Progressive Dinner Entry

Milli is having an International Progressive Dinner Festival. This is my entry.

Kosambari : Typical south Indian salad

This is usually served during a festival, at temples as prasad(blessing from the lord) or during an occasion like a marriage, naming ceremony or housewarming ceremony. I serve this in our home as a side dish with Lemon Rice or Tomato/Capsicum rice or as a Salad when the weather is too hot outside.. sort of cools our anatomy or I top this on to a Roasted Papad and serve as an appetiser. I like something that is flexible to be used in different ways.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Moong dal or channa(garbanzo beans split) dal(dal is usually the split skinned variety)
1/4 cup carrot grated(if you like carrots you could use more)
1/2 cup cucumber finely chopped
1 medium sized onion finely chopped(preferably the red onion, although this is optional)
2 thai peppers finely chopped(optional, you can omit this if you dont like the heat)
2 Spring onions(scallion or green onion)chopped
3 tps of fresh grated coconut
salt to taste
1/2 lime
Cilantro(coriander leaves)chopped
mustard seeds
5 Kari leaves whole
1 tsp of oil

Method:
Soak the moong/channa dal for at least 3 hours. Drain, add the grated carrot, chopped cucumber, onions, peppers, the fresh grated coconut.
Heat the tsp of oil in a tiny wok. Put in the mustard seeds, the kari leaves and the chopped scallions. Stir till the scallions become a lighter green. Turn the heat off and pour this over the other ingredients. Squeeze the juice of the lime, put in the salt to taste and the chopped cilantro and mix. You can either serve this as a salad or have it loaded on to a Papad(fried or roasted).

Enjoy.