Avarekalu Chitranna is a variety of rice dish prepared with cooked Avrekalu/Hyacinth beans and rice tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Table of Contents
Avrekalu Chitranna
Avarekalu Chitranna is a rice-based dish from the state of Karnataka. During winters in this region, people harvest avrekalu and use it abundantly in all dishes.
The green chillies, curry leaves and onions add a lovely flavour to the chitranna, while the beans provide the satiety when consumed along with a raita.
Avarekalu Chitranna makes for an excellent tiffin box/ lunch box dish for both kids and adults. I make this dish at least 3-4 times when they are in season.
Avarekalu is the Kannada word for these beans. Avarekalu goes by several names -Hyacinth beans in English, Mochai in Tamil, Lablab or Papri in Hindi, Surti /valor Papdi in Gujarathi, Avarakkai in Malayalam, Shim in Bengali and Avade in Konkani.
Although Avarekalu is common in India, it has its origins in Africa. Avarekalu, which has its origins in Africa, may have exchanged through trade several centuries ago, but people in India consider it as much Indian as the humble potato.
Ingredients for Averkalu Chitranna
The first ingredient you need to prepare is the Avrekalu or Hyacinth beans. If you have them with the shell, take your time and remove the beans from the pods. But I would suggest you buy the shelled beans from Hopcoms shop or online stores like Deep Rooted.
The next ingredient is rice. I use the normal sona masoori rice but you can use basamati too. The flavour will be much better, I bet.
The other ingredients are – Onions, curry leaves, green chillies and grated coconut.
For the seasoning – Oil, mustard seeds and chana dal are required.
Optional ingredient – Dill leaves. I use a lot of dill leaves in my daily cooking since I absolutely enjoy the flavour. So I always have some plucked and cleaned dill leaves in my fridge. Dill leaves and avrekalu are a lovely combination, so I will recommend that you add them.
How to make Avrekalu Chitranna
The Prep Work for Avrekalu Chitranna
The first step is to make sure you have the avrekalu shelled from the pods. This activity will, of course, add to the time spent on this preparing this recipe. But if you are like me, I would totally skip that part and buy the shelled avarekalu available at Hopcoms or the online stores.
The next step is to get the rice ready. For a family of 3, I use about 200gm rice for one meal time. Wash and rinse the rice until the water is clear. Transfer the cleaned rice to a vessel and fill water until there is one inch of water. The best way to measure is, for every measure of rice, you will need two measures of water.
Add the water and place it in a large pressure cooker. You can also directly cook it in a small pressure cooker too. I usually place a bowl above the lid of the rice vessel with the avrekalu so that I can cook both rice and beans in the same cooker.
Pressure cook for 3 whistles and turn off the flame. Let the cooker’s pressure come down naturally.
While the rice and beans are cooking, you may get the other ingredients ready. Peel and chop the onions, get the coriander and curry leaves out of the fridge. If you are using dill leaves, you can pluck and wash them too. I love the combination of avarekalu and dill leaves, so I end up adding them in any avrekalu recipe.
Once the rice and beans are ready, take the rice out and spread it on a large plate for it to cool down. You will need rice that doesn’t stick to each other, so the best way to achieve that texture is to spread it out on a plate under the fan.
Cooking the Avrekalu Chitranna
Place a deep kadai on medium flame and add cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Next, add the chana dal and saute for 10-20 seconds.
Next, add the curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for 20-30 seconds. Add the chopped onions to the kadai and the dill leaves if you are using. Saute the onions until they are soft. If you are going to add grated coconut, add it now if you are planning to pack it for a lunch box.
(If you are going to eat the avrekalu chitranna for lunch immediately, you can add the grated coconut as a garnish along with the lemon juice)
Sprinkle in some turmeric powder and salt and mix all the ingredients well. Turn off the flame and take it off the stove.
Add the cooked and cooled rice to the kadai. Season with half a teaspoon more salt, lemon juice and coriander leaves. Mix all the ingredients well and thoroughly. Take your time and do this.
Your Avarekalu Chitrannna is ready! Serve it up with some raita or curd on the side.
Storage and Shelf life
Avrekalu Chitranna is best eaten the same day that it cooked, especially if you have added coconut to it. It can stay on the counter for 2-3 hours, but after that you can put it in the fridge.
It is possible to store it in the fridge for up to 2 days. But after that, you may reheat it once.
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Recipe
Avrekalu Chitranna
Ingredients
- 1 cup Avrekalu / Hyacinth beans 200 g
- 150 g Uncooked Rice
- 2 tbsp Cooking Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Chana Dal
- 2 Green Chillies slit vertically
- 2 sprigs Curry Leaves
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Coconut freshly grated
- ½ Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Salt adjust accordingly
Instructions
Prep Work
- The first step is to cook the Avrekalu. If you have purchased avrekalu that is already shelled, that's great! Your work is half done. Else, please shell the avrekalu and collect one cup or close to 200 g of it.
- Once the avrekalu is ready, give it a wash once and put it to the small pressure cooker with an inch of water and a teaspoon of salt. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and allow the pressure to come down naturally.
- You can then get the rice ready. Wash the rice until the water is clear. Pressure cook the rice with 1:2 ratio. That is, for every measure of rice, you can add two measures of water. Less water while cooking the rice in a pressure cooker will yield cooked rice that isn't lumpy.Once the rice is ready, spread the cooked rice on a plate to allow it to cool down.
Preparing the Avrekalu Chitranna
- In a large kadai, add two tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mustards seeds and allow it to sputter.
- Next, add the chana dal and toast it in the oil for 10-20 seconds. Follow it up with the curry leaves and green chillies.
- Cook them for another 10-20 seconds and then now you can add the onions.
- Saute the onions until soft – you can add turmeric powder at this stage and mix all the ingredients well. If you are using dill leaves, add them at this stage and cook it along with the onions.
- Now add the cooked Averkalu without the water and mix them well. Sprinkle some salt and mix well. Turn off the flame.
- Add the cooked rice to this averkalu mixture, season with salt and lemon juice. Take your time to mix all the ingredients well. The key to any good chitranna is in proper mixing of all the ingredients.
- Your Avarekalu Chitranna is ready! Serve it hot with onion raita and salad.
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