There was a time when I filled my pantry with all kinds of beans/lentils. Recently, I decided not to buy anymore till I finish all beans from the pantry. So this time, it was time for using up val/avrekalu. I have tried many dishes with these beans so far. This time I wanted something new. I had a vague memory of reading this val-eggplant combo on one of the blogs. When I searched, I landed at Linda’s post. I did very few modifications to this recipe. It came out really well.
Ingredients:
1 cup dried val(avrekalu/hycianth beans)
1 cup chopped eggplant
1 cup tomato
2 tea spn chopped garlic
1/2 tea spn chopped ginger
1 tea spn goda masala or garam masala
1/2 tea spn red chilli powder
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves
5 curry leaves
Oil
Salt
Method:
Soak val overnight. Add 1 tea spn garlic and cook till done.
Heat oil and add remaining garlic, ginger, onion and curry leaves. Fry for few minutes.
Add tomato, salt and cook till tomatoes are tender.
Now add cooked val, eggplant, little water(about 1/4 cup only if necessary), chilli powder, goda masala and let it cook.
Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or chapati.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins
Hi Shilpa,
Just this morning I saw this packet of frozen val in the refrigerator.
can i use it?
how long should I soak it before cooking?
Though i seldom write to u, I owe to you a lot of my first attempts in cooking escpecially simple cake, gobi manchuri,sannapolo 🙂
thanks,
Swathy.
Hi Shilpa,
Just this morning I saw this packet of frozen val in the refrigerator.
can i use it?
how long should I soak it before cooking?
Though i seldom write to u, I owe to you a lot of my first attempts in cooking escpecially simple cake, gobi manchuri,sannapolo
thanks,
Swathy
You need not soak frozen val. Only dried val is soaked overnight. I have used dried val for this.
nice…very traditional..very yumm looking!!
Looks nice..i loveee eggplants..iam sure it tastes gr8 🙂
Eggplant and val is such a terrific combination! The picture is very tempting 🙂
Nice combo, never thought about it. 🙂
The combination is great …. will try it soon…. did u cook the soaked val in pressure cooker or in a pot….
Pressure cooker.
Nice dish Shilpa. Best is its quick and easy to make. I need to make some Goda masala and keep them handy. Averakalu is my mom’s favorite bean.
Cheerz
Ashwini.
The val look so plump and scrumptious. Nice pic, Shilpa.
Hi Shilpa..
Val is fav at my mom’s place. Dad & mom will surely love this dish. At our hometown, val is combined with Bamboos.Rich flavor..and great taste.Eggplant combo is sure a try.Pics are tempting. Thanks as always.
Keep it up.Leona
Nice dish shilpa. will try this combo.
Wow…that sounds yum combo….
I love the goda masala-garlic combo too! I bet this is wonderful…have you found more of the Thai, green/white-striped eggplant this year?
BTW: I am doing the same thing with my legume-collection (way too much!)- except I still need to keep buying chana and urad dhals for tadke, etc. (they don’t count, right?) 🙂
No, they don’t count. They are day- today lentils 😉
Hey Shipa
Lovely site…… I keep visiting it but this is the first question.
Do I have to skin the val?
I don’t skin the dal. If you are used to skinned dal, you can do it.
this is really great, i tried it , thanks so much
do you know any recipes for water chestnut
as i love chestnut
thanks
Hi Shilpa,
Wishing you a BELATED very Happy Dassera!!
Hope you had a really good day!
Anu
Dear,
http://www.kitchentantra.com/2009/09/plagiarism-updated.html
Malar
Looks nice…
I had bookmarked your site and forgotten about it for a while. Lovely recipes and I made the tomato saaru from your site for a start. It was really delicious.
Hi shilpa,
Nice dish.It’s been few weeks since i started to visit your blog….I enjoy it.I’m also in the same boat as you. Love to buy all different types of lentils & beans….have 2-3 right now in the pantry which really need to be used….i’ll try something like this.
Shilpa:
Thank you again for this simple recipe – living a bachelor’s life, I like to keep my meals simple and this is high in protein. Yaay!
And, me liking your new layout and colors! are you done, or still tweaking?
Not yet :), but I kind of like this layout and colors so far. We still have lots to do, no time 🙁
Nice! Avrekaalu is my favourite. I get frozen val from desi store.- which doesn’t get as plump as in this pic after getting cooked. Got to try this. Does the dried val taste the same as fresh val ? If yes, I will be the happiest 🙂
Hi Shilpa, There’s a split lentil called val dal which is pale yellow in colour and slightly big and flat compared to toor dal or channa dal. I wanted to try it out. So I cooked this once like we cook the other dals (without prior soaking). It turned out a bit bitter although it had a nice aroma, added some tomato to it, to reduce the bitterness. I believe its a Maharashtrian favourite. Would you be able to tell me how to make this val dal? Should the water used for cooking the dal be discarded before adding spices and tomato?
I have not used val dal anytime. But in general, val has a slightly bitter taste. Will post here if I try it.
hey what is this eggplant i really wanna try this receipe man.plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz help me n show the pic of eggplant. plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Eggplant is also called brinjal in India
Hey Shilpa, I tried this last nite with broad beans instead of val…absolutely loved it! It was a gud combination with jeer mirya taka kadi frm ur blog.