Chaaru done, pulusu next–while it’s still the season for hyacinth beans and they’re being added to literally everything: dosas, uppitu/uppma, rices, snacks, maybe even tea and coffee, as Prabha quipped over on Instagram. Clearly these seasonal gushings can be borderline overkill, too. But it does explain why anyone takes the trouble to remove skins at all: when there’s so much, any variation is welcome, even the ones taking the most laborious routes.
The two categories (chaarus, pulusus) are related, of course. Rasams and chaarus must have sourness, and the pulusu is by definition a sour gravy. Another reason why, but for the de-skinning of the hyacinth bean seeds themselves and the use of curd for souring over tamarind, the Pithikipappu Chaaru is a bare shade apart from a pulusu.
This is another dish that will feel familiar; it uses after all the usual “gravy” suspects: tomatoes, onions, ginger-garlic, coconut (very commonly used in such preparations all over the south). It’s red rather than green-white though–the color comes from red chilli powder and tomatoes–and that makes a lot more difference than you realize, not just to taste effects but also to nomenclature. Sambars without tamarind are “vella saambar” or white sambar in Tamil, for instance, to be distinguished from the regular, tamarind-based versions; they’re lighter, subtler, also I think finer but they don’t feed a fire in the belly the way that tamarind-based preparations do. So, sourness-from-tamarind, redness-from-tomato, and a different taste of the same spices are what make this unique.
Plus not having to sit for an hour going pithik! pithik! means that this is a far faster fix than the chaaru counterpart.
Needless to say, this red pulusu recipe can be made with pithikipappulu just as easily as the chaaru can be made with anapaginjalu. Swap out the names (chaaru for pulusu) while you’re swapping out the seeds, and you’re all set.
Anapaginjala Pulusu or Hyacinth bean gravy
Ingredients
- 2 cups of anapaginjalu or hyacinth bean seeds
To grind:
- 10 sambar onions/kutti vengayam or the equivalent in shallots, chopped
- 2-3 ripe tomatoes
- 15 Garlic cloves
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- ½ cup fresh grated coconut
- Some tamarind, added whole or soaked to soften and then added whole–how much depends on how much sourness you want in this dish.
To temper and fry:
- 3 tablespoons oil
- ½ teaspoon jeera or cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh curry leaves
- 5 sambar onions/kutti vengayam or the equivalent in shallots, sliced
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- Chopped fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Instructions
- Set the anapaginjalu in a pot of hot water and simmer until they are tender. You can use a pressure cooker if you wish, but these are fresh and will not take more than a single whistle to cook
- Once these are done, set aside in the cooking water which can be used to thin the pulusu at a later stage.
Prepare the masala paste
- Grind together all the ingredients under “to grind.” Set aside.
Prepare the pulusu
- In a kadhai or other wide sauteing pan, heat the cooking oil until almost smoking
- Drop in the jeera and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start popping, add the curry leaves.
- Follow quickly with the sliced onions/shallots and fry until they are softened.
- Add the dhania, red chilli and turmeric powders.
- Now add the coconut/masala paste. Use a little water to wash out the blender/mixie jar and add that, too; it will keep the paste from sticking and burning too easily.
- Reduce the heat and continue to cook slowly for several minutes.
- Follow with the cooked anapaginjalu. Add a cup or two of water and/or the cooking water and allow this to simmer on low heat for 5-7 minutes (if the anapaginjalu are not yet cooked, then leave this for longer, about 15-20 minutes).
- Add salt, to taste.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve over a soft, piping hot rice. Arcot kichli samba, jeeraga samba, parboiled iluppaippoo samba, all short-grained, all work very well!
[…] have a tomato-based gravy recipe with the whole hyacinth beans up soon–the one you see peeking from a corner in some of these photographs. It’s easier […]
[…] grow and fruit all year round, unlike other beans or “avarai” [typically but not exclusively Hyacinth beans/avarakkai]–which is why it’s called nitya valli in some parts and nitya vazhuthana in others: nitya, […]