Lentil Kolas

Total Time: 1 hr 50 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 cup toor dal (yellow lentils)
• 4 red chilies
• 1 teaspoon anise seed
• 1 onion
• 3 stalks of fresh curry leaves
• 1 tablespoon coconut, grated
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 tomato
• 2 stalks curry leaves
• 2 inches cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamoms
• 5 cloves
• 2 teaspoons sambhar powder (check note below)
• 1/4 cup tamarind pulp
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salt

Recipe

• 1 wash the lentils well.
• 2 soak in water and keep aside for 30 minutes.
• 3 drain water.
• 4 grind the lentils, red chillies, aniseeds and a little salt coarsely.
• 5 add to the ground mixture, the grated coconut, finely cut curry leaves and onions.
• 6 mix well.
• 7 make small lemon-sized balls out of it.
• 8 don't press the balls too hard as it may not get cooked inside.
• 9 place the balls in an idli cooker or pressure cooker (without weight).
• 10 steam it for 10 minutes till the kolas are cooked.
• 11 remove the kolas once they are ready.
• 12 keep aside.
• 13 for gravy: grind 1/2 cup of coconut and 1 tsp.
• 14 aniseed together.
• 15 keep aside.
• 16 heat oil in a pan.
• 17 fry cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and a pinch of aniseeds for a minute.
• 18 add finely cut onions, garlic, curry leaves and saute till light brown.
• 19 add tomato and fry for 5 minutes.
• 20 add 3 cups of water, salt, sambar powder and tamarind water.
• 21 let it boil for 10 minutes.
• 22 add the ground coconut-aniseed paste and mix well.
• 23 when it begins to boil, add the kolas to it.
• 24 cover the pan.
• 25 allow it to cook on medium flame for 10 minutes.
• 26 remove from flame.
• 27 garnish with corriander leaves.
• 28 serve with rice or rotis.
• 29 enjoy your meal!
• 30 note:if sambar powder is not available, use a mixture of 1/4 tsp.
• 31 turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp.
• 32 corriander powder and 1 tsp.
• 33 red chilli powder.