Horse gram
Encyclopedia
Horse Gram is one of the lesser known bean
s. The whole seeds of horse gram are generally utilized as cattle feed
. However, it is consumed as a whole seed, as sprouts, or as whole meal by a large population in rural areas of southern India. Medical uses of these legumes have been discussed. It is mostly used in South Indian states.
Horse gram and moth bean
are legumes of the tropics
and subtropics
, grown mostly under dry-land agriculture. The chemical composition is comparable with more commonly cultivated legumes. Like other legumes, these are deficient in methionine
and tryptophan
, though horse gram is an excellent source of iron
and molybdenum
. Comparatively, horse gram seeds have higher trypsin
inhibitor and hemagglutinin
activities and polyphenols than most bean seeds. Natural phenol
s are mostly phenolic acids, namely, 3, 4-dihydroxy benzoic, p-hydroxy benzoic, vanillic
, caffeic
, p-coumaric, ferulic
, syringic
and sinapic acids. Dehusking, germination, cooking, and roasting have been shown to produce beneficial effects on nutritional quality of both the legumes. Though both require prolonged cooking, a soak solution has been shown to reduce cooking time and improve protein quality. Moth bean is mostly consumed as dhal or sprouts.
, horse gram, (called മുതിര (Muthira) in Malayalam which almost sounds like കുതിര (kuthira), Malayalam word for horse), is used to feed horses and also used in special kinds of dishes.
In Tamil Nadu
, horse gram (called கொள்ளு (Kollu), in the southern districts it is called Kaanam) is normally used to feed horses, though it is also commonly used in Tamil dishes, including kollu porial, kollu avial, kollu sambar, and kollu rasam. In traditional siddha cuisine, horse gram is considered a food with medicinal qualities.
In Andhra Pradesh
, horse gram (Ulava (singular) Ulavalu (plural), ఉలవలు) is prescribed for persons suffering from jaundice or water retention, and as part of a weight loss diet. It is considered helpful for iron deficiencies, and is considered helpful for maintaining body temperature in the winter season.
In Maharashtra
, and specifically the coastal Konkan region and Goa
, horse gram (Kulith) is often used to make Kulith Usal, pithla and laddu
.
In India
, it is also known as Gahat, Muthira, Kulath or Kulthi, ಹುರಳಿ (huraLi). In Marathi
-Konkani
, it is called as "Kulith (कुळीथ)".
In Karnataka
cuisine, ಹುರಳಿಸಾರು (huraLi saaru), ಹುರಳಿ (huraLi) is a main ingredient.
Gahat or Kulath is a major ingredient in the Pahadi
of Himalayan North India
. In Uttarakhand
, it is cooked in a round iron saute pan ("kadhai") to prepare Ras, a favorite of most Kumaonis. In Gharwal region, another more elaborate dish is "phanu" which is made in a kadhai with roughly ground gahat (previously soaked overnight) boiled over several hours. Towards the end, some finely chopped greens (like palak or spinach, rai, tender radish leaves, or dhania (coriander leaves) if nothing else is available) are added to complete the dish. Served with boiled rice, jhangora (a millet-like grain, used as a staple by poorer Garhwalis only a decade ago and now a prized health-food) or just roti, phanu is a wholesome and nutritious meal. Phnau is somewhat heavy to digest; it's quite possible to go through the whole day without feeling in the least bit hungry, after having a big phanu meal in the morning. Similar Botanical name of horse gram/Gahat or Kulath/KULTHI IS Dolicas biflores from the Laguminiaceae family.
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s. The whole seeds of horse gram are generally utilized as cattle feed
Fodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
. However, it is consumed as a whole seed, as sprouts, or as whole meal by a large population in rural areas of southern India. Medical uses of these legumes have been discussed. It is mostly used in South Indian states.
Horse gram and moth bean
Moth bean
Vigna aconitifolia, called the moth bean , mat bean, Turkish gram, or ' maṭki in Marathi, is a small, drought-resistant, annual, trailing herb with small yellow flowers and deeply lobed leaves, grown especially in dry parts of South Asia for its tiny edible beans, which range in color from light...
are legumes of the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
and subtropics
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
, grown mostly under dry-land agriculture. The chemical composition is comparable with more commonly cultivated legumes. Like other legumes, these are deficient in methionine
Methionine
Methionine is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2CH2SCH3. This essential amino acid is classified as nonpolar. This amino-acid is coded by the codon AUG, also known as the initiation codon, since it indicates mRNA's coding region where translation into protein...
and tryptophan
Tryptophan
Tryptophan is one of the 20 standard amino acids, as well as an essential amino acid in the human diet. It is encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG...
