A Day for Beans

Avarekai or avarekalu is a type of green bean that is native to Karnataka.

I remember, years ago, in my old school Poorna, we did a project called The Bangalore Project. We learned about the history, geography, and architecture and culture of the city.

As an end to the project we cooked avarekai uppit for the whole school and discussed the story of how avarekai gave this city its name. According to folklore, avarekai is supposed to be the kalu, or bean that was served to a hungry Hoysala King passing through this region. His hunger satisfied, he gave this region the name “Benda-Kaalu-ooru”, which translates to boiled bean town. This eventually evolved to Bengaluru.

The Avarekai Mela is an annual festival that celebrates this very bean. It is held along Food Street in VV Puram, for about 10-12 days during avarekai season in January. At the festival farmers come and sell their avarekai, and alongside their karts there are stalls dishing out hot foods made with avarekai.

An avarekai vendor selling raw beans

After the Kadlekai Parishé (peanut festival) of Bangalore, the Avarekai Mela is pretty huge. I missed the kadlekai parishé, which was earlier this year, but I was not going to miss this one! So when I found out some of my seniors from college were going I asked if I could tag along. Finally, six of us first-years, four seniors specializing in culinary arts, and the head of our department, Mr. Sushil, all went to the mela together.

As we entered, it became clear just how much Bangalore loves this bean. 

There were carts with piles of green pods. We picked up a few to have a look. I peeled it and popped the bean into my mouth raw. It was firm and mildly sweet. Then, to the surprise of my friend, I proceeded to tear a bit of the pod of the bean and pop that into my mouth too. This part, although it looked a bit fibrous, was incredibly tender, and had a distinctly sweet flavour.

If you’ve read my post on ingredient tasting at APB, you’ll know – I like tasting ingredients in their basic form. Because I think it’s important to know what something tastes like on its own before combining it with other flavours. It turns out, the avarekai is quite mild in flavour, which makes it quite versatile.

We waded through the crowd, edging a little further into the lane towards the food stalls. The options were many.

Akki roti, ragi roti, alu bonda, dal wada, paddu, raagi mudde saaru, and avarebele dosa were just some of the traditional preparations that the mela showcased.  We tasted most of them. They all came with the standard accompaniment of avarekai saagu, a coconut based gravy. Of all that we ate, I enjoyed the dosa the most! Fluffy rice and udal daal dosas, topped generously with avarekai, dill, onions and coriander.

Avarekai Akki Roti with Avarekai Saagu 

Avarekai Paddu

Avarebele Dosa

As we sampled the dishes we watched the cooks prepare them. The dexterity and agility with which street food vendors work never ceases fascinates me. Like machines, fast and precise, but still there is a certain human element. They cook with intuition and by eye, and no two portions will ever be exactly the same. They worked proudly, and told us that they dole out anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 dosas or rotis per day!

The mela didn’t just feature traditiona avarekai dishes. There were also other popular Indian foods, their recipes altered to include the hero of the event, the avarekai. These included avarekai paani puri, avarekai gulab jamun, and even avarekai jilebi! Strange as they sound, you could hardly taste the bean in the two sweets. They were actually delicious!

These green avarekai jilebis tasted just like regular jilebis - delicious!

After sampling about 8-10 of the dished on offer, we proceeded to the end of Food Street to wash down the food with masala coke. It was a good evening.

(Photographs: Anoushka Modgil)