Perumpayaru Vella Sundal Recipe / Karamani Sweet Sundal Recipe

     Mine had become a regular-post-deprived-blog since long time. Abhinav was keeping me busy. I had been taking stepwise pics of some dishes though. By the time I would sit for taking the final pics, either I would become hungry or Abhi would call me. There are so many posts sitting in my drafts folder with either the stepwise pics or just the final pics. Have to straighten them out quickly !!!!

     For me, Perumpayaru/Karamani seemed to be an untouched/not-so-attractive option for sundal. I remember this pulse making its appearance only rarely in the dishes. It would show itself during one of the days of navarathri or during karadaiyan nonbu or in olan which is even more rare. Though making sundal is not such a big task and it simply requires one thing - a good memory to soak it overnight or some hours ahead of pressure cooking, based on the variety of the pulse/bean. Even with a healthy steamed version of this simple snack called sundal, there comes an added difficulty when jaggery syrup is involved. So, I was a bit hesitant to try it out as I though of it as a little more effort demanding compared to salted version of sundals. Tried this one a couple of times and I was on cloud nine, when I could get the jaggery version correctly. So, here it comes for the post !!!!

Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins (pressure cooking) + 25 mins || Serves: 3 || Category: Sweet / Sundal

Ingredients:
1. Perumpayaru (Karamani/Cowpeas/Black eye peas) - 100gm
2. Jaggery - 100gm (coarse chunks)
3. Coconut - 50 gm (grated or chopped)
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method:
1. Soak cowpeas for an hour and drain the water. Rinse it 2 or 3 times. Then pressure cook for 4-5 whistles, adding some water just enough to immerse the payaru. Give it a standing time and open it when the steam has subsided.

2. Take jaggery in a heavy bottomed pan and add water to just immerse it. Keep stirring and make it dissolve. When it is partially dissolved, switch on the flame and keep it in medium or low. Once the jaggery has dissolved completely, switch off the flame and filter the jaggery solution to remove the impurities. After filtering, pour the jaggery syrup to the same vessel and reheat it allowing it to boil. 

3. To check the consistency, pour a tsp of the syrup into water and collect it with fingers. It should form a soft jaggery ball and should not dissolve in water. At this stage add the grated coconut / coconut pieces and mix well. (I used readymade sweetened coconut flakes)

4. After 2 mins, add the pressure cooked cowpeas and stir well. Keep cooking until the payaru has cooked well absorbing the syrup.

5. When the syrup and the payaru thicken, add ghee and cardamom powder and mix well. Cook till the sundal forms as a whole mass and leaves the sides of the pan when stirred. 

Yummy sundal is ready. Happy munching !!