Carrot Kosumalli - a colourful carrot and mung dal salad

CARROT KOSUMBARI
My mother was the first one to introduce mixed vegetable salad in our home. Nutritional tips were rarely published in news papers and magazines in those days. After reading one such rare tip, she decided to serve us kids a nutritious health dish almost every day. She artistically cut carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes and just added a dash of salt to it. The new dish was really the center of attraction on the table.

The traditional version of salad is the kosumbari or kosumalli which has its place in grand feasts. Actually two types of kosumbaris, salted and sweet  are a must in feasts. Green gram dal and cucumber are used to prepare the salted version and Bengal gram dal and coconut are used for the sweet kosumbari which is sweetened with jaggery or sugar.
Caterers are becoming more and more innovative now a days. Sweet corn, pomegranate, sprouts of various grains and various other raw vegetables have found their place in the making of kosumbaris. Here is a recipe for the colourful carrot kosumbari.


INGREDIENTS:
Moong dal (Split green gram dal) - 1 cup
Carrot – 2
Fresh grated coconut – 2 tbsps
Cooking oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Green chillies chopped – 1
Salt – ½ tsp
Lime – 1
Fresh coriander leaves- few
Red chilly -1(broken)
METHOD:
1. Soak green gram dal in just enough water for half an hour.
2. When the dal is well soaked and soft, drain it well and keep aside.
3. Peel and grate the carrots and add it to the drained dal.
4. Heat oil and add asafoetida and mustard seeds.
5. When the mustard splutters add the cut green chilly and the broken red chilly.
6. Add the seasoning to the carrot and dal mixture.
7. Add salt, juice of 1 lime and shake well in a covered vessel.
8. Garnish with fresh coconut gratings and fresh coriander leaves.
This is also a good after school snack for children.

Comments

Vibaas said…
hi dibs, i didn't like tofu at first too. When i tried the Tofu scramble i liked it very much. Adding milk to it made it taste better. I like Carrot kosumalli too. looks good :)
notyet100 said…
looks delciouS AND HEALTHY...;-)HPPY WEEKEND..
lubnakarim06 said…
Carrot kosumalli name sounds new to me. I will try out that soon. Lime rasam looks gr8.
Uma said…
that looks beautiful and mouth-watering.
YOSEE said…
crunchy,munchy and so healthy. Sweet corn kernels go very well with carrot in kosambri.
Bhawana said…
:) this reminds me my lunch cafeteria in blr. we use to have this in salad. good one.
ST said…
Looks colorful and healthy.....
Priya said…
this is one of my fav salads, love the flavors in it.
Dibs said…
Thank you all for your comments. I like the kosmari that has mango-ginger in it too!
VV said…
After typing up the recipe in my page, I found yours and the ingredients are ditto! This is one of my favorite items by my mom.