To put it in a layman’s terms Huli is a kannada counterpart of Sambar. And like sambar, you can make huli using a variety of vegetables either used singly or a combination of them. My favourite one and I believe the original recipe is made with Kumbalakayi(Red Pumpkin). We can use either variety of the red pumpkin – One with the orange peel or one with the green peel. Personally I prefer the green peel one.
Huli is generally served in all Karnataka temples and Mutts / Mathas. Our house was very close to Raghavendra swamy mutt and Uttaradi mutt. I used to accompany my mom for all of the celebrations in temples during festival seasons. Elaborate morning pujas would be followed by a sumptuous lunch. There would also be spiritual discourses or cultural programmes in the evening on some of the occasions. During any festivals, it would take 3 to 4 rounds of servings across 3 floors to feed all of the devotees who would visit the temple. The largest crowd would generally be during the 3 day Raghavendra swamy aradhana utsava. On these days lunch would get extended till 4pm in the evening due to the rush in the temple and we would go to the temple after returning from school to taste the divine prasada. In almost all of the meals one inevitable dish will be kumbalakayi huli.
Even today when I get a chance to eat food in temple I anxiously wait for the pumpkin pieces from the huli and feel utterly disappointed if I don’t get one.
Let us now see what ingredients we need and process to make divinely tasty Huli.
Ingredients:
Huli pudi ( Masala Powder). This can be stored in air tight container for few months.
Oil 1/2 Tbsp
Corriander seeds — 2 Tbsp
Chana daal ( Bengal gram)- 2 tsp ( Optional. I add this to get some thick consistency in huli)
1/4th of a medium sized dry Coconut cut into thin pieces
Pepper corns – 7 to 8
Cinnamon stick – 1/2 inch
Bay leaf -1 medium sized
Dry red chillies ( 8 to 10) Adjust per spice levels
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Pinch of Asafoetida
Huli:
Red Pumpkin -> Cut into chunks or small sized pieces with the peel on.
Curry leaves -> 10 to 12
Green chillies – 1 to 2 (Optional in case you prefer low spice levels)
Tomatoes –> 1 medium sized, cut into small pieces.
Tamarind pulp –> 2 tbsp. adjust per taste
Fresh Corriander –> Chopped for garnishing.
Jaggery –> 1.5 tbsp
Toor daal –> 1/2 a cup (to be cooked separately)
Seasoning :
Oil – 2 Tbsp
Mustard – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Salt to taste
Preparation method
Huli Pudi :
Take the oil in a pan and add coriander seeds, chana daal and dry coconut to it. Slowly roast it for a minute or 2.
Add the remaining ingredients except for Cumin and Asafoetida.
Once all the spices start to leave their aromas, turn off the heat and add Cumin and asafoetida.
Once the mixture cools to the room temperature run it into a mixer grinder to a fine powder and transfer the content to an air tight container.
Huli :
1. Wash the Toor daal well and add 2 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric and few drops of oil. 2. Cook this in pressure cooker for 2 to 3 whistles. Do not throw the excess water if any.
3. Wash and cut tomatoes and pumpkin into big chunks. You can leave the peel on and remove only if pumpkin is overripe and skin has become hard.
4. While the daal is getting cooked, in parallel you can take oil in a large pan and once oil is hot add mustard seeds. Newbies to cooking beware mustards crackle and pop out. Add turmeric and asafoetida.
5. Once spluttering comes down, add curry leaves, green chillies, pumpkin pieces and stir well.
6. Let it cook for couple of minutes and add tomato pieces, Salt, 2 Tbsps of Huli pudi, jaggery and tamarind pulp.
7. Add half a glass of water and let the mixture cook till pumpkin pieces are little softer yet firm. You should be able to cut through the pumpkin piece with a spoon.
8. Add the cooked toor daal and enough water to get our huli to sambar’s consistency.
9. Let the huli boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and garnish with
coriander.
10. Huli is ready to be eaten with hot rice and ghee.
Few points
Crispy fried happala ( Appalams/Papads) are a great accompaniment.
Huli goes well with chapatis as well.
You can replace pumpkin with other veggies like Okra, madras cucumber, brinjals as well.
For times when we are in hurry, you can place the pumpkin pieces in pressure cooker along with daal in a separate container. However the taste will be better when the pumpkin pieces are cooked as mentioned above along with all the ingredients.
Oota ayita 