Instant Pot Avarekalu Huli Saaru or Hyacinth Beans Curry is a delicious and lip-smacking bean-based curry, a perfect rice accompaniment from the state of Karnataka.
It’s the Avarekalu Huli Saaru, a winter special, mild coconut-based gravy prepared with field beans/hyacinth beans. Here is my no onion – no garlic version of the Averakalu huli saaru that I made in Instant Pot. (I promise, the recipe that I am going to post tomorrow is not a no onion no garlic recipe.)
Like every other recipe, there are lots of variations to this recipe as well, and also you can change the consistency as per your preference. The consistency of the gravy could be thick as sambar/Kuzhambu or thin as rasam/saaru. Also, you can use sambar podi or rasam podi for the spice. For this recipe, I went with a thin consistency, and also I used rasam powder.
Traditional Kannada Recipes
One of my favorite YouTube channels is swayampaaka, and I love their traditional Kannada recipes. The base recipe is from here, but of course with my variations. :-)
This gravy is traditionally prepared with fresh hyacinth beans, but as I couldn’t source the fresh ones, I went with the frozen packet. But I can guarantee that taste-wise there is not much of a compromise. When you have frozen one, you can prepare them pretty much at any time of the year.
I would recommend buying the fresh beans in bulk and freezing them for later use. This Avarekalu huli saaru is a perfect party and potluck recipe too. I prepared this for a weekend lunch, and our friends P and JV who came on a surprise visit enjoyed this huli saaru.
When I prepare this saaru, I don’t even bother to make a side dish. The Avarekalu huli saaru with plain rice makes its meal, and if you have papad or any other dry curry, then I would call this as a feast. So without any further ado, here comes the recipe. But before that, the recap.
Recap:
- Day 4 | 2015 – Quinoa Rajma Burrito
- Day 4 | 2016 – Pani Puri
- Today – Instant Pot Avarekalu Huli Saaru | Hyacinth beans curry
Instant Pot Avarekalu Huli Saaru | Hyacinth Beans Curry Recipe
The no onion no garlic and the instant pot version of a Karnataka special, mild coconut-based gravy prepared with field beans/hyacinth beans.
Ingredients:
- Hyacinth Beans / Field Beans / Avarekalu – 1 frozen packet / 340 gms
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp + ½ Tsp
- Grated Coconut – ½ cup
- Red chili – 1
- Rasam Powder – 1 tbsp
- Tamarind Paste – 2 tsps
- Turmeric Powder – ¼ Tsp
- Grated / Powdered Jaggery – 1 tsp
- Hing – ¼ tsp
- Salt – 2 tsps (heaped)
- Curry leaves – 5 to 6
- Chopped Cilantro – 1 tbsp
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Water – 2 cups + ½ cup
Prep – Work:
- If you are using frozen beans, make sure it is at room temperature.
- If using fresh ones, wash the beans and set aside.
Instant Pot Method:
- Add the rinsed beans to the Instant Pot and add 2 cups of water.
- Set it in manual mode and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes and let the pressure release naturally.
- Carefully open the lid and take about ½ cup of cooked beans. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Let the remaining beans be in the Instant Pot.
- Now grind this ½ cup of beans along with coconut, ½ Tsp of cumin seeds, red chili, turmeric powder, rasam powder and hing into a coarse mix.
- Set the instant pot in sauté mode and add the ground coconut mix, jaggery and tamarind paste to the cooked beans and mix well.
- If required add more water. I just used ½ more cup of water. I just rinsed my mixer jar with that half cup of water and added it into the IP.
Next…
- Add salt, curry leaves, and cilantro and let it simmer in sauté mode for 8 to 10 minutes.
- In a separate tadka pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. As they start to splutter add it to the saaru and mix well.
And that’s it. Avarekalu Huli Saaru is ready. Serve hot with rice.
Stove Top Method:
- Cook the beans in your preferred way, either on the stove top or microwave or in a pressure cooker and until the beans are soft and tender. Make sure they are not mushy. Do not drain the water.
- Set aside ½ cup of cooked beans and let it cool.
- Now grind this ½ cup of beans along with coconut, ½ Tsp of cumin seeds, red chili, turmeric powder, rasam powder and hing into a coarse mix.
- Heat a kadai or pan and add oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves. (If using onions add at this stage)
- As the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cooked beans along with water and the ground mix and combine them.
