Salads

Kosumbari Salad

Ingredients

Hesaru beLe' (payar paripu, moong dal, green gram split)
Kadale' beLe (kadala paripu, chana dal, bengal gram)
4-5 green chilies
Coriander leaves
freshly grated coconut
Fresh cucumber and carrot (optional)
Lime
Mustard for oggarane' (tarka, vagar).

Method

Soak 50 gms each of Hesaru beLe' and Kadale' beLe' separately for one hour.
Grate the coconut to provide one handful of turi (grated material).
Drain the water from hesaru beLe' and kadale' beLe'.
Peel one cucumber and cut it into small pieces of the size of a pea (optional) Chop two green chili.
Keep one spoon of oil in a banale' (wok, kadai) warm it and put mustard.
Wait till they split, then put the chopped green chilies, turn around and put pinch of hing (kayam, asafetida).
Put the entire thing onto the bele'. Add salt to taste and then squeeze the juice of half a lime (green variety). Turn around and then put the grated coconut.
Adding cucumber or the carrot is purely optional and is not in any way necessary.
It does alter the taste slightly. Cucumber makes the kosumbari a little watery and therefore it must be consumed rather quickly (half to one hour). Salt tends to bring out a lot of water from cucumber. Adding either of these two is popular when it is consumed as a snack or prasada.
EASY TO PREPARE,
VERY LOW FAT AND VERY HIGH IN PROTEIN. CHILDREN LOVE IT, THE NOT-SO-YOUNG RELISH IT.