Today i have for you all “ Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru ( Huli ) ” – one of the famous gravy from Karnataka Cuisine . Fresh aromatic spices ,fresh beans makes this gravy taste awesome….
Remember my last post about my visit to Avarekalu mela @ Food street,Bangalore ? There many cooks dish out an array of dishes in which avarekalu is the hero. This festival is also a market for many farmers to sell their produce of avarekalu directly to us.. Being a kannadiga these dishes were not new to me but still i wanted to taste it there. Few were good and few OK but the absolute let down dish among all was Hitikbele saaru . They had served this gravy with set dosa and it nowhere was close to the authentic taste. The very moment , i decided i have to post its recipe soon in my space before Avarekayi season ends.
For people who are wondering what is Avarekalu , let me tell its ” Hyacinth beans / field beans / flatbeans / lima beans “in English, in tamil ” Mochai ” , In Gujarati ” Surti Papdi Lilva ” , in MarathiVaal ” . So avarekalu saaru means a gravy / curry made of Field beans .Hitikida avarekalu /Chilkavare means ‘squeezed Field beans’. Beans are soaked in water for few hours and then de-skinned one by one by hand. Though its very time consuming , people here enjoy doing it . That’s because the end result is all worth the effort .They are creamy and give the curry a very unique taste. Do try them once n i’m damn sure.. you would love it. In Karnataka,hitikbele saru and Ragi Mudde (Balls) is a famous and delicious combo. However , i like it with dosa,chapathi and rice too.
Check Out the Video recipe here :
HITIKIDA AVAREKALU SAARU
Ingredients
- 2 cup Field Beans/Avarekalu
- 1 Big onion, Finely chopped
- 1 no tomato, Finely chopped
- 1-2 Green Chillies, slit
- small amla size Tamarind, soaked
- 2 - 3 tbsps coconut
- a pinch Turmeric
- few Coriander leaves, Finely chopped
- few Curry Leaves
- 1 - 2 tsps Ghee / oil, for roasting masala
- Salt, as per taste
To Roast:
- 1 medium size onion, ; diced
- 3 - 6 cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1.5 tsp Coriander /Dhania seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Jeera
- 3-6 no Cloves/ Lavang,
- 1-2 no Cinnamon/ dalchini
- 2 no Dried kapok buds / Shalmali / marathi moggu, (optional )
- 1 tsp Poppy seeds / khus khus
- 4 - 6 Red Chilli, depending on your spice level
To temper :
- 1 tsp Oil/ Ghee
- 1/4 + 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Instructions
- For this gravy , you have to deskin the field beans. Deskinned beans is more tasty and gets cooked in minutes.However if you are feeling lazy to de skin , you can use it as such .
Deskining the hyacinth beans ( Hitikavare / Chilkavare )
- Separate the seeds from the fresh hyacinth beans.
- Soak peeled beans in water for 3-5 hours.
- Discard water from the beans and hold each bean between two fingers and press gently . The outer skin will slip off leaving behind only the inner seed. Continue the process for all the seeds.These deskinned field beans are known as " Hitikida Avarekalu / Chilkavre "
Time to make curry
- Heat oil/ ghee in a small cooker/ pan .Temper with 1/4 tsp mustard seeds .When they splutter add curry leaves and haldi.Add finely chopped onion .Fry till translucent.Add chopped tomatoes and saute a bit.
- Later add hitikida avarekalu. Saute for 1-2 mins. Add little water and salt and cook in pressure cooker / microwave or direct cook . I cook in cooker for just 1 whistle as these beans gets coooked really fast.Ensure that they are cooked just right - neither crunchy nor too mushy.
- Meanwhile prepare the masala to grind for the gravy. Take a small kadai , add a few drops of oil and fry diced onions,ginger and garlic . Let the raw smell go .Keep aside.
- In the same kadai , add few more drops of oil .Add dhania,jeera ,cloves,cinnamon ,kapok buds and red chilli.Fry till they are crispy and done. Add poppy seeds and switch off. Toss the masala so that poppy seeds becomes crisp.
- Transfer all the roasted masala, onion+ginger+garlic,coconut ,tamarind and 1-2 tbsp of cooked avarekalu. Addition of cooked avarekalu to the masala gives nice flavor and texture to the gravy . Add some water and grind to a smooth paste.
- Add the ground masala to the cooked avarekalu , add water to get desired consistency.Mix well and bring to boil .Allow it to boil for some time. If you are serving with rice make it a bit watery else make it medium consistency.
- Finally garnish with coriander leaves and a tempering of mustard seeds.
- Hitikida Avarekalu Saru is ready to relish . Serve it hot with Ragi Mudde (Balls)/ Dosa / Idli / chapathi / Rice etc.
Notes
- Don't forget to add 1-2 tbsp of cooked avarekalu while grinding masala. That will give the gravy nice texture and flavor .
- If you don't like garlic yo can omit it but authenitic way of making it calls for addition of garlic.
- Don't overcook the beans . That will make it mushy .
- For people who don't get field beans, you can still do this gravy with some other beans .
12 Comments
marudhus kitchen
January 23, 2015 at 2:07 amWe do a similar type of curry at our place..great post dear
Ree Kasirajh
January 23, 2015 at 5:22 amI have them too in the kitchen…nice post!!
Amrita Roy
January 23, 2015 at 7:07 amThanks for sharing the traditional recipe
Vibha Sp
January 23, 2015 at 7:34 amlovely pic n tempting dish smitha , u became mom to all 😉 havng al verity of recipes .
Anu Nagaraja
January 23, 2015 at 8:19 pmthis is one of my super all time favorite dish !! I can have it any day, everyday! we do it in a similar way too. lovely 🙂
mrkk08
January 23, 2015 at 8:32 pmI have never tasted it Smiths.. Looks divine.. Bookmarked will try soon
padma veeranki
January 25, 2015 at 10:17 pmVery delicious and tempting dear:)Hope to see you at my space some time soon…www.masalakorb.com
Anonymous
December 8, 2015 at 11:16 amLooks yummy.. Thanks for sharing the authentic way of making the Avrekaalu Saaru.. Eagerly waiting for the avrekaal season 🙂
Poornima
January 31, 2016 at 3:44 amwhen is the coconut to be added?
Smitha Kalluraya
February 2, 2016 at 5:59 amWhile grinding…
Anitha Hebbar
December 24, 2017 at 11:14 amGreat recipe…thanks for sharing…loved it. Looks like you have forgotten to include kapok buds in the ingredient list ????
Vinutha Bhat
June 5, 2018 at 8:51 amWill try this today ????????