Mung Bean Kosumalli

For dinner last Saturday, I made Tomato Rasam and Mung Bean Kosumalli, a spicy mung bean salad like dish. Kosumalli is a very traditional South Indian dish.

Interestingly enough, I knew what I wanted to make, but I didn't know the name of the dish. So, I had to ask my friend's mom (Thanks, Indira amma!) and find out the name of the dish. I knew how to make it, although I didn't know the name of the dish. Go figure :)

Ingredients:

1. Mung bean - 2 cups
2. One Cucumber - diced
3. Green chili, deveined, deseeded and diced - 2-4 chilis
4. Diced Ginger root - 2 Tbsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
6. Urad dal (white lentil) - 1 Tsp
7. Asafoetida - a pinch
8. Finely chopped curry leaves - 1 Tbsp
9. Finely chopped cilanto - 2 Tbsp
10. Sesame oil - 1 Tsp
11. Lemons - 2 (freshly squeezed)

Preparation:

1. Soak the mung beans in water overnight. The next day, rinse the mung beans in cold water. Set aside.
2. In a small sauce pan, heat up 1 Tsp of Sesame oil. When the oil is hot, drop the mustard seeds in and let them splutter. Let the oil cool a bit. Add the urad dal and asafoetida. Let the urad dal turn brown. Remove from the hot pan and add the contents of the sauce pan to a large bowl.
3. Add the mung beans, cucumber, cilantro, ginger, lemon juice to the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add a pinch of salt to taste.

Here is the finished product.

Here is a close-up of the Kosumalli!

Bon appetit' :)

Dessert: Date Balls

We were longing for something sweet, yet it had to be homemade and made of known, wholesome ingredients. There was a time, during my student years, when I would have gladly settled for a pair of Snickers, but now that I know better...

There are several recipes for Date Balls/Bars on the internet. We settled on making it "our way", based on some adaptation of many of the recipes found online.

Ingredients:

1. Pitted dates - 2 cups
2. Raw almonds - 1.5 cups
3. Raw walnuts - 0.5 cups
4. Flax meal - 2 Tbsp
5. Chia seeds - 2 Tbsp
6. Cardamom powder - 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

1. In a food processor (or a blender with a wide mouth jar), chop-up the almonds, walnuts, until they are very finely chopped (almost to the consistency of almond meal). Save roughly 2-4 Tbsp of this mix for use in step 5 below.
2. Next, add the dates, chia seeds and the flax meal and blend until a huge sticky ball of the ingredients is formed and it starts to push the lid of the blender/food processor's jar open :)
3. Next, spread the cardamon powder on a large plate or a cookie sheet.
4. Make small balls of the date mix with your clean, dry hands, and dust'em with the cardamom powder.
5. Roll the date balls, next, in almond-walnut-meal.

Serve at room temperature or chilled!

Bon appetit' :)

Great Article - America's Obesity and Diabetes Epidemic: Junk Food Kills

I strongly believe in we are our own friends/enemies when it comes to our health eating habits. Wise food choices can lead to favorable outcomes and the not-so-wise choices can lead to detriments to one's health.

Today, I came across this really nice article on Obesity and Diabetes from the OCA.

Click here to read this article by Ronnie Cummins!


Paz :)