“Kulith- Kooka Koddel (Horse Gram- Chinese Potato Curry)” … koddel is always a favorite dish with many who love the aromatic garlic tempering … plenty of combos are available when it comes to addition of veggies and whenever Kooka (Chinese Potato) is in season, I try making the best use of it by preparing all dishes waited to be relished year long … try this combo, it tastes scrumptious served with ukde sheetHa (red boiled rice) or plain rice … Yummilicious ….
** I have shared “Koddel” many times in different combos as its one of our favorite dishes at home. The aromatic garlic flavor imparted to dish comes from tempering is what it takes the dish to another level. In my home, we love to relish it with ukde sheetHa (red boiled rice) or plain rice, though if desired you can serve it with roti/ chapathi or dosa’s too. The recipe remains the same, the difference being only with addition of different types of veggies, at times seasonal or with brine.
** Here I have prepared this curry Koddel with Kultih (Horse Gram) and Kooka (Chinese Potato). Chinese Potato/ Kooka is in season ie it is available around the months of November to January and I do make the best use of it in these 3 months to avoid any disappointment later. Horse Gram as you all know is a pulse with plenty of health benefits and is easily available almost in all parts of the world and is used both in preparation of curries as well as dosas/ idly etc. just browse through for more.
** Addition of tart veggies too is a matter of choice and as per season or availability. You can use any one of tart tasting fruit/ veggie mentioned like, bimbul (tree sorrel fruit), ambado (Hog Plum), karmbala (carmbola/ starfruit), ambuli (raw mango), harvo tomato (raw- green tomato), dried kokum, kudampuli etc. as is available region wise. In case you do not want to use them or are unavailable just add tamarind (chinchama/ Imly) while grinding masala which is followed in GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine.
** I know, I am repeating myself at times, a habit I wish I could stop. However, I am so excited when I share information or when I encourage my friends here that I do know I go overboard at times, do excuse, the length of the posts, but I believe that when spreading knowledge of whatever little we have one always needs to do justice. I just want anything to go wrong when you cook my dishes and I want all of you to fall in love with cooking just like the way I am, trust me, there is no substitute to homemeals.
** Here is my recipe for “Kulith- Kooka Koddel (Horse Gram- Chinese Potato Curry)” which I learnt from my Amma …
** Ingredients :
Kulith/ Horse Gram/ Huruli Kaalu : 1 cup
Kadgi/ Raw Jackfruit/ Kaccha Phanas: 300 gms.
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** For Masala to be Ground :
Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : one cup heaped freshly grated.
Kashmiri Red Chilly/ Kumte Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi : 6-8
Tamarind/ Chinchama/ Imly : small marble sized ball
** For Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka :
Coconut Oil/ Nariyal Tel/ Narlel Tela : 1-2 tblsp
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun: 10-12 cloves medium sized.
** Pick, clean, wash well and soak in plenty of water "Kulith/ Horse Gram" either overnight or at least for minimum for 4-6 hours. Once again, rinse well, put it in pressure cooker with just enough water say about an inch above the level of kulith and cook on medium heat to 1-2 whistles then lower the heat to minimum and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, in between if there are whistles don't worry, then once again raise the heat and cook for another 1-2 whistles and it's done.
** Note : I must mention here that soaking is good as the pulses double up in size release certain nutrients from within, soften up a bit, takes lesser time to cook and above all are more easily digestible. You can also sprout them if desired and cook as mentioned above it, that is more nutritious and I do so many a times.
** Let the pressure fall on its own, when able to open the lid do so and strain the cooked kulith water into another vessel by slowly tilting the cooker carefully so that the kulith remains back in the cooker. This drained cooked water is prepared into a delicacy by tempering which we call “Kulitha Saaru/ Horse Gram Saar” that can be served either with rice or as it is as soup/ appetizer, if not use it while cooking the veggie and grinding of masalas, so please do not discard this cooked water. The recipe will be found in the common link shared at the bottom for all kulith recipes, do try it out, its awesome.
** About preparing Kooka/ Chinese Potato : Cleaning kooka/ chinese potato is the biggest task. I have changed my method of cleaning, but you can prepare it anyway that is suitable to you. Having said this, cleaning also depends upon the quality of the kooka available to you. In Mumbai, sometimes we get really good ones, that peel off easily while sometimes we don't. So I will add in a few methods of peeling of the skin and you may follow as per the variety you get using trial and error method.
** The Traditional Method : The other traditional way is to put Kooka/ Chinese Potato in a gunny bag (Ghoni) and tightly packing it and then banging/ hitting it on to a stone firmly while rotating the bag all round as you go through the method. This loosens the skin and most of it comes/ loosens off. Just scrub it with both hands retaining it within the gunny bag to loosen it more. This method is not used much now, as it is difficult to access gunny bag. Even rice have been started to come in plastic type bags. If you have one, you can sure try this out. My mother used to make it this way and during childhood we used to loved doing it for her. We really did enjoying banging around the gunny bag to loosen the outer skin of kooka.
