Karuppu Ulundu Sundal, Black Gram Sundal

          Happy Navratri to my friends and readers. Today's dish is one more sundal that we make during these nine days, Karuppu Ulundu (Black Gram) Sundal. For those who don't know what a sundal is, it's a healthy snack with whole beans and lentils ( chickpeas, kidney beans, bengal  gram to name a few ). Black Gram has many health benefits, especially for women, this sundal is an easy and healthy way of including it in the diet. We can serve this as a side to any meal or as an healthy and filling evening snack..

Need To Have

• Karuppu Ulundu/Black Gram - 1/2 cup
• Grated Coconut - 3 to 4 tablespoons
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chilly - 1, broken to pieces
• Grated Ginger - 1 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Salt to taste

Method

          Soak the whole black gram/ whole urad overnight or at least for 8 hours, then pressure cook it with water and salt for 3 whistles. Drain the excess water and keep. Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, once it starts sputtering, add the asafoetida followed by the red chilly, ginger and curry leaves and mix for 1/2 a minute.

          Then add the ulundu/black gram and mix it till it's completely dry, then add the grated coconut, mix and remove.

Note
Cook the black gram well, but it should hold its shape and not become mushy.
The number of whistles in the pressure cooker depends upon the heat that we place it, so this beans, once soaked, gets cooked in half the time that's taken for cooking rice.
When you add water to the black gram for cooking, just over the level of the beans.