Horse gram curry/Kollu/Kulthi

Horse gram known as Kulthi in hindi, is not a common lentil used in our daily cooking. Recently hubby and I were doing South Beach diet and in phase 1 you should avoid sugar and carbs completely. Being vegetarian the only means of protein for us was lentil/dal. Initially it sounded weird to eat lentils everyday without any roti or rice. But eventually I got used to it and thanks to South Beach diet I was able to shred my pregnancy and post pregnancy weight completely :).During this phase I started to try different lentil than usual and Horse gram was one among them. Before the diet I used to use horse gram once in 6 months or so. But now I started to use them more. So for convenience I sprout them in bulk and freeze it. You can make soup, sundal, busssaru (typical karnataka style), curry etc and having them ready is quite handy you need not plan in advance. I will share the curry recipe the way my MIL makes.   I have used the frozen sprouted beans here. You can use freshly sprouted or non sprouted too. It tastes great.

Ingredients
1. 2 cups of horse gram (frozen, freshly sprouted or soaked in water overnight)
2. 1 large potato
3. 1 medium sized onion
4. 3-4 gloves of garlic
5. 1/2 inch ginger
6. 1-2 green chillies
7. 1 large tomato
8. 2 teaspoon of grated coconut
9. 3-4 whole red chillies
10. 2 teaspoon of dhaniya powder
11. 1 clove
12. 1/4 inch cinnamon stick (chaka/Dalchini)
13. 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
14. 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
15. 1-2 bay leaves
16. Salt to taste
17. Oil
18. Coriander leaves for garnish

How I Prepare
1. In small pan add little oil, fry onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, red chilli for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato, grated coconut and fry for 2-3 minutes. Grind everything into a smooth paste.
2. Take oil in pressure cooker. Once hot add hing, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the grinded paste, dhaniya powder, and potato. Saute it for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add horse gram, salt to taste. 1/2 cup of water and mix everything together and pressure cook for 2 whistles (or until horse gram is tender).
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot with rice or roti.

Notes
1. If you use the frozen one, take one more whistle to defrost.
2. Adjust the spices as per your taste.