, though horse gram is an excellent source of iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and molybdenum
Molybdenum
Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
. Comparatively, horse gram seeds have higher trypsin
Trypsin
Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas as the inactive proenzyme trypsinogen. Trypsin cleaves peptide chains mainly at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine or arginine, except when...
inhibitor and hemagglutinin
Hemagglutinin
Influenza hemagglutinin or haemagglutinin is a type of hemagglutinin found on the surface of the influenza viruses. It is an antigenic glycoprotein. It is responsible for binding the virus to the cell that is being infected...
activities and polyphenols than most bean seeds. Natural phenol
Natural phenol
Natural phenols, bioavailable phenols, plant phenolics, low molecular weight phenols or phenoloids are a class of natural products. They are small molecules containing one or more phenolic group. These molecules are smaller in size than polyphenols, containing less than 12 phenolic groups...
s are mostly phenolic acids, namely, 3, 4-dihydroxy benzoic, p-hydroxy benzoic, vanillic
Vanillic acid
Vanillic acid is a dihydroxybenzoic acid derivative used as a flavoring agent. It is an oxidized form of vanillin...
, caffeic
Caffeic acid
Caffeic acid is a hydroxycinnamic acid, a naturally occurring organic compound. This yellow solid consists of both phenolic and acrylic functional groups...
, p-coumaric, ferulic
Ferulic acid
Ferulic acid is a hydroxycinnamic acid, a type of organic compound. It is an abundant phenolic phytochemical found in plant cell wall components such as arabinoxylans as covalent side chains. It is related to trans-cinnamic acid. As a component of lignin, ferulic acid is a precursor in the...
, syringic
Syringic acid
Syringic acid is a naturally occurring O-methylated trihydroxybenzoic acid, a type of chemical compound. It can be found in the açaí palm and its oil , in Ardisia elliptica...
and sinapic acids. Dehusking, germination, cooking, and roasting have been shown to produce beneficial effects on nutritional quality of both the legumes. Though both require prolonged cooking, a soak solution has been shown to reduce cooking time and improve protein quality. Moth bean is mostly consumed as dhal or sprouts.
Indian regional specifics
In KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, horse gram, (called മുതിര (Muthira) in Malayalam which almost sounds like കുതിര (kuthira), Malayalam word for horse), is used to feed horses and also used in special kinds of dishes.
In Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, horse gram (called கொள்ளு (Kollu), in the southern districts it is called Kaanam) is normally used to feed horses, though it is also commonly used in Tamil dishes, including kollu porial, kollu avial, kollu sambar, and kollu rasam. In traditional siddha cuisine, horse gram is considered a food with medicinal qualities.
In Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, horse gram (Ulava (singular) Ulavalu (plural), ఉలవలు) is prescribed for persons suffering from jaundice or water retention, and as part of a weight loss diet. It is considered helpful for iron deficiencies, and is considered helpful for maintaining body temperature in the winter season.
In Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, and specifically the coastal Konkan region and Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, horse gram (Kulith) is often used to make Kulith Usal, pithla and laddu
Laddu
Laddu or Laddoo is a ball-shaped sweet popular in South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh as well as countries with immigrants from South Asia. Laddu is made of flour and sugar with other ingredients that vary by recipe...
.
In India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, it is also known as Gahat, Muthira, Kulath or Kulthi, ಹುರಳಿ (huraLi). In Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
-Konkani
Konkani language
KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
, it is called as "Kulith (कुळीथ)".
In Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
cuisine, ಹುರಳಿಸಾರು (huraLi saaru), ಹುರಳಿ (huraLi) is a main ingredient.
Gahat or Kulath is a major ingredient in the Pahadi
Pahari people
The Pahari people, ; also called Pahadi, Parbati, Khāsā, or Chhetri, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group of the Himalaya living in Nepal, India, and Pakistan. In Nepal, the Pahari constituted the single largest ethnic group at about 20,000,000, or three-fifths of the Nepalese population through the 1990s...
of Himalayan North India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
, it is cooked in a round iron saute pan ("kadhai") to prepare Ras, a favorite of most Kumaonis. In Gharwal region, another more elaborate dish is "phanu" which is made in a kadhai with roughly ground gahat (previously soaked overnight) boiled over several hours. Towards the end, some finely chopped greens (like palak or spinach, rai, tender radish leaves, or dhania (coriander leaves) if nothing else is available) are added to complete the dish. Served with boiled rice, jhangora (a millet-like grain, used as a staple by poorer Garhwalis only a decade ago and now a prized health-food) or just roti, phanu is a wholesome and nutritious meal. Phnau is somewhat heavy to digest; it's quite possible to go through the whole day without feeling in the least bit hungry, after having a big phanu meal in the morning. Similar Botanical name of horse gram/Gahat or Kulath/KULTHI IS Dolicas biflores from the Laguminiaceae family.