rice.
Rajma Sundal-Kidney Beans Sundal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rajma boiled till soft in salted water and drained
- To grind for the Spice Mix:
- 1 Tablespoon Coriander seeds
- 1 Tablespoon Bengal gram Chana Dal
- 2 to 3 Dry Red Chillies
- A sprig of Curry leaves
- For the Tempering:
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 to 2 dry red chillies tear and deseed if required
- A Pinch of Asafoetida
- Few Curry leaves
- 1 Tablespoon of the ground Spice Mix
- 2 Tablespoons grated fresh coconut
- Required salt
- Optional:
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon fresh coriander finely chopped
Instructions
- Soak rajma in water for at least 7-8 hours or overnight. Drain water, wash the soaked rajma in fresh water and pressure cook rajma with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cups water upto 3 whistles and drain the liquid. If cooking over stove top, boil in salted water till soft.
- Drain the water and keep it aside.
- To grind or the Spice Mix:
- In a pan over medium heat, dry roast coriander seeds, channa dal and red chilli till golden brown.
- Now add curry leaves and turn off the heat.
- When it is cool, blend to a coarse powder.
- For the tempering:
- In the same pan over medium heat, add the oil. Once the oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
- When it splutters add asafoetida and the curry leaves.
- To this add in the boiled rajma and sauté for a minute.
- Now add 1 tablespoon of the ground spice to the rajma.
- Sauté for a minute and add grated coconut.
- Mix well and adjust salt if required. Turn off the heat.
- Rajma Sundal-Kidney beans Sundal is ready to be offered as neiveidyam or serve with any gravy and plain rice.
Notes
You can add 1 tablespoon lemon juice towards the end.
Another variation is to substitute spice mix with add green chilli-ginger paste, which I will share in another sundal recipe.
Check out the recipe for payasam!!
Stay tuned….Many more to come!!
Happy Cooking 🙂
Cheers!!
Padma
