Are you looking for a healthy snack/salad/chaat to curb that pesky hunger pangs? Can street food be a solution? Yes, if it’s this delicious, no oil and crunchy beach style boiled peanut sundal with veggies. Check out how to cook peanuts in Instant Pot and to prepare this yummylicious beach style peanut sundal or verkadalai sundal recipe with step-wise pictures.
Beach Style Sundal:
Our summer Chennai trip is incomplete without a beach visit. Be it Marina beach or Elliot’s beach; we love the beach water and the food too. You can find a lot of eateries selling roasted and boiled corn, pakoras, seafood, pani puri, and many other dishes including this sundal. Not only on the beach, but this boiled peanut sundal is also a quite favorite street-side food all over Tamil Nadu. Guess what, it is effortless to prepare at home too.
You can prepare the sundal in no time once you have the boiled peanuts ready. After cooking the peanuts, you need to allow them to cool and then remove the shells. I do need to agree that the shelling process is time-consuming but not painful, though. Just ensure you don’t eat the peanuts while shelling. ;-) Because boiled peanuts taste great. :-)
Chaat or Sundal or Salad?
I had a tough time categorizing this recipe. What do you think? Does it fall under the chaat/snack category or sundal or salad? IMO, it falls under all three. Once you the boiled peanuts, you can add your favorite vegetables and add chaat masala or red chili powder and relish with some hot tea or coffee. You can add veggies of your choice. There is no set measurements or any set recipe for this sundal.
Cooking Peanuts in Instant Pot & Pressure Cooker:
You can cook peanuts quickly. Rinse them thoroughly in running water to remove any dust/sand. The peanuts that I buy from Indian grocery stores are clean without sand and dust, so it’s quite easy. You can boil either in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot. I went with Instant Pot. (Obviously right?) Ok, I am using the fresh raw peanuts here not the dried ones.
Instant Pot Method:
Every single bag of raw peanuts/green peanuts/fresh peanuts is different. Some are tender, and some are hard. Fresh ones are very tender but slightly dried ones are hard. So the cooking time might slightly vary. So far, 20 minutes of cooking with natural pressure release have always worked for me. I would recommend cooking the peanuts for 20 minutes first and then check how the peanuts. If it’s still hard cook again for 10 to 15 minutes. I wouldn’t start with longer cooking time, especially if you are planning to make salad/sundal like me.
If you are using dried peanuts, soak it for 5 hrs and pressure cook for 50 to 60 minutes.
Add the peanuts and sufficient water,(make sure all the peanuts immersed fully in the water) to the IP vessel. Add about 1.5 teaspoons of salt and cook in manual mode for 20 minutes and release the pressure naturally.
Pressure Cooker Method
If you are using the pressure cooker, add the peanuts, salt, and sufficient water and pressure cook for a minimum of six to eight whistles. Let the pressure subside naturally. Again depending upon the quality of the peanuts, the number of whistles might vary.
Allow the peanuts to cool and then remove the shells.
Cooking Peanuts in Bulk and Shelf Life:
If you cook the peanuts in bulk either in a pressure cooker or instant pot, you can refrigerate only for a day. And if you are saving it without shelling, add some water and save it for a day in the fridge. If shelled it, then no need to add water. But you can freeze them for a longer period. As always thaw before making the sundal.
Now here comes my simple beach style peanut sundal recipe.
Ingredients:
- Raw Whole Peanuts – 3 cups
- Water – as required, approx 4 cups
- Salt – 1.5 tsp + ¼ tsp
- Raw mango – 3 tbsps, finely chopped
- Onion – 3 tbsps, finely chopped
- Cucumber – 3 tbsps, finely chopped
- Carrot – 3 tbsps, finely chopped
- Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
- Chopped cilantro – 2 tsp
Steps:
- Cook the peanuts in your preferred way either in the instant pot or the pressure cooker as mentioned above.
- Let it cool down and remove the peanuts from the shells.
- Now add the chopped mangoes, onions, cucumber, carrot, salt, and red chili powder.
