How about Elevenses?
I am all up for elevenses. Ok, let me explain what is elevenses before talking about it any further. As wiki puts it, it is a short break taken around 11 AM to consume a drink or snack. The time and the food differ across the countries. Let’s call it a mid-morning snack served with coffee or tea. Ok, if you are a “Lord of the Rings” fanatic like me, then you would be familiar with the term elevenses. In part 1, Pippin mentions about the elevenses and other hobbit meals when Aragorn doesn’t stop for the second breakfast. :-) I like the Hobbits meal system. These days doctors recommend to have five or more meals with small portions rather than three big ones. I am trying to follow the five meal system this year. Let’s see how it goes. Wondering why I started talking about elevenses? This week I am participating in the Blogging Marathon and theme is “How about Elevenses”. Being a “LOTR” fan, I said yes right away. I am not going to share any tea or biscuit recipes, but I am going to share protein-rich healthy legume-based salads/stir-frys that will satiate both your tummy and taste buds. These are guilt-free healthy snacks to curb that hunger pangs.
White Peas Carrot Salad
Here comes my first one – white peas carrot salad. You can call it as beach style sundal or vatana/white peas kosambari. Recently, I made a big batch of this salad for our music program potluck, and everyone relished it including the kids. One little girl walked up to me during the lunch at the program and told me that she liked this sundal (that’s what she called) very much. My joy knew no bounds, and I was grinning ear to ear. We all love compliments, and when it comes from toddlers and kids, it is so satisfying and heartwarming.
Cooking White Peas in Instant Pot
I love non-mushy yet soft and firm white peas for my salads. Like green gram, an extra minute or so would make it mush. During 2017 Golu, instead of white peas sundal, I made white peas porridge. ;-) After a couple of trials, I got the perfect timing. If you soak the peas overnight or for more than 6 hours, cook the white peas for three minutes in manual or pressure cook mode and release the pressure after five minutes. If you are not able to soak the beans for a longer time, then soak it for just 30 to 60 minutes and pressure cook for 8 minutes and release the pressure after five minutes. You can pressure cook up to 10 minutes but not more than that. The rule of thumb for delicate beans is to start with less cooking time and adjust the time as required according to your texture and tenderness preference. Now without any further ado, here is the salad recipe.
White Peas Carrot Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
Dried White Peas – 1 cup Water – 2 cups Chopped Onion – ½ cup Grated Carrots – 1.5 cups Cilantro – 1 tbsp Black Salt – 1 tsp Black Pepper – 1 tsp Lemon Juice – 2 tbsp
Steps:
Soak the white peas for atleast 1 hour. Then drain the water and add the white peas to the Instant Pot and add two cups of water. Close the Instant Pot lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Press the manual or pressure cook button and set the time to 8 minutes. After the Instant Pot beeps, wait for five minutes and release the pressure quickly. Drain the water from the white peas and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, grate the carrots and chop the onion and cilantro. In a bowl, add the cooked peas, grated carrot, cilantro, onion, black salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Mix thoroughly and serve chilled.
Recipe Notes:
Black salt adds a tangy and salty flavor to this salad. If you can source black salt, add regular salt and you can always add extra chaat masala or keep it simple only with salt. You can add cucumber, raw mangoes to this salad as well. Instead of black pepper, you can add finely chopped green chilies. Adjust the salt, spice and the lemon juice according to your flavor preference.
📖 Recipe
You will love these, too:
Red Lentils with Broccoli in Instant Pot | Masoor Dal Tadka with Broccoli Instant Pot Mushroom Matar Yellow Split Peas with Turmeric in Instant Pot | Yekik Alicha Instant Pot Vegetarian Cookbook Green Peas Kurma | Easy Kurma Recipe
P.S. I am sending this recipe for the BM 96. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#96.
