Sunday

Horse Gram –Coconut stir fry

...a.k.a Kulitha Upkari (in Konkani ).

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Horse gram is one of our favorite legumes and so is this stir fry. It pairs well with rice and sambhar or just by itself as an evening snack. Though it takes longer than the other beans/legumes to cook, it’s worth the effort.

I soak a cup of Horse gram overnight and pressure cook till it softens. Then either churn out a stir-fry or toss it with salt, fresh squeezed lime, cilantro and make some sort of a what I term "salad" .

The authentic version varies from this one in the secondary ingredients, while the primary ingredients remain horse gram and coconut. Since we like having it as a snack, I just added in a personal touch.

Ingredients

1 cup Horse gram, washed, pre-soaked (overnight)
¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coconut, grated or powdered
1 teaspoon chopped curry leaves
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon oil
¼ cup Mango, raw, unripe, grated (optional)
½ teaspoon Ginger, fresh, grated
Salt

It’s essential to clean horse gram before cooking to clean out any occasional gravel that may be present. Adding grated Mango gives it an additional tang and enhances the flavors. I use it when raw/unripe Mangoes are in season.

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Method

1) Pressure cook horse gram in 2-3 cups of water, till soft. Once done, add salt to the horse gram –water mixture. Cook uncovered on medium flame for 8-9 minutes. Strain but retain ¼ the amount of water and set aside.

2) Heat oil in a pan; add mustard seeds, previously prepared horse gram mixture and cook uncovered till all the water evaporates. This may take about 8-10 minutes, depending upon the amount of water added in Step (1).

3) Add in mango (optional), ginger, lemon juice and curry leaves. Mix well and cook covered for 6-7 minutes.

4) Add coconut, mix well. Turn off heat. Allow to sit for 3-4 mins. Serve warm.

I try not to cook the coconut in this recipe as I prefer it raw and without the flavor of the cocnut oil. I also like using sesame oil for this recipe as it gives a slight bitterness.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Eskay a gr8 recipe....liked the addition of raw mango.

Purnima said...

Saaru upkari looks great..well addition of ginger , mangoes is new to me..true about lot of sand crystals, resembling kulit spoils the dish (cleaning is the vital process to hv this dish wtout munching into stones!-my past experience!!)

Jayashree said...

Sounds like chundal that we make for navaratri. looks good....

Finla said...

Never had them in stirfry.
In my school days, it was often in my lunchbox this legume.

Suganya said...

I can't find horse gram here. My mom used to make rasam with it. But she says it generates excessive body heat that has to be compensated with milk or buttermilk? Is that true?

Sihi said...

Thank you Saswati, Purnima, Jayashree, Happy Cook.

Sihi said...

Suganya I found horse gram in a local desi grocery store. I am not sure if its true or just a myth, that said, my mom always insisted on eating curd rice whenever this was a part of the meal. I sprout the horse gram and prepare it the same way, I guess that should minimize the body heat this may cause.

Anonymous said...

The raw mango sounds like a good touch to the dish. We make something similar in the south, but without the mango. Mango seems like a good option.