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I love hyacinth beans (or avarakkai, in Tamil). The fresh green ones, I mean. I could probably eat a ton of them if only I could lay my hands on them. Unfortunately they're only available at South Indian (or Sri Lankan) greengrocers down South, and even then not all of the time - I think. I don't really know what the season is for these tasty beans, or I could at least try and make the trip to coincide with their availability!
I've had a small pack of vall beans (the dried ones) for YEARS, I think. I bought them I don't know when on a whim, without knowing what they were, and then proceeded to ignore them completely. I didn't ignore them on purpose - I'd merely forgotten about their existence. Then I rediscovered them at the bottom of the box in which I store my unopened supplies, and brought them back to the surface to try out.
But it was when I found out that val beans are the dried seeds (? right word?) of avarakkai that I was galvanised into cooking with them. (When I say galvanised, I mean my version of it. Other people when galvanised might immediately do whatever they've been galvanised to do, but I tend to take my time. Continental drift has nothing on it.) I decided to make dal with the beans and the last of a bag of fresh spinach.
Since I didn't how long the dal would take to cook on the hob, I pressure-cooked it. When I opened the container, I got quite excited as there was a distinct aroma of avarakkai... which in retrospect need not have come as quite such a surprise because they were after all avarakkai beans! The finished dish had an underlying flavour of the hyacinth beans, which I liked very much. I couldn't help wondering, though, if whole vall dal would have a stronger flavour... so I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for those babies!
Recipe for: Dal with vall beans
Ingredients:
1 cup vall dal
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped finely
2-3 green chillies, minced (to taste)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
2 cups spinach
1 tsp garam masala (I used Kitchen King)
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
Method:
1. Pressure cook the vall dal for three whistles till done. Reserve.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions, ginger, green chillies and garlic. Saute for 3-4 minutes, then add the tomatoes. Fry till the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
3. Add the spinach now, cover with a lid and let it wilt on med-low heat.
4. Add the garam masala, cumin-coriander powder and mix it in.
5. Finally, pour in the cooked vall dal and stir to distribute the masala evenly. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve hot with rotis or rice.
http://sweetnicks.blogspot.com/2006/02/arf5-day-tuesday-7-valentines-edition.html
It's that time again already - welcome back, Sweetnicks! Glad you had a wonderful holiday!
My entry this week is avarakkai - a kind of flat broad green bean that tastes a bit like runner beans but is way better than that! I would give the English name for this vegetable, but I dont know what it's called. So it's going to stay Tamil and be known as avarakkai.
Avarakkai really are my favourite kind of fresh beans. Nowadays French beans (or snap beans) have had the stringy bit bred right out of them, but avarakkai need the string removing before slicing.
You can cook it with sliced onions or add fresh grated coconut to it once it's done, and both versions are nice in their own way. But I like it best the way my mother makes it for me - which is simply sliced, seasoned and pan fried. It's best not overcooked (even though I like it shrivelled) and if, like me, you like the natural, sort of juicy taste of fresh green beans, this is the only way to have them!
I got my avarakkai from a vegetable shop in Southampton last weekend - it was a revelation to see just how much variety there was in groceries "down south", as they call it... all sorts of vegetables and fruit from all over the world, some that I knew and some that I didnt.To think I thought Birmingham was good for fresh "Indian" vegetables...!
I would have loved to experiment with some of the unknown (to me) vegetables, but I didnt buy any because I knew I wouldnt have enough time to do them justice... there wouldnt have been much point buying stuff that would have just gone waste. But how I wish that variety was available closer home!
Oh well. That's what I get for living up North.
Recipe for: Avarakkai curry
Ingredients:
1/4 kg avarakkai (3 cupfuls when sliced)
For seasoning:
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp garlic-sesame molagapodi (optional)
2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder if you have it
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a pan and do the seasoning, covering the pan till the mustard seeds have popped.
2. Toss in the sliced avarakkai and stir well to coat.
3. Turn the heat down low and cover the pan, letting the beans steam-cook for 8-10 minutes.
4. Uncover the pan and add salt to taste. Mix and turn the heat up for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans start to become a bit brownish.
5. Serve hot as a side dish with steamed rice and sambar or other South-Indian gravy preparation.
