It doesn’t matter where one is from or how much of global cuisine one is exposed to because at the end of the day all food enthusiasts have one thing in common. We all crave comfort food. Food that reminds us of being ‘hand–fed’ by parents or grandparents and of being loved.
I often crave a nourishing lentil that rarely finds mention. I’m referring to the horse gram otherwise known as kollu down south. I wait for that time of year when the weather goes from warm to cool and delve into my big glass jar filled with the pale beige brown dal to cook kadanja kollu paruppu .We enjoy eating it with hot steaming rice with a drizzle of ghee or nallenai . It’s said to generate heat during the digestion process and is hence best eaten only during the winter months. Once cooked it is transferred to a black clay bowl for the mashing and churning which is as was done traditionally in the old days with a wooden masher that is typically used only for this purpose. It calls for a great deal of arm action to get a smooth creamy mixture. All of that effort is what I think leads up to the way it tastes. With the right proportion of chilli,spice and small onions it tastes absolutely delicious! During this season it features in my children’s lunch box once a week. It goes really well with most poriyals but we somehow tend to favour cabbage or vazhaithandu as an accompaniment to the kollu paruppu.
It was when I made the switch to organic groceries that I first came across the karuppu kollu or black horse gram. Apparently it is a variant that mostly grows wild and is rain fed. It’s nutritive properties are similar to it’s brown counterpart; high in iron, phosphorous,calcium and protein, extremely beneficial in warding off respiratory ailments and helps in kidney function. The fact that it grows without having to be cultivated means that the nutrient level will also be at par with what nature intended it to be. So now I alternate between both varieties of horse gram.
Another favourite is the ulavu charu that is a typical Telugu dish. Our Andhra relatives are amused that in Coimbatore we have elevated this dish to a delicacy. It is slow cooked and served with a dollop of fresh cream. I find it hard to imagine that something that delicious was originally meant only to be fodder for livestock. Horse gram is great eaten in both sprouted as well as in micro-greens form. I also roast it sometimes. These lentils when dry roasted turn crunchy and can be mixed into a tempering with puffed rice and eaten as a snack. Or, cool the roasted lentils and make a dry spice rub by adding black peppercorns or dried chilli, salt, etc and blend it into a fine powder. This can be then added to lemon juice for an easy, highly nutritious salad dressing or used as a marinade for vegetables or meat. The possibilities are many. It can also be a seasonal podi option for the idli.
As I sit down to my kollu paruppu and rice meal, I can’t wait to dig in. It is a simple dish, but one that makes for a soul satisfying meal.
