Kadala parippu Sundal/ Split Chick Peas Salad: For diabetic Awareness and Giveaway

Today is World Diabetes Day. When Carolyn was looking for food bloggers for diabetic awareness day post, I agreed immediately. Diabetes and me has a long relationship, it took away my mom, grandma and aunty. It is disturbing my husband. It visited me in the form of Gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my princess.

According to World Health Organization diabetes has ensnared around 346 million people in the world with its Black hands. This number is likely to more than double by 2030 without intervention.

Diabetes is a chronic disease, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. This leads to an increased concentration of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia).

Type 1 diabetes:  (previously known as insulin-dependent or childhood-onset diabetes) occurs when you body cannot produce insulin.

Type 2 diabetes:  (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes) is caused by the body’s ineffective use of insulin.

In my mom’s case diabetes was discovered only after she developed diabetic retinopathy as a result of long-term accumulated damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. Now When I am reading about that condition it hit my heart as it occurs only after having 15 years of diabetes, and approximately 2% of people become blind, and about 10% develop severe visual impairment. If we knew her condition, we could have treated her early, and perhaps got to see and enjoy with her grandkids. She was well built, but not overweight, fun loving and loved to cook and take care of us. Even after losing her vision she didn’t bothers to tell us. One day I found out just by looking at her while she was pouring a cup of coffee. She was not pouring into the cup but on the flour. I asked her “Mom what you are doing”? She told me she was making coffee for me. When we took her to doctor, and realized the problem, he prescribed insulin for her. However Diabetes had already done the damage. Even with surgery we couldn’t help her to recover her sight in the left eye. And the right eye had also started losing the vision. Finally she died due to simple vomiting, that caused drop in blood sugar, leading to coma and cardiac arrest. When I look back I always feel that we should do something about it.

In my hubby’s case, he is skinny guy, who went to a routine physical checkup, doctor picked up that he had type 2 diabetes. First we both cried, and then after a week of denial and shock, we realized we had to tackle the situation; he is also belonging to family which has a history of diabetes. From that day onwards we are trying to control his diabetes with food and medicine. He is taking oral medication and maintaining the same dose for about 6.5 years. However, if he eats anything sugary or excess carbohydrates, it will show up in his morning blood sugar.  He loves to eat sugar, and he always asks me whether this will increase blood sugar, I will tell him, I don’t know. Anyway try a little. First thing he will tell me every morning is blood sugar level. We stopped using sugar in our coffee, tea, even my princess like to take it without sugar.

In my case I developed gestational diabetics when I was pregnant with my daughter; I didn’t take any insulin, but controlled it with food. Always my fasting sugar is 75-80, however after one hour of eating instead of 140 it will be 150. At that time I had craving for dosa south Indian crepe or pancake. If I eat 3-instead of 2 it will be high sugar. So decide to skip that. Then I found a solution, morning started with one whole wheat flat bread/ chapathi and egg white. Before lunch I will eat some salad without any dressing.  Then in the night, again some salad and chapathi with some lentil curry. I think I did something good as baby weighed only 7 pounds and I was able to have normal delivery. Only problem immediately after birth was that she has high rate of heart beat. She a naughty 3 and half year old, When I failed 1 hour glucose tolerance test for my son, I thought OMG, again I am going have gestational diabetes. But luckily 3 hour glucose tolerance test turned out be negative and he came to world healthy and happy.

I learned a lesson that it is not the sugar making the diabetes worse; carbohydrates can also do that too, as the body converts it to sugar. Also sugar is sugar whether it is honey or maple syrup or palm sugar it is deadly. We need to take a balance approach between our intake of sugar and carbohydrates. In the morning we usually have a protein rich breakfast with scrambled eggs (only with egg whites) and whole wheat toast with peanut butter. Lunch with rose matta rice and curries made of lentils and veggies. Evening there will be sugarless milk tea and a sundal/lentil snack. Dinner is at times chapathi and curry; mainly made with chana dal, black eyed peas etc.  Snacks are mainly fruits and occasional treats which I baked often.

Now I am in quest of finding the combo of veggies, lentils, and flours other than whole-wheat flour that can keep the blood sugar low. I know fiber rich food is needed. Hubby says al dente pasta keeps blood sugar in normal range, compared to slightly over cooked pasta. So I am looks forward to find steps, ways to reduce blood sugar.  I read somewhere that small changes that we make here and there can add up to make a big difference. And more we control diabetes; it has less control over us. So I want to follow that motto. Balancing the intake of sugar, starch with protein is the key for ideal diabetic menu which will prevent spiking of blood sugar.  Incorporating antioxidant rich berries in diet etc would be wonderful.

This is one tried and tested recipe, which can be used a snack for hunger prangs. Just cook lentils and then season with coconut, and spices. You can opt in for stove top cooking of lentils or pressure cooking them. I found pressure cooking is easier. Delicious, if you want you can add to salad to make it tastier.

Here goes the recipe. 

Soak the chana dal/ spilt chick peas for about 1 hour. After an hour pressure cook the soaked chana dal for about 5 whistle or 25 minutes. 

In a small skillet, heat olive oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, halved red chilies, when mustard seeds starts popping add cooked chana dal, grated coconut and salt. Mix everything and serve warm.

Delicious and healthy protein packed snack. 

                                                              Print Recipe from here

Chana dal sundal /Split chick peas Salad

Prep Time    30 minutes

Cook Time    25 minutes

Serves    2

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Chana dal/ Split chick peas   

2 Cup    Water

1 teaspoon  Urad dal/ Split black gram

           ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
            1/8 cup fresh grated coconut      

1 teaspoon  olive oil   

1 Red chili

1 sprig of curry leaves

¼ teaspoon salt or to taste

Steps:
         Soak the chana dal/split chick peas for half an hour and pressure cook them with 2 cup of water. Until 4 -5 whistle or 25 minutes.  Drain the excess water  using a colander and set aside.

In a small skillet, heat olive oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, halved red chilies, when mustard seeds starts popping add cooked chana dal, grated coconut and salt. Mix everything and serve warm.
Delicious and healthy protein packed snack.

Variations:

• Instead of chana dal you can  use your favorite lentils to make this preparation.

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