‘Kadwe Vaal‘ is a local name for Field beans which are easily available in Maharashtra, India. And this recipe is very specific to this part of India. Kadwe vaal are dried beans, so they need to be soaked and then sprouted before using for this recipe. It has buttery texture and slight bitter taste (but don’t worry it tastes amazing 🤗). Usually semi thick gravy is prepared with these beans and served with chapati or rice. It’s one of the essential and favourite item of traditional Maharashtrian thali and thus often make appearance for festival or special occasions.

In this post, I am going to share my recipe using field beans and we call this recipe as ‘Vaalach birad‘. This recipe needs some preparations like soaking for 8-10 hrs and then allow them to sprout for another 8-10 hrs. After sprouting, need to remove its skin and then its ready to cook. So whenever you are planning to make Vaalach birad, do consider these additional preparation steps.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup kadwe vaal/field beans

1 small onion

1 small potato

1/4 cup shredded coconut

2 green chillies (adjust as per taste)

4-5 garlic cloves

1 inch of ginger

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder (optional)

1&1/2 tsp garam masala powder

2 tbsp oil

Salt as per taste

Water for cooking

Fresh coriander for garnish

(This serves 4-5 people)

Method:

Start with soaking the beans in water for 8-10 hrs. Beans will swell in size and then discard the water. Transfer beans to clean muslin or cotton cloth, tie and keep in a warm place. This will allow beans to sprout. Once beans are sprouted, discard the skin or any spoiled beans. Skin can be easily removed but you can soak them in a warm water which makes it easy to remove.

Heat the pan or kadhai on a medium-high flame and add oil into it. Once oil is hot, add mustard and cumin seeds. Seeds will start spluttering then toss finely chopped onions and mix well. Once onions turns translucent, throw sprouted beans into the pan along with diced potato. I like to use skin-on potato but you can de-skin before using in the recipe. Add powdered spices – turmeric, chilli powder & coriander powder along with salt (I have used Kashmiri red chilli just for colour; if you don’t wish then just skip it). Mix everything together, add little water and cover the lid. Let it cook on medium heat.

In the mean time, take a small grinder jar and add coconut, chillies, ginger-garlic into it. Make a fine thick paste using these ingredients and toss it into the pan. Give a gentle stir, add some water and let it cook on a medium heat.

Oil will start separating out from the sides and quantity will be reduced. Check beans and potatoes, they should be cooked by now. Add garam masala on top and give a stir. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Adjust the consistency as desired, I prefer it semi thick but you can add water if required.

Finally, add some freshly chopped coriander over it and ‘Kadwe vaalach birad’ is ready to serve.

As mentioned earlier, field beans has slight bitter taste but it gets perfectly balanced with fresh coconut paste. We used freshly ground ginger-garlic in this paste which not just give amazing taste but aroma as well.

Do give a try this recipe and you won’t be disappointed. Field beans or Kadwe vaal are easily available in Maharashtra, India. Some shops even sell sprouted & de-skinned beans which definitely save lot of time. I got my batch of beans from India during my recent visit. Unfortunately, field beans are not easily available in UK grocery store but you can find these in some Indian stores.

Incase of any question or feedback, do let me know in comments section 🙂