Navratri special kollu sundal or horse gram stir fry! Learn how to make this easy horse gram or kollu sundal with detailed step-wise pictures.
Recently I shared maa vilakku and sesame rice as part of the Navratri recipes. And here I am today with a sundal recipe. When it comes to Navratri, how can I skip posting a sundal or stirfry recipe?
Sundal is a legume stirfry, and you can prepare this dish with garbanzo beans, black chickpeas, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, and other legumes as well. Today I am sharing the sundal recipe with kollu or kaanam as we say in Tamil.
I do have different sundal recipes on my blog, do check it out. I make sundals regularly, and sometimes instead of vegetable curry, I make sundal. What’s not to like about these protein-packed sundal recipes? You can make it a part of your everyday meal also.
Okay, I don’t have the exact reason we make sundal and offer it as prasadam during Navratri, but I do have all the details about golu and shared it on the blog. (PS – This morning, I shared how to assemble the golu step on my Youtube; if interested, check it out.)
Kollu sundal with peanut powder:
All you have to do for a sundal is, cook the beans and prepare the tempering with some simple spices. While this is a basic recipe, you can improvise it by combining spice powders, adding veggies, etc. Like my manga thenga Pattani sundal and spicy garbanzo beans sundal.
Now, what makes this kollu sundal unique – the peanut powder. I used store-bought roasted peanuts. If you are using raw peanuts, roast them before grinding. You can use it with the skin. I used roasted, salted, and skinned peanuts. So I directly pulsed it coarsely. Make sure to leave one or two peanuts for the crunch and texture.
The peanuts and coconut add a nice crunch to this sundal and make it delicious, and if you are trying to get acquired to the taste of horse gram, this sundal will be the best bet.
I have quite a few horse gram recipes on my blog, and I have discussed its health benefits several times. Ayur help website points out all the benefits of this legume. But keep in mind that this lentil, when consumed more, increases the body heat, so make sure you balance your diet with other cooling food.
Browse other horse gram / kollu recipes:
How to make kollu sundal?
Soak and cook the kollu/horse gram
- Rinse the horse gram and soak in it 2 cups of water for atleast 8 to 10 hours.
- After 8 hours, drain the water and add 1.5 cups of freshwater and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles in a stove-top pressure cooker. If using Instant Pot, directly cook in the pot for 18 to 20 minutes and release the pressure naturally.
- Drain the water, and do not discard it thought. You can use it for kollu rasam.
- Set aside the cooked sundal.
Prepare the peanut powder
- Pulse the roasted peanuts coarsely. Make sure there are a few whole peanut pieces just for texture and crunch.
Prepare the tempering and make the sundal:
- Heat a pan and add the coconut oil. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, hing, curry leaves, and dried red chilies.
- Let the mustard seeds splutter and then add the cooked horse gram and salt. Mix well and cook until the moisture is all absorbed, for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Now add the peanut powder and coconut. Mix well and make sure the horse gram, peanut powder, and coconut are well combined.
- Cook for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat. That’s it. Kollu sundal is ready.
Serve right away. It works well as a side dish for rice also.
Recipe Notes:
- As I used salted peanuts, I used less salt. Please adjust accordingly. The same goes for dried red chilies as well.
- Instead of dried red chilies, you can use ½ heaped tsp of sambar powder or rasam powder or red chili powder to spice up the sundal.
- Coconut oil always adds flavor, but you can use oil of your choice.
PS – If you try this kollu sundal, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.
📖 Recipe
Kollu Sundal | Horse Gram Stirfry
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
- Saucepan or kadai
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1 tbsp=15ml; 1 tsp=5ml;
- ½ cup horse gram kollu
- 1.5 cups water plus 2 cups to soak
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts
- ¼ cup coconut grated
- ½ tsp salt or to taste (refer notes)
To Temper
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp urad dal
- ½ tsp chana dal
- 3 dried red chilies broken into small pieces
- 10 curry leaves
- ⅛ tsp asafoetida
Instructions
Soak and cook the kollu/horse gram
- Rinse the horse gram and soak in it 2 cups of water for atleast 8 to 10 hours.
- After 8 hours, drain the water and add 1.5 cups of freshwater and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles in a stove-top pressure cooker. If using Instant Pot, directly cook in the pot for 18 to 20 minutes and release the pressure naturally.
- Drain the water, and do not discard it thought. You can use it for kollu rasam.
- Set aside the cooked sundal.
Prepare the peanut powder:
- Pulse the roasted peanuts coarsely. Make sure there are a few whole peanut pieces just for texture and crunch.
Prepare the tempering and make the sundal:
- Heat a pan and add the coconut oil. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, hing, curry leaves, and dried red chilies.
- Let the mustard seeds splutter and then add the cooked horse gram and salt. Mix well and cook until the moisture is all absorbed, for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Now add the peanut powder and coconut. Mix well and make sure the horse gram, peanut powder, and coconut are well combined. Cook for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat. That’s it. Kollu sundal is ready.
- Serve right away. It works well as a side dish for rice also.
Notes
- As I used salted peanuts, I used less salt. Please adjust accordingly. The same goes for dried red chilies as well.
- Instead of dried red chilies, you can use ½ heaped tsp of sambar powder or rasam powder or red chili powder to spice up the sundal.
- Coconut oil always adds flavor, but you can use oil of your choice.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Submitting this post for the Blogging Marathon #117. You can check out the participant details and their recipes at this link.
Hi,
Amazing recipe! For the instant pot cooking, is pre soaking required. I.e. we still need to soak for 8 to 10 hours and then cook with fresh water for 18 to 20 mins in instant pot or we can skip soaking and directly cook in instant pot for 18 to 20 minutes in high pressure?
I highly recommend soaking especially for kollu. Atleast 5 hours is necessary.
Apart from being a neivedyam, sundals make a healthy, nutritious and guiltfree snacks / side dish. I have not tried adding peanut powder to horse gram one, will remember to do so next time.
So true.
My girls totally love horsegram! They can have it in bowls, but I find it extremely tough to track it down here, so whenever we find them on the aisles, I just pick up and come. Hehe… The sundal sounds like a wonderful idea… I am sure to make this for the girls soon…
Thanks Rafeeda. I hope you find them soon. :-)
I have tried horse gram sundal a while ago and loved the texture. We tend to use peanut or peanut powder in so many things, right? Love the taste. But for some reason horse gram was never cooked in my mom’s place whereas my MIL says kollu rasam is very good to get rid of kidney stones.
oh wow… I am not sure about the kidney stones thing, kollu rasam is a regular fare in our house. Basically, when mom makes sundal, she set aside some cooked kollu for chutney and she uses the water for rasam.
This is a healthy and a wonderful sundal . We make salads with lentils , normally do not use any tempering or coconut . Let me try it with your recipe and see how these are liked by all .
Please do try it Vaishali. It adds a unique flavor profile.
Very nice presentation Srividhya. The dhonnais remind those great days.
Thank you :-)
Is Horse gram BROWN lentil?? Which is used to make dhal? When I cook in Presuure cooker it get mushy. How to keep it firm for sundal??
Thank you,
Alamelu
No pa. Horsegram is different. In Tamil, we call it as kollu or kaanam. It’s pretty sturdy and soaking for 8 hours 3 whistles in pressure cooker always worked for me. I get the horsegram from Indian stores. Brown lentils tend to become mushy and for sundal, I would recommend the open pot method instead of pressure cooking. I hope this helps. Thanks