AvrekaLu or val is very new to me. I started using it from last year, but since then, we have been great fans of this. I had many recipes which called for dried avrekaLu . I really didn’t know how they looked like. So I bought the first “val” I saw in the Indian store here.
It looks like the one I got is a special type of val , called as Rangooni val . I really don’t know the difference between this and the normal val/avrekaLu . When soaked, these increase considerably in size. I have been cooking a lot with these beans. This is one such recipe I cooked a while ago. We loved this.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried val(avrekaLu) 1 cup ridgegourd pieces A pinch turmeric 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn chopped ginger 4-5 curry leaves Oil 1/2 tea spn cumin powder 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut (optional) 3-4 green chillies Salt
Method: Soak dried avrekaLu overnight in water. Then pressure cook them. Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add ginger, curry leaves, green chillies. Add ridge gourd, cooked avrekaLu , turmeric and cook till the ridge gourd pieces are done. Now add cumin powder, salt and cook for few more minutes. Garnish with coconut. Serve as a side dish with rice or chapathi .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
Everyone has their own recipe for stuffed capsicum. I have tried atleast 4-5 varieties so far with besan filling , potato filling etc. Each one of them has a unique flavor.
I have mentioned about V’s very enthusiastic grandmom before. This recipe was given to me by her. Though she can’t cook now, she makes sure to learn new recipes whenever someone cooks anything new. She gave me this recipe. I loved the way it turned out.
Ingredients: 2 big capsicums(green bell peppers) 1/2 cup frozen/fresh coconut 3 green chillies 1/2 tea spn sesame seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 2 tbl spns peanuts 3-4 strands coriander strands 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract 1/2 cup onion Oil Salt
Method: Grind together coconut, green chillies, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, peanuts, tamarind, coriander leaves. Do not add too much water. It should be very thick. Mix the ground paste with 1/4 cup onion, salt. Stuff the mixture into capsicum . (I cut them horizontally and stuff, this way, everything cooks evenly). Heat oil and fry remaining onion. Now keep the capsicums, close the lid and cook on low flame till done. While serving, I cut them into smaller pieces.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
