Care for avarekalu roll, avarebele Manchurian, or avarebele rumali roti? They are all available at the Avarebele Mela from Vasavi Condiments, where the bean has been presented in sweet and savoury avatars for the last 18 years.
Avarekai (Dolichos lablab) delicacies are not restricted to Karnataka alone. There are 120 dishes created by 150 cooks at the fair this year. While many dishes are created out of the whole bean without removing the skin such as uppittu, pulao, masala idli and usli, the hithkabele varieties (sans the skin) make their presence felt in the holige, saaru masalavade, bonda, nippat masala, payasa, Mysore pak and halwa. This year’s special sweet, choya is an adaptation of the Rajasthani sweet with avarekai, urad dal flour, and jaggery.
“We are lucky that the rain gods have been merciful, and we have a good supply of healthy fragrant avarekai,” says Geetha Shivakumar, the 53-year-old founder of Vasavi Condiments. “This is the best time to try out a new sweet and our cooks have risen to the challenge with choya, which is vanishing from the counters.”
“The cool weather is perfect for spicy bites, while those with a sweet tooth can indulge in jamoon and jilebi made of avarekai. On the savoury side wholesome dishes such as hithkabele rottis, paddu, avare rice bath, othu shavige avarekalu, puri-hithkabele and avarekalu dose are very popular. They are a meal by themselves and for snacks one could feast on avarekalu vade, bonda and mosaru kodubale.”
“I generally make vadas, and this year I am looking at making one lakh avarebele vadas,” Kumar from Kanakapura popularly called Avare manushya, says.
Talking about how she got into the condiment business, Geetha says, “My husband was in Bharath Scouts and Guides and had a nominal salary. To make both ends meet with two children was an effort. I chanced upon a condiment-maker in Kolar. Taking cue from there, we too started making and selling karasev, kodubale and mixture followed by laddu, badusha, kajjaya, bele holige and pickles. We stayed at Mavalli and visitors to Lalbagh often dropped by.”
Geetha loved cooking anything new. “Nothing has stopped me from trying something new on my stove.”
All along, there were farmers selling avarekai who gathered at the Lalbagh/ Mavalli/ VV Puram area. They observed the business at Vasavi Condiments. “After a while they asked me to buy their leftover, unsold beans, and I would be left with nearly 100 litres everyday during the season. I tried drying, frying and adding masala to the bean. The result was crunchy and nutty with a distinct flavour. Today we have nearly 60 kinds of fried-mix hithkabele with different spices such as pudina, garlic, dhaniya, pepper, sabakki soppu, kothambari and karibevu amongst others,” says Geetha.
This year is special for Vasavi Condiments as they turn 25. “We sell about 25 tonnes of avarebele in myriad varieties on an average at every mela. We help nearly 1,000 farmers and their children who grow the beans for us in Magadi, Chintamani, Kolar, Mulbagal, Hunsur, Chintamani, Dodda Ballapura, Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga and smaller villages near Tumakuru, Devanahalli and Anekal with education and clothing.”
Avarebele Mela is on at Sajjan Rao Circle, VV Puram till January15. It will be at Malleswaram from January 19 to 28 at Government School Grounds and at Nagarabhavi at Chandra Layout from February 2 to 11.