Carrots Salad. Almost undressed

Kosumalli.. made of carrots

Carrot "Kosumalli"

Think salad, and  what comes to mind is  neatly washed, crisp and crunchy veggies, adding colour and bite to the meal.

Or even as  something to munch on , with or without a dip, along with a drink , preferably with good company.

But think salad, and also comes to mind dressings that will make you blow hot and cold sometimes, and swing from sweet to saucy to tangy, at other times.

Here is a simple, quick and tasty salad, that has no fuss about it, nor a dress—sorry, dressing—to it. Unless  you choose to call the routinely done South Indian style tempering, a dressing, just because you’ve added a few drops of lime juice.

Grated carrot and soaked moong dal 

Ingredients:

Grated carrots-1 cup full

Moong dal-1 heaped table spoon

Green chillies chopped-two or three

Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon

Dhuli urad-1 teaspoon

Curry leaves- a few

Chopped green coriander- a little bit

Salt-to taste

Asofeatida/Hing - a pinch.

Lemon juice-extracted from half a lemon

Oil(refined)- a teaspoon .

Making Time: Three minutes if you have the carrots grated,  chillies and coriander chopped, and the moong dal, soaked in water for 30 minutes

Method

Wash and soak the moong dal in water for about half an hour.

 Grate carrots in a mixing bowl. Drain the soaked moong dal, and place this also in the mixing bowl. Add salt to taste, and  also the juice of half a lemon.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds, when they splutter, add the urad and the pinch of hing.When the dal begins to turn gold, add the curry leaves, and quickly follow it up with the chopped green chillies.

 Take it off the gas, and toss this onto the raw grated carrots in a mixing bowl.

Garnish with chopped green coriander. Serve

Simple,Quick &Tasty

Most people who eat it the first time, want to know how it is made! So tasty it is.

At a restaurant in Dharamshala  a year ago, I  had a  Himachali version of  this salad—called kosumalli in Tamil Nadu, India. The mustard seeds gave way to cumin seeds, and the urad to roasted  broken walnuts. For good measure , they had thrown in some raisins, and replaced the lime juice with  a spoon of apple juice concentrate that Himachal Pradesh government makes and sells under the HPMC brand name. It had the green chillies and fresh coriander garnishing

I ate it rolled in a roti, like a  carrot wrap…

You can replace the moong with roasted, crushed peanuts or roasted sesame.