Hesaru KaLu Kai HuLi

I love the use of garlic in roasted form. They are so intense and can impart such great flavors to a recipe. Garlic may not compliment all dishes, considering it is pungent. Not everyone would even savor it's taste. But to me, I just love it! Considering it is good for heart, it gives me more excuse to use them often!

Amma's Hesaru KaLu Kai HuLi is one of my favorite Havyaka dish which tastes heavenly when tempered well. There are few ingredients that can make or take flavors away in a South Indian cooking. The secret behind a great tasting South Indian food is in it's tempering. And many of the gravy dishes do call for a good tempering... tempering in the right way. Another go get ingredient is the use of compounded hing/asafeotida. This is very different from the powdered stuff that we get. I find the powdered hing that we get is nothing but a dry powder which has no taste or flavours. This works good for recipes that don't require the hing flavors, but for an authentic Manglorean HuLi recipe or gassi, the compounded one is a must. Try them yourself both the ways, you bet you'll know the difference.

Hesaru KaLu Kai HuLi

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sprouted green gram/hesaru kalu
A little more than 1/4 cup grated fresh coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tbsps coriander seeds/dhania
1/4th tsp fenugreek seeds/methi seeds
4-5 red chillies (I used Byadgi chillies)
1 small lemon sized tamarind (soaked in warm water)
1 tsp powdered jaggery
A little compounded hing/asafoetida

For tempering:

1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves
5 cloves of garlic, crushed in a motar & pestle

DIRECTIONS

Pressure cook the sprouted moong dal with salt and turmeric until they are soft. Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, methi seeds and red chillies till they are just browned. Grind the cooled dry roasted ingredients along with coconut and tamarind to make a smooth paste. Add this masala paste to the cooked moong dal. Add little water if required and bring this to a boil. Adjust salt, add jaggery and allow this to come to a boil. Mix the compounded hing in a little warm water or probably remove a little curry out into a cup and mix in the compounded hing. Add this to the boiling curry. I always use compounded hing/asafoetida for these kind of recipes as the flavor it imparts to the dishes is just out of the world. I don't think this curry would be even closer to what it should be without this!

Next the temper. In a small pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add curry leaves and chopped/crushed garlic. Add this tempering to the above prepared curry and cover immediately. Mix well and serve. Goes very well with hot ric

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