Surti Val

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Me in a grocery store is like a kid in a toy shop. The one who wants to touch, feel,smell and taste (if possible) all the intresting ingredients I find out there. But my better half does not share this curious behavior, at least in the grocery store. He's more of the go-getter kind. Head straight to the point of interest without looking either ways. On one such visit he happened to pick up this packet of surti val. I had listed the unpeeled ones but what I got were these....

They reminded me of the time when my mom would soak them and spend a good 1-2 hours peeling the skins. A tedious and time-consuming task so to speak. 

 After spending enough time languishing on the kitchen counter they finally got their due respect. I used up some of these in tangy,spicy curry. The recipe is inspired from this one on Aayi's recipes . 

Here's how i made it : 

Surti Val Curry

(Inspured by this recipe on Aayis Recipes)

Soak 1.5 C of surti val in water overnight

Pressure cook them (around 2 whistles) with some salt so that they are soft but still hold their shape.

(Take care not to overcook else you will end up with vaal paste !!)

For the spice paste:

3 cloves

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 cloves of garlic

3 dry red chillies

2 tsp cooked beans from above

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp or more chilli powder

small lump of jaggery

 2-3 tsp tamarind paste

salt to taste

1 tsp mustard seeds

pinch of turmeric and hing

oil as required

• Grind together the above into a smooth paste. Set aside.
• In a pan heat 4-5 tbsp f oil. Drop the mustard seeds,curry leaves, hing and the onion. Fry for about a min.
• Then add the spice paste, tamarind and the vaal. Mix everything adding water to get a gravy consitency. 
• Season with salt. Add a lump of jaggery. Let the whole thing come to a rolling boil. 
• Taste and adjust seasonong as required.
• Garnish with cilantro.Serve with chappatis or plain rice. 

A delicious curry indeed !! And no we did not notice any after-taste because of the peel.....

Have a great week  ahead !!!