Recipe: Cucumber Kosumalli

Yeah, I’m on a bit of a food tear today. Fellow Vatul and multiple-award-winning film producer, Harini, reminded me in a series of tweets that today is Rama Navami, or what Hindus celebrate as the birthday of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu the Preserver.  New Orleanians get this and some others don’t: Hindus eat certain, special foods on special religious occasions. On Rama Navami, the food of choice is kosumalli and drinks are panakam and neer moru. Who knows, maybe Rama favored these items, I’ll have to consult my mother. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure northern Wisconsinites think Jesus liked Tom ‘n’ Jerrys because we sure drink a lot of them come Christmas time.

Nandita Iyer has a culturally insightful post up about Rama Navami foods and their recipes. Her cucumber kosumalli recipe sounds delicious and easy to make, so I hope she doesn’t mind if I reproduce it here. The 1/2 cup of moong dal is chock full of protein and so tasty with the cucumber and spices. Here is Nandita Iyer’s Cucumber Kosumalli for your Rama Navami:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup moong dal
1 large or 2 medium cucumbers, peeled, finely diced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
Few sprigs of coriander leaves, washed and finely chopped
1 tsp oil or ghee
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida granules
1-2 tbsp of fresh coconut scrapings for garnishing

INSTRUCTIONS

Wash and soak 1/2 cup yellow moong dal (husked and split moong) in 2-3 cups of water for 1 hour. Drain in a mesh strainer for 15 minutes or so.
In a medium bowl, mix the chopped cucumber, lemon juice, salt, coriander leaves and toss well.
In a small tempering ladle, heat 1 tsp ghee or oil – splutter the mustard seeds, add the asafoetida, stir for a few seconds and toss this on the kosumalli.
Garnish with fresh coconut scrapings.