A wonderful, rich-in-flavor bean curry recipe.
By Preethi Vemu
Its not every day that you come across beauties like these beans, especially when Hyderabad is not a native for these beans. I am told that they are a staple at Tumkur, which is where half of my family is from. Nevertheless, they are very healthy and add to the daily protein percentage. 
Don’t fret if you do not find these beans at your local vegetable vendor. Consider this Usli recipe a basic recipe, and substitute these beans for any other veggies, should you not find these at your vegetable vendor. My other veggie choices for this recipe are cauliflower florets paired with some peas and French beans paired with carrots. You can microwave them to cook them slightly instead of pressure cooking them so that they don’t turn into a mash.
Also, consider this method of making the masala. Coconuts added with poppy, green chilli and coriander makes a very flavorful, fragrant and a full bodied masala, very different to the regular onions and tomato one. I am going to experiment more with this masala very soon, and see if I can replicate this recipe with other hard bean seeds like Chickpeas or kidney beans.
Hyacinth Beans Curry
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
A wonderful, rich-in-flavor bean curry recipe.
Ingredients
- Avarekalu/Any veggies – 1.5-2 C
- Onion, finely diced – 1 medium
- Tomatoes , finely chopped – 2, medium
- Ginger – 1 inch piece
- Garlic cloves – 4-6
- Garam Masala – 1 Tbsp
- Coconut (dried or tender) – 1/4 C
- Green chillies – 2-3
- Poppy seeds (Khus khus) – 1 Tbsp, soaked for atleast 30 min
- Coriander leaves – a handful
- Jeera powder – 1 Tbsp
- Yogurt – 1/4 C [Optional]
- Cooking oil – 2 Tbsp
Instructions
- Grind the coconut, poppy seeds, green chillies and coriander leaves together in a mixer-grinder.
- Boil the veggies in a pressure cooker or microwave and keep aside.
- Grind the ginger and the garlic cloves together to get a ginger-garlic paste.
- Sauté the onions in the oil. Once they turn brown, add the ginger-garlic paste to this and sauté all of these for 5 min on medium flame.
- Add garam masala and the chopped tomato pieces and stir them together for 5-10 min on medium flame.
- Now add the coconut paste and jeera powder to this and mix all of this well. Continue stirring on a medium flame for 5 more min.
- Add the boiled veggies to this paste and mix thoroughly. Bring all of this to a boil and let it stay on the stove on medium flame for 5 more min.
- Taste the gravy in this curry and add the yogurt if required. (The gravy is supposed to be slightly tart in taste)
- Serve hot with Rotis (Indian bread) or Biryani/Pulav or white or Jeera rice.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
I understand that dried hyacinth beans are poisonous, but not if cooked twice.
This was fantastic! I made it almost exactly as you indicate after buying hyacinth beans and not knowing what to do with them! I used onions, carrots and some sweet potato for the vegetables. Also grated a little fresh turmeric in with the ginger/garlic and added half the coconut’s water into the sauce. I was quite surprised by the fresh and tart flavor that resulted! I’m not sure what this tartness was due to–perhaps the coconut/cilantro/poppy mixture? Thank you for sharing!
Hugh, In the recipe above, the local name of the beans, Avarekalu is used.
No mention of the hyacinth beans in the ingredients or method though…