Monday, June 8, 2009

Kollu rasam

There is an old saying in tamil, "illaithavanukku ellu kozhuthavanukku kollu" which means , "feed the thin person with sesame and stout person with horse gram".
That is a fantastic proverb on diet for various body structures:)
Horsegram (kollu in Tamil), is a much neglected gram / lentil with a lot of medicinal value. The rich fiber content and the body heat generating property of horse gram helps in reducing the body fat in a fast mode.
Here comes a rasam / Indian soup with Horse gram.

Kollu rasam:





Ingredients:
Horsegram - 4 tbsp
Tomato - 1 (big and juicy)
garlic - 3 pearls
Tamarind - a strawberry size
Black pepper - 1 tbsp
coriander seed - 2 tsp
cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 3 pearls.
oil - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
salt - to taste

Method:
First carefully examine the horsegram and remove any stones present.
(Actually wherever you buy , few stones with the kollu is unavoidable because of its similarity with pebbles).
Dry roast the horse gram till you hear a popping sound with a nice aroma and powder it.

Extract juice from tamarind.

Dry roast pepper, coriander, cumin and powder them together with fresh garlic. This is the fresh home made rasam powder.

Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard, fenugreek and asafoetida. After the mustard crackles , add the curry leaf and chopped tomato and fry till oil oozes out.

Pour two cups of water and add the powdered horse gram, turmeric powder and let it come to a boil.

Now add the tamarind extract and once again boil it.

Then add the prepared rasam powder.

As soon as the rasam starts to boil, immediately switch off and add salt. Garnish with finely choppoed cilantro.

Kollu rasam is ready!


Serving suggestions:

Serve hot over plain cooked rice.
Goes well with a simple thovaiyal (thick chutney) and appalam.

Note:
Some people pressure cook the horsegram to make dhal. While doing so , we can save the left over water from the cooked horse gram and use it to make rasam instead of powdering it.

Ok guys! Have You started shopping for Horse gram:)

33 comments:

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow makes a comfort food with steamed hot bowl of rice...looks yum...

Parita said...

Delicious rasam..perfect with plain rice :)

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

One of my hubby's hot time recipe...maybe i should surprise him with the dish one day..Thanks for sharing Viki

Padma said...

Delicious rasam Viki... one of my favourite :)

Priyameena said...

Healthy rasam..Introductory proverb was very nice..

Gita Jaishankar said...

Yummy rasam dear...I wanted to try this rasam for quite sometime...though I have never found horsegram in the local grocery stores...still searching :)

Suparna said...

hi viki,
That was an interesting proverb :) ya dear u r right this one is quite neglected. I love it as dry upkari and as rasam too (my hubby hates it) so when I visit my parents I ask mom to make horsegram dish for me and feast on it. Ours is different version though. I love Tamil cooking for the whole spices and combination of ginger and garlic in dishes. This type of rasam with horse gram is new to me, shall send the recipe to mom :)
Thanks viki.
TC

Chitra said...

oh viki, U r attracting me with ur recipes which i search for;) yes,iam seraching this kolllu rasam these days..thanks a lot dear:)have bookmarked it!!

Subhie Arun said...

wow..something new to me.....hv to try soon...well explained...nice presetation yar...

Vrinda said...

Yummy rasam,never tried with horsegram

Mangala Bhat said...

wow ! i was looking for this recipe ..:)for a long time .Thanks for sharing :)

Finla said...

Wow that rasom looks so yummy.
I have never had rasom with horse gram.
I love rasom it is one of my comfort food.
Saying that it is ages ago i made them.

Priya Suresh said...

Wat a comfort food..i do prepare kollu rasa often...delicious!

Poornima Nair said...

I have never cooked with horse gram before...but that tamil proverb was enough to motivate me:)...its added to my shopping list. The rasam looks delicious, ultimate comfort food.

Anu said...

Viki, I have heard that horse gram helps in reducing fat... but i have never heard of this rasam. Nice recipe! I have always had the kollu as sumdal... :)

Pavithra Elangovan said...

hi yah i do same like this ..so so tasty rasam and perfect for cold and cough persons..

Malar Gandhi said...

I like this version better. Perfect for dieting!!! Its again comfort food for me.

Now I can see the water marks on the picture bit brighter...its safe!!!

Unknown said...

good one..have to start trying such healthy rasams..

kittymatti said...

cool...super healthy rasam!

chef and her kitchen said...

Nice healthy rasam...

Varsha Vipins said...

Ha..now that totally new to me..never heard of horsegram rasam..looks yummy Viki..:)

Lena Jayadev said...

woww..this is new to me..great recipe... :)

Shama Nagarajan said...

nice one dear

Unknown said...

nice proverb thanks for reminding me.And this rasam we also make this very good for fat reduction and very good combination with rice ummmm yum yum we call this in telugu Ulava Charu. nice recipe dear.

Pooja said...

Viki whenever my mother makes this rasam its like a feast..
she makes rice, kollu rasam n paruppu vadai/valapoo vadai..
i just love this rasam... i always remember the proverb which i keep telling to my hubby.. i remeber my aunt used to make kollu dosai to lose some pounds.. it used to taste awesome.. thanx for the post..

Nithya Praveen said...

Hmm lovely comfort food.Wud love to have it with some hot steaming rice.Pefecto!

Vijitha said...

Yummy rasam n my mom told me that its good to reduce cholestral and once in a while horse gram rasam is good but not regularly.

Thanks for the recipe. Urs looks good.

foodcreate said...

Wow! I going to try this wonderful dish!

Thanks for sharing your recipe:)

And if you can visit me I can visit you:)
Welcome~~~
http://foodcreate.com

Raks said...

My mom makes thogayal and sometimes rasam too...Its gud for people in diet!

Yasmeen said...

Honestly I neglected horse gram ,never cooked with it,rasam sounds perfect to get started:)

eshoboshoaahare.blogspot.in said...

Rasam looks yumm...and this is my favourite too...

Vani said...

I love horse gram! This rasam sounds yummy indeed!

Anonymous said...

Hi Viki, yesterday I made this rasam for the first time and it was very good.

I just reduced the pepper to half a tablespoon for my daughter, and she liked it a lot.
Thanks.

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