Ulavacharu is a famous Andhra Pradesh dish made in Guntur and Krishna districts. This dish is tangy and healthy too. It is made out of Horsegram(locally called asUlavalu). It is primarily consumed in winter to beat the cold weather and retain heat in the body.
Ingredients
- Ulavalu(Horsegram)-½ kg
- Water as required
- Mustard seeds
- Jeera
- Tamarind extract
- Oil -2tsp
- Five green chillies
- Three dry red chillies
- Two springs of curry leaves
- Eight chopped garlic
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Salt as required
- One small cup of coriander
Recipe
- Take a bowl and wash the horse gram ideally three times and soak it in water (for 1 cup of horse gram, soak it in 3 cups water, 1:3ratio). Make sure you soak it overnight for at least 10-12 hours. Soaking it is a must as it brings real taste to the dish.
- After 10-12 hours, you can observe a change in watercolour. Now take a large pressure cooker, add the soaked horse gram with the same water, and let it boil for at least 40-50min after one whistle.
- After 50min cut off the stove and transfer only the water into a container(make sure you use a filter); keep the horse gram seeds aside ( as the seeds are of no use in the dish now).
- Take a bottom-sized pan and add two tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is heated, add garlic cloves, red chillies, green chillies, curry leaves, mustard seeds, jeera, and turmeric. Mix well.
- Now pour in the strained horse gram- water and mix well. Boil for 5-10minutes.
- Add tamarind extract and the required salt and mix well.
- Boil it on medium flame until it turns into a thick gravy. It usually takes 30 minutes to turn into a thick sauce.
- Garnish with coriander and cut the stove off.
Ulavacharu is ready to serve.
Tip: If you want to use the seeds, grind them into small pieces and add them to the gravy. However, the highly recommended way is to have it as said.
