Valasangi or Alsande or yard long beans are one of the very popular beans used by Konkanis. I have very fond memories of my grand father growing these in our garden. We liked to eat them raw when they were still very tender. Those that my brother and I left, would be made into a simple upkari. I even remember we would put some fully grown beans in fire and then ate the charred seeds. But this Valasangi sukke is completely new to me.
When we moved to US few years ago, we frequently saw these beans in Indian stores here. I hesitated to buy them because they came in a huge bunch (like most of the stuff in Indian stores!!). There were times I got these and could use only half and other half went bad before I could get to them. I have become wiser in recent years, I chop them and put in freezer these days. Recently, I asked on AR Facebook page for recipes that I could try with these. Like always, you all had so many great suggestions. Did I say, this is the part I love the most above blogging? I have become much better cook after I started this blog. Everyday I learn something new from you all. Thank you so much once again. I have been trying different suggestions from these. One such recipe was to make a sukke from these beans. I had to try it because sukke (literally means ‘dry’) is one of my all time favorite dishes – like navalkola(kohlrabi) sukke or keerla(bamboo shoots) sukke or karathe(bittergourd) sukke etc. There are many slight variations to sukke ingredients, but I followed the one which aayi uses in most of her sukkes.
We absolutely loved it. I am sure this will be a regular here.
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped long beans (Valasangi/Alsande)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
2-3 red chillies
1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
1 tea spn coriander seeds
1/2 tea spn urad dal
1 tea spn jaggery
Oil
Salt
Method:
Cook the beans in a little water. I cook them in pressure cooker. Keep aside.
Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds, urad dal, red chillies. Grind with coconut.
Heat little oil and fry onion. Add beans, ground paste, tamarind, jaggery and salt. Cook for few minutes till the mixture is thick. Serve hot as a sidedish with rice.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 20 mins
Quick version is use sambhar powder and grated coconut instead.
I just came from farmers market and saw these beans there sold individually by the strand by the lb. But they were not green but dark red! I didn’t buy them because I never saw the, dark red kind and many looked thin and shriveled and very limp and some seemed to have hard seeds in them. I don’t think the farmer harvested them right.
Can you explain how to select a good quality one, either red or green?
What to do with the red kind?
http://www.seedsofindia.com/item/Yard-Long-Bean-Red-Noodle-125
Sorry I never used red ones. I normally look for beans with smooth skin and not too big seeds
The red beans are also similar to the green ones.Well matured long beans will have hard seeds. You can’t cook the beans but you can cook the seeds. You also get red and green shaded long beans. Different variety of this beans are available in the market in different seasons like thin short, very long beans, long and soft variety and short and stiff variety. The seeds from the short hardbeans are known as ‘Kaaramani’ in tamil or commonly known as ‘cowpea’.
I found the green ones at farmers market, but when we boiled them, I took a taste out of the pot, they tasted very bitter! Why did this happen?
Shilpa, this could not have come at a better time! I have so many beans to pick and some are long beans — this looks like a great dish for them.
Best wishes 🙂
Thanks Jayanthi, is it true the red ones turn green after cooking? Maybe I did not select right which is why it turned bitter, or it was overcooked and that causes bitterness or something wrong with the plant itself?
Jayanthi, is this yard long bean plant the Kaaramani plant?!
I know kaaramani comes brown, red, or light tan with dark eye beans.
If you have a blog Jayanthi please post your link here. I think you’re in a part of Tamil Nadu with better produce selection because I asked another Tamil and she never saw the red variety, and I never knew it comes in different lengths and either soft or hard. I’m curious which town or district you are getting your beans from?
Oh dear….not good…VERY HUNGRY now!