VAL (serves 2-3)

Tangy, sweet and spicy val

This is a tangy, sweet and spicy curry made from a certain kind of flat dried beans called val. Traditionally this is one of the many dishes which is made during a sacred ceremony - a part of a big meal but you can make it separately. It goes perfectly well with rice and chapati.  It comes from Saurashtra (Gujarat) located in western part of India.  This is my mom-in-law's one of  the best dishes !! Now this recipe calls for certain traditional ingredients which can be found easily in an Indian grocery store. One of them is kokum which is a purple colored fruit of a plant called garcinia indica. If you don't find it you can add lemon juice but it should be your last resort. We are specifically using val ranguni, they are white, flat and kidney shaped.

Val ranguni

Ingredients :-

1/2 cup val ranguni

3 dried red chilies

7 dried kokum phool (fruit of garcinia indica)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp ajwain or carom seeds

2-3 tbsp jaggery (preferred) or sugar

pinch of hing or asafoetida

1/4 tsp turmeric pwd

1 1/2 tsp red chili pwd / to taste

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

coriander, chopped for garnish (optional)

water

Process :-

1.  Soak  val in a big bowl of water overnight, they will almost double in size by morning.

2.  Pressure cook the val with up to 4-5 whistles till soft but whole. These can be tricky to cook sometimes depending on their quality. If they aren't soft after 4-5 whistles, again cook with 2-3 whistles - make sure they shouldn't fall apart but still are soft.

3.  Meanwhile soak kokum in 1/4 cup of lukewarm water and set aside. It will turn into purple liquid.

4.  Heat oil on medium high in a pan. Add mustard seeds, once they have spluttered and messed up your kitchen top :) add carom seeds, asafoetida followed by turmeric pwd. and broken red chilies.

Red chilies add color

5.  Add red chili pwd and quickly add a big spoon of cooked val so as not to burn the chili pwd. Add remaining val, kokum phool along with the purple liquid. Finish it with salt, broken jaggery and little water if required, we want semi thick consistency. Mix it properly, taste it and add jaggery if reqd. - it should be tangy, sweet and spicy !  Garnish with coriander and serve hot !!