Around three months ago, I wrote this post, and I teased that there will be a couple more posts on Kulth based dishes, but I never got around to writing them for one reason or another. Partly it was down to something more seasonal coming up, and then there was the first-ever combined post we did, but I feel I should live up to my promise and write post number three-of-four on Kulth.
If you are familiar with how Rajma beans/kidney beans are prepared in North India, this is very much the same principle applied to horse gram. If not, then allow me to introduce you to how North Indians prepare kidney beans. To my dear vegan friends, I apologise this recipe is not vegan because one of the ingredients is yoghurt.
Before I walk you through the ingredients and steps, here are some relevant metrics for the recipe.
Difficulty - Easy.
Prep time - 10 mins, not including the time it takes for the beans to soak.
Cooking time - around 45 minutes.
Servings - around 6.
Ingredients
Kulth/Horsegram - 175g. Rinsed thoroughly and then soaked overnight.
Onions - 1 large.
Tomatoes - 1 large (tomato puree would work as well)
Ginger - 1-inch knob.
Garlic - 3 cloves.
Green chilli - 1 finely sliced.
Red chilli powder - 0.75 tsp
Cumin - 0.75 tsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp or adjust to taste
Turmeric - 0.75 tsp
Garam Masala - 0.75 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Yoghurt - 0.5 cup
Water - 4 cups for boiling.
Cooking oil - 4 tbsp.
The Process
Add water, salt and the horse gram to a pressure cooker. Seal the pressure cooker, and leave it on high flame until the whistle blows. Once the whistle blows, lower the heat. Turn off the heat altogether after 10-15 minutes.
It is now time to prepare the onion and tomato masala - the most fundamental mix to most North Indian curries. Once you mastered this, you've unlocked the secret sauce (literally and figuratively) to most North Indian curries. Use a blender or a food processor to mince the onion and garlic.
In a large saucepan, add the cooking oil and set the heat to high. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds along with the chopped ginger, garlic and green chilli. Saute them well for around 30 seconds. Ensure that the ginger and garlic release their aroma and do not burn.
Now add the minced onions to the pan, stirring occasionally. There will be a lot of water that the onions release, so continue sauteing the onions until they turn light brown.
While step 4 is happening, puree the tomato in a food processor, and leave them aside. We will be using it a couple of steps later. If you used tomato puree, then you can skip this step.
Once the onions change colour to light brown, add coriander powder, turmeric and red chilli powder to the saucepan. Mix well.
Now add the tomato puree from step 5 into the saucepan and set the flame to high. The tomato contains a lot of water, and we want that to evaporate. Continue to stir.
Once the water has evaporated, add in the yoghurt. Mix it well until the oil separates from the yoghurt.
Now, add the horse gram and the water from the pressure cooker into the saucepan, and mix everything well. In the words of Andrew Rea from binging with Babish, allow everything to get to know each other.
The last step is to add water. The amount of water you add really depends on how runny you want your curry to be. Feel free to experiment until you land on a consistency you like. It's perfectly ok to not add any water.
Optionally, if you wish to garnish with some coriander, then this is the last step ;)
That's it; your Kulth curry is ready—Bon appetite. As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments down below. See you in the next one.