Carrot, Moong Dal, and Coconut Salad

I'm always trying to get more vegetables into every meal. And I also try to sneak in more salads on to our dinner table. And I'm a big sucker for colourful food. This is an easy salad that adds plenty of colour to my plate. It is full of flavour and depending on your hunger, can also serve as a meal by itself. The only time consuming aspect of this salad is grating the carrots. If you have a food processor, then this salad will come together in minutes and will be ready to eat in about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 large Carrots, grated
1/4 cup Moong Dal, washed
2 tbsp scraped Coconut
1 tsp Ginger paste
1 Green Chilli, chopped finely
Salt to Taste
Coriander leaves for garnish


For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves


Place the washed moong dal in a large bowl. Add the chilli, ginger paste, carrots, salt, and coconut and mix well.

In a small pan, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the carrot-moong dal mixture.

Garnish with coriander leaves and leave aside for 25-30 minutes. The moong dal will soak up the juice from the carrots and become soft in the meanwhile. Enjoy your traditional South Indian salad.