Kollu Podi Recipe

Kollu Podi also known as horse gram powder or kanam podi is a roasted powder made with horse gram, dry red chillies, cumin seeds, garlic and salt is said to aid in weight loss. This recipe is made with protein rich horse gram along with Indian spices and can be served as a side for idli or dosa or mixed with hot steaming rice with ghee or gingelly oil. Make sure to check idli podi and kollu sundal. Learn how to make kollu powder with step by step pictures and video.

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Kollu Podi (Horse gram powder)

Are you looking for weight loss recipes and diet food. Then add this in your daily menu. Horse gram is such a healthy legume and it helps in losing weight. After I posted my kollu thogayal recipe, I got so many request to post more kollu recipes. So this is my addition to my kollu dishes.

Jump to:

• What is Horse gram?
• Watch Kollu Podi Video
• About Kollu Podi (Horse gram powder)
• Kollu Podi Ingredients
• How to Make Kollu Podi (Stepwise Pictures)
• Expert Tips
• 📖 Recipe Card

Aachi makes this podi and keeps handy. During our lunch time, she put some hot rice in a plate, sprinkles some of this podi, drizzle a tsp of gingelly oil over the rice, mix it up and eat. Then she continues with the rest of the gravies. You can even have this instead of having idli podi. 

What is Horse gram?

Horse gram, also known as horse gram, kulthi bean, gahat, hurali, kanam or Madras gram is a legume that is more popular in Southern Asia. It has a unique taste and texture and widely used legume in many cuisines. It is commonly grown for horse feed, hence the name “horse gram”. 

The legume is considered to remove excess fat content in body and tighten the muscle. Hence it is popularly known as weight loss grain and used extensively in cooking. You can use this to make kollu rasam, kollu sundal and dosa. We use it to make kollu chutney and my aachi’s kollu urundai kuzhambu.

`கொழுத்தவனுக்கு கொள்ளு; இளைத்தவனுக்கு எள்ளு' is a popular proverb among Tamil people. It is said that horse gram is good for fat loss while sesame seed is great for weight gain. Horse grams has tons of health benefits in them so it is getting more popular in the modern days. You can even see horse gram extract or tea in the market. But my kollu soup is very effective.

There are two variety of kollu available in the market. You can use black or brown horse gram. Both of these taste the same except the look.

Watch Kollu Podi Video

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About Kollu Podi (Horse gram powder)

This horse gram powder or kollu podi is a recipe that I learned from my Aachi. She used to make wide variety of rice powders including paruppu podi, thengai podi and curry leaves powder. These are the powders which we call as lunch powders. It is served with hot rice, ghee or gingelly oil. 

One of the most popular powder in our house is this kollu podi. During my school and college days, I never miss to consume this everyday for lunch. Currently I making a batch every month for my husband. The powder is very easy to make, you need kollu (horse gram), cumin seeds, dry red chillies, asafoetida and salt. 

Horse gram is roasted till golden brown and completely toasted. I like to roast dry red chillies and cumin seeds as well. Then grind all the ingredients with garlic, asafoetida and salt till you get a fine powder like consistency. This powder can be stored in a container for upto a month.

Kollu Podi Ingredients

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Horse Gram | Kollu - There are two variety of kollu available in the market. You can use black or brown horse gram. Both of these taste the same. Make sure you dry roast the kollu till golden brown and aromatic which is important in making kollu podi.

Dry Red Chillies - depending on the spice level, you can add more or less dry red chillies. You can use black pepper instead of dry red chillies. 

Garlic - don’t skip on these, it adds the unique aroma and makes it taste great. You can dry roast garlic in a pan or add it raw when blending. 

Cumin Seeds - adds an earthy smoky aroma to the powder. 

Asafoetida - I add a pinch of asafoetida when grinding horse gram which helps with the digestion.

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How to Make Kollu Podi (3 Easy Steps)

Roasting Horse Gram - Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Add in horse gram and roast them for a good 10 mins till it turns darker and is nicely toasted. Remove it to a bowl.

Roasting other ingredients - In the same kadai. Add in chilli, cumin and asafoetida. Roast them for a couple of mins. Transfer it to the same bowl. Now add garlic and salt to it and let them cool.

Grinding Powder - Now take them in blender and make into a fine powder. Store it in an air tight container.

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How to Make Kollu Podi (Stepwise Pictures)

1)I am using brown horse gram. You can use black horse gram as well. Wash the horse gram really well, strain them in a colander and dry them for few hours.

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Dry Roasting Kollu

2)take horse gram in a dry kadai and start roasting on medium high heat. You have to constantly keep on stirring and mixing it.

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3)The colour will darken and it will start to smell aromatic. You will hear popping sound too.

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4)Remove the roasted horse gram to a bowl and set aside to cool.

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Roasting Chilies & Cumin

5)In the same pan, reduce the heat to low. Add in dry red chilles and cumin seeds. Optionally you can use some black pepper too. Dry roast the chillies and cumin seeds for few seconds.

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6)Remove the roasted chillies to the same bowl. Allow this to completely cool before grinding.

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7)Add in salt, some peeled garlic cloves, asafoetida in this mixture.

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Grinding Kollu Podi

8)Now take all the ingredients in a blender.

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9)Grind this into a fine powder.

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10)Store it in an air tight container. You can serve this with some hot rice, sprinkle some of this podi, drizzle a tsp of gingelly oil or ghee over the rice, mix and enjoy. You can even have this with idli, dosa or upma too. 

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Expert Tips

• You can use black or brown horse gram as you prefer.
• Make sure you roast the horse gram really well. As you roast, you will hear popping sound that’s when you know it has roasted well.
• You can dry roast garlic before grinding as well. If you are making large batch, dry roast garlic is important. 
• If you are making large batch, use sea salt and dry roast for few seconds to remove the moisture from it. 
• Grind the powder till fine for better texture. 
• You can use this powder to serve with rice or idli dosa too.

Storage & Serving

Once powdered, This can be stored in a container for upto a month at room temperature. 

You can serve this with some hot rice, sprinkle some of this podi, drizzle a tsp of gingelly oil or ghee over the rice, mix and enjoy. You can even have this with idli, dosa or upma too. 

More Horse Gram | Kollu Recipes

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If you have any questions not covered in this post and if you need help, leave me a comment or mail me @[email protected] and I’ll help as soon as I can.

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