- Then add the jaggery, tamarind paste and mix them all.
- If required add more water. I just used ½ more cup of water. I just rinsed my mixer jar with that half cup of water.
- Add the cilantro and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Notes:
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
- Instead of rasam powder, you can use sambar powder.
- Also, you can do the tempering with ghee.
- If using onion in the IP method, transfer the cooked beans to a different vessel and do the tempering in the sauté mode and cook the onion. Then add the beans, ground mix, and the other ingredients.
- Make sure the beans are not mushy. It has to be soft and tender. So do not overcook. In IP, manual 3 minutes is more than sufficient. In fact, you can do a quick pressure release after 5 minutes.
- Adjust the water as per your consistency preference. If you want the saaru to be thick, either simmer for a long time or mix about one tsp of rice flour in 3 tbsps of water and add it to the saaru and then bring it to a boil.
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Avarekalu Huli Saaru | Hyacinth beans curry
Equipment
- Electric or Regular Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 340 gms Hyacinth Beans / Field Beans / Avarekalu – 1 frozen packet / 340 gms
- 1.5 tsp Cumin Seeds divided, 1 tsp + ½ Tsp
- ½ cup Coconut grated
- 1 Red chili
- 1 tbsp Rasam Powder
- 2 tsps Tamarind Paste
- ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 tsp Jaggery Grated / Powdered
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- 2 tsps Salt heaped
- 6 Curry leaves
- 1 tbsp Cilantro chopped
- 1 tsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 2.5 cups Water divided, 2 cups + ½ cup
Instructions
Prep – Work
- If you are using frozen beans, make sure it is at room temperature.
- If using fresh ones, wash the beans and set aside.
Instant Pot Method
- Add the rinsed beans to the Instant Pot and add 2 cups of water.
- Set it in manual mode and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes and let the pressure release naturally.
- Carefully open the lid and take about ½ cup of cooked beans. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Let the remaining beans be in the Instant Pot.
- Now grind this ½ cup of beans along with coconut, ½ Tsp of cumin seeds, red chili, turmeric powder, rasam powder and hing into a coarse mix.
- Set the instant pot in sauté mode and add the ground coconut mix, jaggery and tamarind paste to the cooked beans and mix well.
- If required add more water. I just used ½ more cup of water. I just rinsed my mixer jar with that half cup of water and added it into the IP.
- Add salt, curry leaves, and cilantro and let it simmer in sauté mode for 8 to 10 minutes.
- In a separate tadka pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. As they start to splutter add it to the saaru and mix well.
- And that’s it. Avarekalu Huli Saaru is ready. Serve hot with rice.
Stove Top Method
- Cook the beans in your preferred way, either on the stove top or microwave or in a pressure cooker and until the beans are soft and tender. Make sure they are not mushy. Do not drain the water.
- Set aside ½ cup of cooked beans and let it cool.
- Now grind this ½ cup of beans along with coconut, ½ Tsp of cumin seeds, red chili, turmeric powder, rasam powder and hing into a coarse mix.
- Heat a kadai or pan and add oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves. (If using onions add at this stage)
- As the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cooked beans along with water and the ground mix and combine them.
- Then add the jaggery, tamarind paste and mix them all.
- If required add more water. I just used ½ more cup of water. I just rinsed my mixer jar with that half cup of water.
- Add the cilantro and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Notes
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
- Instead of rasam powder you can use sambar powder.
- Also, you can do the tempering with ghee.
- If using onion in the IP method, transfer the cooked beans to a different vessel and do the tempering in the sauté mode and cook the onion. Then add the beans, ground mix, and the other ingredients.
- Make sure the beans are not mushy. It has to be soft and tender. So do not overcook. In IP, manual 3 minutes is more than sufficient. In fact, you can do a quick pressure release after 5 minutes.
- Adjust the water as per your consistency preference. If you want the saaru to be thick, either simmer for a long time or mix about one tsp of rice flour in 3 tbsps of water and add it to the saaru and then bring it to a boil.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
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Hi Vidhya , how do you freeze the avarekaalu and for how long does it stay edible . Thank you . Savitha
It should stay good for atleast a year. I used store-bought frozen ones.
