Come December and Bengaluru is brimming with avarekai (dolichos lablab). The climate in Karnataka results in a plentiful crop. The avarebele, or the bean lends itself to a variety of dishes from rasam, uppittu, rotti, dose, idli, saagu and bisibelebath to dry savouries.
It was Vasvi Condiments’ eye for experimentation that rolled out creative dishes with the bean from 2000 onwards. Over the years the condiment store, that organises the Avarebele Mela in Food Street at VV Puram, has pioneered on various dishes with the bean including sweets such as holige, halwa, chikki, payasa and Mysore pak.
“This year we have avarekai ice-cream,” says Geetha Shivakumar, 54, co-founder of Vasavi Condiments with her husband Shivakumar. “It required months of experimentation. Food experts helped us and we decided to go ahead with the ice-cream.”
The ice-cream is made out of boiled and mashed bean, milk, cream and sugar. “We installed a softee ice-cream machine made in Gurgaon. The bean is boiled in milk and mashed before being mixed with other ingredients and churned. We serve them in cones topped with roasted avarekalu. The cones cost ₹30 each,” says Geetha.
Sweet choya, where urad dal batter and sugar form the covering for avarekai stuffing, which is fried in oil is another innovation at the mela. “Although the dish is originally from the desert regions of India where the dumplings are made of other dals,” says Geetha.
Also available at the mela are roll, Manchurian, rumali roti, jamoon, jalebi and chandrakala all made from the wonder bean. While many dishes are made out of the whole bean with the skin such as uppittu, pulao, masala idly and usli, the hitikbele varieties (without the skin) is used for holige, saaru (rasam) masala vade, bonda, nippat masala, hitikbele rottis, paddu, rice bath, othu shavige, puri-hitikbele and dose. “They are a meal by itself, as the bean is very filling,” says Geetha.
People flock to mela from far and wide. Ragini Rao, physiotherapist says she regularly checks it out with her son as she’d rather “have hitikbele holige here than try them out at home.”
Students from nearby engineering colleges say “we forget about other hotels for at least a week during the mela.” Seniors who take a walk at the VV Puram Circle say, “We love the masala avare bath and the crispy vadas.”
Swathi KS, daughter of the Shivakumars who is also one of the key members steering the mela says, she is happy that her parents have not only given the bean pride of place at the mela, but also have hundreds of farmers grow the crop with a purpose. “Avarebele Mela is in its 19th run this year.
We have developed a bond with the locals here, and the mela is significant event in Bengaluru’s calendar,” says Swathi, adding that the organic waste generated is made into brickets that serve as fuel.
Vasavi Condiments’ fried avarebele, is popular with NRIs for its taste and long shelf life. From savouries, the establishment graduated to hitikbele sambar and payasa and the demand led to a full-fledged fair dedicated to the bean. “Today we have nearly 60 kinds of fried-mix Hitikbele including flavours such as pudina masala, garlic, dhaniya, pepper, sabakki soppu, kothambari and karibevu amongst others,” says Geetha.
Every Avarebele Mela uses 10,000 kg of the bean.
The 10-day affair attracts 40,000 people during weekends. Nearly 600 farmer families are involved in the growing of the crop sourced from Magadi, Chintamani, Kolar, Mulbagal, Hunsur, Dodda Ballapura, Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga and smaller villages near Tumakuru, Devanahalli and Anekal.
Avarebele Mela is on at Sajjan Rao Circle, VV Puram till January 8.
