Kultha Saaru (Horsegram Soup)

Kultha Saaru is a healthy, popular konkani soup. It tastes very good. Kulithu in konkani means Horse gram. Horse gram is very rich in protein. Hence it has to  be used regularly. Few months ago I had also posted how to make horse gram idlis.
Horse gram is a also used as a cattle feed. In villages, the cattle which are used to plough the field are fed with cooked horse gram. The horse gram water is used by the people to make saaru (soup). If there is large quantity of the horse gram water, then they boil it for hours and condense it to thick form. This is stored for future use. They just dilute couple of spoons of the condensed liquid to make Kultha Saaru. The condensed liquid is called Kultha Kadi. Make this saaru and get the goodness of horse gram.

Ingredients:

• Horse gram- 1/2 cup
• Green Chilli- 1-2
• Dry red chilli- 1
• Oil/Ghee- 1-2 tsp
• Garlic pod- 4-5
• Salt- To taste

Procedure:

Wash the horse gram and lightly roast until you get a good aroma. Then cook it in a cooker adding 3-4 cups of water. Horse gram takes more time to cook (nearly 5-6 whistles). If it is soaked, the time taken to cook will reduce (2-3 whistles).

The water you get after cooking horse gram is to be separated from horsegram. Start heating the horse gram water. Add chopped green chillies and salt to taste. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.

For seasoning- heat oil/ghee (ghee is recommended). Add crushed garlic and fry it until it turns golden brown. Now add the red chilli. Fry it for few seconds and add this to the horse gram water. Kultha Saaru is ready!!

Serve it hot with rice . It can also be served independently as a soup. Above measurement serves two people.

Note: 1.When I made Kultha saaru, I didn't separate cooked horse gram from the water got after cooking. I used both of them together, as I did it in  Alsande beeyeche saarupkari . In this way both are used up. Rest of the procedure remains the same.

2. One more way to use the left over cooked horse gram is- grind it along with 2-3 Tbsp of grated coconut, 2-3 roasted red chillies and a small piece of tamarind. Add water as required and bring it to a boil. Season it with garlic.

3. One more way to use left over cooked horse gram is - heat 1 tsp of oil. Add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add a dry red chilli and curry leaf. Now add cooked horse gram, 1 Tbsp of grated coconut, jaggery and salt to taste. Heat it for a while. Kultha Upkari is ready.