- Toss them together.
- And that’s it; yummy sundal is ready.
Notes:
- Please add the salt while cooking peanuts. I just added ¼ tsp of salt for the veggies later. But you can adjust both salt and red chili powder as per your preference.
- Instead of red chili powder, you can add chaat powder or jal jeera masala or pani puri masala and make it a tangy sundal.
- You can add veggies of your choice.
- Instead of chopping the veggies, you can grate them too.
📖 Recipe
Boiled Peanuts Sundal | Instant Pot Boiled Peanuts Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups Raw Whole Peanuts
- 4 cups Water as required, approx 4 cups
- 1.75 tsp Salt 1.5 tsp + ¼ tsp
- 3 tbsp Finely chopped raw mango
- 3 tbsp Finely chopped onion
- 3 tbsp Finely chopped cucumber
- 3 tbsp Finely chopped carrot
- ¼ tsp Red chili powder
- 2 tsp Chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Cook the peanuts in your preferred way either in the instant pot or the pressure cooker as mentioned above.
- Let it cool down and remove the peanuts from the shells.
- Now add the chopped mangoes, onions, cucumber, carrot, salt, and red chili powder.
- Toss them together.
- And that's it; yummy sundal is ready.
Notes
- Please add the salt while cooking peanuts. I just added ¼ tsp of salt for the veggies later. But you can adjust both salt and red chili powder as per your preference.
- Instead of red chili powder, you can add chaat powder or jal jeera masala or pani puri masala and make it a tangy sundal.
- You can add veggies of your choice.
- Instead of chopping the veggies, you can grate them too.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
PS: Republishing the old post from 2014, with new and fresh content + pictures.
Kelly Mahan says
I’m not a fan of peanut salad, but this idea is really interesting. I’m curious to taste it.
Srividhya G says
:-) Thanks
Shankar Srinivasan says
Thank you so much – you made my day – if and when you can please post some more “sundal” recipes along the same lines – i.e with no or minimal oil. If I were to instantpot cook a good amount of peanuts (is that even recommended? ) what can I do with the remaining portion – can i freeze them for later use. Please advise.
Srividhya G says
Thanks a lot. Glad you liked it. To answer your question – if you cook it in bulk, you can refrigerate only for a day. If you are saving it without shelling, add some water and save it for a day in the fridge. If shelled, no need to add water. But yes, you can freeze them for a longer period. As always thaw before making the sundal. I will be posting more legume/sundal recipes as I rely on these for my Vitamin b12. :-) I am updating the post as well regarding the storing ways.
kankana saha says
i am a great fan of salads. when you are hungry but are not in a mood to cook something elaborate. salad can serve your purpose. it was first time for me to read a salad recipe of boiled peanut. thanks.
Srividhya G says
Thanks :-)
Jayashree says
I love this sundal. Have posted my version too on my blog.
srividhya says
Yeah saw that :-)
Veena Krishna Kumar says
Love the boiled peanuts!
srividhya says
Thanks :-)
Chef Mireille says
great combo of flavors in this version
srividhya says
Yup.. typical street side food
Pavani says
Healthy & delicious sundal.
srividhya says
Thanks
Harini says
Love the boiled peanuts.
srividhya says
:-)
Priya says
Omg, wish i get a plate of this sundal, soo tempting..
srividhya says
Wish I could send it across :-)
Srivalli says
Would love this for snacks anytime..very nicely done..
srividhya says
Thanks Valli :-)
Malar says
Love this Sri, any time :D
srividhya says
Yup :-) :-)
Varada says
Boiled peanuts in their shells is a favorite here. Thanks for sharing this new way of using them.
srividhya says
:-) :-) This is typical chennai side street food
greenboochi says
I love boiled peanuts! Especially the ones we get in very small quantities in Marina beach or Tnagar for 5 rubees.. sema super ah irukum :D My mouth is literally watering now :)
srividhya says
Same I like that too. Tnagar pona kandipa adu sapidanum enaku :-)