Recipe: Meera's Horse Gram Rasam

My friend Meera Kumar Iyer enjoys cooking nutritious and delicious food to serve to her family, friends and loved ones. Horse Gram Rasam is among her favourites. It is a family recipe that was made by her father during peak winters, as it is warm and hearty.

Its pungent taste is comforting and provides heat during chilly days. The horse gram is boiled and the water in which it was boiled is used to make the rasam. The leftover horse gram is fried up and blended with digestive spices like pepper, cumin, ginger, making it wholesome.

Meera is a neuroscience research scholar affiliated to the NIMHANS internship program. She lives in Kolar, Karnataka.

Horse Gram Rasam

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 240 gm kulthi or kollu or horse gram
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 green chillies
• 8-10 coriander strands
• ½ tsp julienned ginger
• ½ tsp haldi or turmeric powder
• ½ tsp oil
• 3 cups water

To grind for the masala:

• 7-8 pods garlic
• ½ tsp dhania or coriander seeds
• 2 dry red chillies
• 4-6 curry leaves
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1½ tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 1 lime-sized ball tamarind
• 1 tomato, boiled, peeled
• 1 tsp horse gram, boiled
• Little oil
• Salt to taste, about 1½ tsp

For the tempering:

• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp rai or mustard seeds
• Pinch hing or asafoetida
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 2 red chillies
• For the garnish:
• Handful chopped coriander leaves

For the horse gram stir fry

• Horse gram, leftover from boiling it to provide water for the rasam
• 1 tsp rai or mustard seeds
• 2 red chillies
• 5-7 curry leaves
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp jeera or cumin powder
• Pinch hing or asafoetida
• ½ cup freshly grated coconut
• 1½ tbsp oil
• Salt to taste, about 1 tsp

Method

• Wash and soak horse gram overnight.
• In a pressure cooker, add the soaked horse gram along with the green chillies, coriander, ginger, turmeric powder, oil, tomatoes and the water.
  Pressure cook over medium heat for four whistles.
  Let the pressure release naturally and drain the horse gram stock or water and keep aside.
• Save the boiled horse gram to make a stir fry or dry sabzi later.

For the ground masala:

• On a tawa, dry roast the spices for grinding, ie the coriander seeds, dry red chillies, curry leaves, pepper, cumin seeds.
  Add a tiny bit of oil to avoid over roasting.
  Keep aside to cool.
• In a mixer jar add the garlic, boiled tomato, tamarind, boiled 1 tsp horse gram, dry roasted spices and the salt.
  Blend it to a coarse paste.
  Keep aside

To make the rasam:

• In a kadhai, add the strained horse gram stock or water and then add the blended paste to it
  Bring to a boil over medium heat and then take off heat.

For the tempering:

• In a small frying pan or tempering pan, heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds and let them splutter and then add the curry leaves, red chillies, asafoetida to it.
  Pour the tempering into the rasam.
• Garnish rasam with coriander leaves.

For the horse gram stir fry:

• Heat the oil in saucepan or a kadhai over medium heat and add in the mustard seeds, red chillies curry leaves, asafoetida and let them splutter.
  Add the boiled, strained horse gram.
  Add in the pepper powder, cumin powder, freshly grated coconut.
• Serve the hot rasam and the hot horse gram stir fry with steamed rice. 

• REDIFF FOOD