Kollu Rasam-Horse Gram Rasam Recipe (Soup)-Ulava Charu

Horse gram is known as Kulthi in Hindi, Kollu in Tamil and  Ulavalu in Telugu. Horse gram as we all know is good for health and is said to aid in weight loss. It is said to be good for diabetics also. I have already written about its health benefits in my Kollu Sundal post, so do not to repeat all that again here. Rasam is a great way to include horse gram or kollu in our diet. Today we will learn how to make Kollu rasam (ulava saaru) following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Kollu Rasam-Horse Gram

 Prep Time : 10 mins

 Cook Time : 20 mins 
 Serves: 3-4
 Recipe Category: Rasam-Soup
 Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
 Author:Padhu Sankar

   Ingredients needed

   Horse gram/Kollu - 1/4 cup
   Tamarind - small gooseberry sized ball
   Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
   Tomato -2 medium
   Curry leaves -2 sprigs
   Salt needed

   To be ground coarsely

   Whole black pepper/milagu -1 tsp
   Cumin seeds/ jeera seeds -1 tsp
   Garlic Cloves - 2-3

   For the seasoning

   Ghee -1 tsp
   Mustard seeds- 3/4 tsp
   Red Chilli -1
   Curry leaves -few

   For Garnishing

   Coriander leaves finely chopped -2 tbsp

Preparation

Soak tamarind in a cup of hot water for 15-20 minutes. Extract the juice and keep it aside.

Grind pepper, cumin and garlic coarsely or you can crush it using a mortar and pestle.

Wash and soak horse gram overnight or for 5-6 hours. Pressure cook with 1 cup of water for 3 whistles. Strain the cooked kollu/horse gram.

Take 1 tbsp of cooked horse gram and grind it to a smooth paste. Mix it with the strained liquid. We are going to use this liquid (water in which kollu was cooked) for making rasam. Keep this aside. You can use the rest of the kollu for making sundal.

Take a vessel, add tamarind extract, turmeric powder, chopped tomatoes, curry leaves, ground powder and salt needed.

Boil on medium flame until the raw smell of the tamarind goes.

Then add the liquid we had kept aside along with needed water (around 1/4-1/2 cup of water) and simmer the rasam.

When froth starts forming at the surface, switch off the rasam. (do not boil the rasam as it will loose its flavor)

Heat a tsp of ghee, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add red chilli, curry leaves and pour it over the rasam.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve piping hot with rice.

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