** Method 1 : One way of peeling the outer skin is, You can either just use the potato peeler and peel the kookas using it.
** My Method : I soak the required amount of kooka in plenty of water for about 5-10 mins, changing them a few times if they are too muddy. This loosens the dry mud that is sticking to the kooka. The I try loosening off the mud right there in the water by rubbing them between fingers. Some kooka are well behaved and peel off easily, while some are stubborn and just don't listen making it difficult. So use the potato peeler and zap it comes out faster than when you run it on the drier one mentioned first.
** Important step of soaking in water once its peeled : It is very important to drop the skin peeled kooka/ chinese potato into water to prevent it getting discolored. So keep a bowl with plenty of water ready and drop the peeled kookas immediately into them. Once done, wash them in plenty of water, rinsing many times in fresh water and remember to keep it soaked in water till the preparation/ cooking time.
** IMPORTANT NOTE : I can say that this is also a easier method of peeling off outer skin of smaller sized Kooka/ Chinese Potato as the above mentioned methods may turn out tedious. Again, for preparing gojju, kooka needs to be cooked really soft, so that you can easily crush them with hands or with a small weight or potato masher for perfect result, so the peeling method really depends upon the curry.
** Addition of Kooka/ Chinese Potato to this curry : After peeling the skin in any of the above mentioned method, wash it well in plenty of water and then cut it into 1 inch sized pieces depending upon the size of the kooka as they come in small and medium sizes. If large cut them into 2-3 pieces and if small you can retain them whole as it is. Just follow your judgment and keep the cut pieces even sized.
** To Prepare the Curry : Add the kooka/ Chinese potatoes pieces in a pan with ½ cup of water and bring to a boil on high heat. Here for the purpose of cooking you can add the cooked kulith strained water too. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, then lower the heat to minimum and cook until 80% done. Add the pressure cooked kulith/ horse gram, mix well and continue to cook while we prepare the masala.
** Masala to be ground : Grind to a fine paste coconut with red chillies and tamarind with as little water as possible. You can use the kulith cooked water for grinding the masala which is what I follow for most of my recipes.
** Note : If you are adding any tart tasting veggie like bimbul/ ambado etc. then do not add tamarind while grinding the masala.
** Remove and add the ground masala to cooked kulith- kooka in the vessel and mix well. Check the consistency of the curry and add water if required only to bring to a thick gravy consistency. Add salt to taste and bring to a boil on medium heat stirring often to avoid being burnt. When you see bubbles appearing on the surface, let cook for 2 minutes, lower the heat and continue simmering for 3-4 minutes only.
** Note : If you are using any tart tasting veggie like bimbul/ ambado etc. then add it while adding the ground masala and cook along with all ingredients. These veggie do not take much time while cooking and will be perfectly done in 3-4 minutes.
** For Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka : Heat coconut oil (you can use any oil) in a small pan, when hot lower the heat to medium and add peeled or with peel slightly mashed/ crushed garlic cloves and fry until they turn slightly browned. Remove, pour over simmering curry, mix well, remove from heat, cover with a tight lid and keep it aside for 25-30 minutes for the flavors to be infused well into the curry.
** Note : You can peel the outer skin of garlic or leave it on for tempering. You have to crush the garlic slightly with a heavy weight if you keep the skin before adding it to oil. Traditionally garlic was never peeled as the skin imparts more flavor to curry. Now, some have started peeled and tempering them, you can follow any method you wish to and choice is entirely yours. I sometimes do, sometimes don’t. Recently I have stopped the peeling method as you can see in the main picture.
** “Kulith- Kooka Koddel (Horse Gram- Chinese Potato Curry)” is done and ready to be served. Always serve curry steaming hot with red boiled rice (ukde sheetHa) or any rice of your choice for best of taste. If you do not prefer rice, you can serve it with roti, chapathi, paratha, idly or dosa, appos or even mildly spiced rice dishes. Enjoy this delicious koddel/ curry with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible, it helps me in improving myself and doing that much more.
** Note : If “Kooka/ Chinese Potato” is not available, no issue, you can always replace it with kadgi (tender raw jackfruit), suran (yam), keerlu (bamboo shoots) etc. I have shared plenty of combos which you can browse through the common link shared below. If possible, please do take little of your precious time to give me a feedback, it helps me improve my cooking pattern and encourages me to do more.
** Given below are a few common links to “Koddel, Horse Gram (Kulith), Kooka (Chinese Potato)” recipes, that have been added on in blog. I have also included the “Kulitha Saar” recipe link for easy access. You can browse through for more recipes for a proper knowledge GSB Konkani Sarawat dishes, they are all tasty ...
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