Hi Vidhya, tried this avarekalu recipe today being Ganesha chaturthi as we avoid onion and garlic. It turned out to be absolutely delicious. I did not have rasam powder at home hence substituted it with sambhar powder. Worth trying this new dish! Thank you so much. May lord Ganesha bless u with love and happiness always! ❤️🌹🙏
Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Dear Vidhya,
This dish turned out to be lip smacking and I was literally licking my finger by the end of my meal !!!
It paired this with white rice and that was a great combo – a very comforting meal.
Thank you for this yummmmmy recipe.
I am a Bangalorean living in New York for the past 15 years.
Avarekalu is one of my favorites. Just that I will have to buy frozen kalu as I don’t get the actual Avarekalu where I live.
Thank you once again for the wonderful work you are doing :0))
Hi Lakshmi, thanks a lot for the feedback. I am very glad that this recipe worked for you. :-)
Which brand rasam powder do you use
I use homemade one.
Hi,
The pics look so tempting.Can you let me know the name on the frozen packet. I love avarekalu but not sure which is the frozen one. we hardly get fresh ones.
-vibha
Hi Vibha, Sorry for the delayed reply. You can find the deep brand, Laxmi and swad brands Surti papdi lilva in the Indian groceries. I usually get the deep brand.
I have to wait for the next winter season to buy these avarekalu and make this curry. Very interesting recipe..
Thanks Ruchi.
Wow Srividhya, I am so much in love with your series! Hats off for picking up such an interesting and challenging theme..I am so glad you were able to find one from each state..this one is our favorite beans and we make it differently of course and all of us love it…so I can’t wait to try this recipe..
Thanks much Valli. Glad you are liked the theme. There are lot of variations to this recipe and we went with this no onion no garlic one.
I have never tried making these beans as basically I never have seen them available. This take me back to college days when the Hostel mess where he made them in season till we got fed up. But now I wish I can get them. Lovely share.
Thanks :-)
Your curry looks so inviting… never use this beans, may be i got here. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Preeti.
A friend of mine has mentioned this recipe before. So been planning to try this recipe for a long time now. Will look for the beans when I get to the Indian store next.
Please do try Rajani. Thanks
We make this during the season but never bothered to freeze the beans. Your huli saaru looks so good and with rice it must be divine..
Thanks a lot Gayathri.
These pics are so tempting. Wanted to try them soon.
Wish I could send some. :-)
I love the way you are posting traditional recipes , well I am not aware of a lot of South Cuisine and find it new . Great ! I am getting to learn various traditional recipes . The curry sounds delicious .
Thanks a lot, Vaishali. This BM paved the way for exploring these traditional recipes.
This has been in my yo do list,will try your version for sure. Saaru looks so tempting and a comforting dish for winter..
Thanks Nalini. Please do try. I am sure you would love it.
Such a delicious looking curry. I love field beans and this one with coconut is something I’d definitely like to make.
Please do try Mayuri.
We fresh avarekalu in Bangalore during the season.. entire marked will be flooded with them .Even thee is food fare conducted in Bangalore every year where you can get all the dished prepared with avarekalu both sweet and savory!! On seeing this fresh beans i get reminded of that.. lovely seasonal gravy with coconut.. My fav is puri with avarekalu sagu :)
Wow… Avarekalu sagu sounds interesting. Will check it out da. Thanks
I just finished dinner but your pics are makingm e hungry again! Love this gravy and make this often when ever fresh avarekalu is available.
ha ha.. Thanks Padma.
That is another very flavourful bowl. Looks so inviting. Yum yum
Thanks Sowmya
Slurp slurp, my mouth is watering here. How delicious this huli saaru looks, just prefect to have with a bowl of rice and spicy potato curry, makes me hungry already.
Oh yeah spicy potato curry is a great combo.Thanks Priya.
Again a new bean to me, never used it. This bean curry looks very comforting and perfect to pair with rice.
Yes. This is commonly used in South Indian cooking, especially the dried ones. :-) Thanks
Ooooooh ! I love EVERYTHING about this Vidhya – the Saaru (oh so nostalgic) , the pics and also that you follow swayampaaka (I am a big fan,obviously coz I get to hear someone speak kannada ! ) .. ahh bliss ! I make it exactly the same way, except I add 2 byadgi (bedgi) chillies for a lovely deep red colour.. Lucky u – u get frozen avarekaalu.. missing this here :(
Hey same pinch…. I follow their channel for both kannada and the recipes. :-) Thanks a lot.