Pulse With Potential

As health connoisseurs turn to horse gram, CHANDRA PRAKASH KALA hopes that the lesser known crop can help transform Uttarakhand's farm sector, in a big way

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IT WAS like a double bonanza. Last month, a childhood friend from my village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district came to see me in Bhopal—my current place of residence. And true to the Garhwali custom, he brought me some gahath or horse gram—a pulse that I relished in my younger days.

Known as Macrotyloma uniflorum in scientific lexion, kulath or kulthi in Himachal Pradesh, kollu in Tamil Nadu, ulavalu in Andhra Pradesh and haruli in Karnataka, the pulse comes packed with nutritional values. But over the time, these flat seeds, bearing light red, brown and grey tints, have fallen out of favour with most people, especially urbanites. This is probably because the pulse has traditionally been utilised to feed horses, and hence the name, or probably because it has not been marketed well. However, it has not lost its charm for the Garhwalis, who still prepare different delicacies using gahath.

Going by the ayurvedic principle, a food item has either heating or cooling effect on our body. But gahath can have both the effects depending on how one prepares it. For instance, during winters most Garhwalis prepare a delicious dal recipe using gahath. This dish, called gathoni, is usually consumed with rice or chapattis. People believe the dish keeps the body warm even when the temperatures dip to subzero in the higher altitudes. Parathas stuffed with cooked-and crushed gahath are also a hit in Garhwal. However, if the pulse is cooked after soaking it overnight, it has a cooling effect on the body and can be consumed at any time of the year.