Mung Lentil Cucumber Salad / Mung Dal Kosambari

My entry to Vardhini’s(Cook Joy) Dish It Out – Lentils/Legumes and Vegetable Event.

Dishing it Out!

The husband went to detox in a naturopathy center for a few days. Spoilt silly with organic home-grown produce. Body toned with innumerable varied massages, system cleansed with assorted therapies like colon and the soul enriched with meditation and yoga. Yea, I know. Wow! He comes back all de-stressed, reenergized, rejoiced and renewed. And fussy about what he puts in his mouth.

Mung lentil cucumber salad/kosambari

The yogi now wants all things satvic. Less oil. Less salt. Less spice. No bread. No this. Less that. Phew! More headache- For me.
But, in an attempt to be supportive, I indulge the new (hopefully temporary) ascetic.
Hence, along with the usual fare, my to-make list now includes, salads and soups and other fresh eats.

Earthy and Healthy!

Kosambari is a South Indian salad, where usually raw split lentil and a salad vegetable is combined and seasoned with asafetida and mustard seeds, garnished with coconut and coriander leaves. Sounds Good? Trust me, its earthy, rustic, flavorful and a wonderful deviation from the usual salads.

It’s so simple to make and with all the ingredients readily available in any indian kitchen, it’s a quick tasty surprise!!

The recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup split yellow mung dal/mung lentil, washed and soaked for at least 3 hours
• 1 medium sized cucumber, diced
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• salt to taste
• Optional: juice of 1/2 a lime.

For the Tempering:

• 1/2 spoon of olive oil
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 pinches asafetida
• 3-4 curry leaves, torn
• 1-2 green chilies, slit – vary according to your taste
• 1 red chili, broken

Method

Wash your pre soaked mung lentil again, drain all the water. Add diced cucumbers, coconut, coriander leaves and salt. Keep aside.
Make a tempering by heating oil. Splutter mustard seeds, asafoetida. Throw in the curry leaves, green chilies and broken red chili. Saute for a minute or two. Pour this seasoning on your cucumber mung lentil amalgam. If using lime juice, mix it now. Give a good mix to all the ingredients.
Chill for 30 minutes.
Enjoy with a glass of flavored spiced butter milk. Oh so yumm!

Down south, this simple salad is eaten with rice, rasam and a vegetable dish. Its a must serve in traditional south indian weddings, especially in Karnataka.

Aromatic Tempering of asafoetida and spices

Consumption of this highly nutritious simple salad assuages the bickering between the husband wife duo. Both call it a day and retire peacefully to start another morning with more teasing, more demands, more nagging and more trivial arguments, but… food mitigates the disagreements and laces it with humor and affection.
Such is life. Such is my Life. 🙂