One of the most versatile Mangalorean specialities is the Vegetable Gravy which is usually made during the week to break the monotony of eating seafood. Many Mangy Catholics make it most often during the Lenten Season when they abstain from eating meat. We have a designated day for vegetarian preparations – which is usually a Friday. It’s neither for religious nor health reasons (err…partially, yes), but just to take a break from making non vegetarian food. This veg gravy can be made with a variety of vegetable combos. Usually in the form of leafy greens with legumes or root vegetables with legumes. My most favourite is the Valchebaji (Mangalore/Malabar Spinach) and Guley (Black Eyed Peas). You can also make this gravy with Soorn (Yam) and Black Chana (Bengal Gram) or Black Eyed Peas, Green Gram Sprouts (Moong Sprouts), Potato & Toor Dal, Mogem (Field Marrow) and Toor Dal/Moong/Black Eyed Peas (any of these three with Field Marrow) – so it’s really upto you what combination you like best.The Vegetable Gravy is best eaten with brown rice (unpolished boiled rice) and whatever’s remaining can be reheated & served with chapathis for breakfast the next morning.
When this spinach is ready to be plucked, the vine is wound in the form of a wreath (round in shape) and sold or passed on to neighbours & friends if it has grown in excess. Every Mangalorean housewife will claim that she has grown the best Valchebaji and will go to great lengths to ensure it has the best manure ranging from kitchen waste including vegetable peels to dried cow dung & water in which fish is cleaned. So you see, in many homes it’s a great source of free & organic leafy greens that are high in Vitamins C & A, Iron & CalciumNamed after the famous music band (ha ha, just kidding), the Black Eyed Peas are also my favourite among legumes. It is also called as the Black Eyed Beans (which is why if you Google ‘black eyed peas’ you’ll get loads of information about the music band and not the legume 🙂 which is again a heat loving crop and hence is in great partnership with the Malabar Spinach in a gravy made by heat resistant people in sun kissed Mangalore :-)Black eyed peas or Chawli (and Guley/Alsando in Konkani) as they are called in India are of great significance in the Jewish tradition and is apparently eaten on New Year’s day as a part of a good luck tradition which also involves bottle gourds, leeks, beets & dates.
Black eyed peas are rich in the best sort of fiber which is soluble fibre which helps to eliminate cholesterol from the body. They are an excellent source of Folate, Calcium and Vitamin A. So why don’t we include this rich source of good health more often into our diet?
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Traditional Mangalorean vegetarian curry made using Malabar spinach (basale soppu) and black eyed peas. Tastes best when served with piping hot rice.
- 1 bunch malabar spinach with the stalks or 5 packed cups of leaves * see notes
- 3/4 cup black eyed peas soaked overnight
- salt to taste
- 2 long dried red chillies (Byadge)
- 3 short dried red chillies (Harekala)
- 6-7 peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 small onion
- 4-5 cloves of garlic (with skin for grinding)
- 1 cup grated coconut
- 1 gooseberry size ball of tamarind
- 2-3 cloves garlic for tempering
- 3 teaspoons oil for frying
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Pluck the leaves from the stems, wash thoroughly & drain well. Set aside.
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Select the very tender stalks and use them to cook along with the leaves. Select the not so tender ones and cut into 3" size pieces.
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Discard the water in which the black eyed peas were soaked. Refresh with one change of water and then transfer them into a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups of water (approx) or enough to cover them. Add salt to taste & pressure cook for 2 whistles or till the peas are tender. Remove them and retain the water in the pressure cooker.
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Add the spinach stalks and leaves to the same water, some extra water if required and pressure cook for only 1 whistle (if the leaves are big & thick). If the leaves are very tender then turn off the cooker before the whistle is let out (just when the hissing starts). When the pressure subsides, open the cooker and keep aside.
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Dry roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, pepper, cumin, mustard one by one on a skillet till you get a nice aroma. Be careful not to burn any of the ingredients or they will taste bitter. Remove and let them cool.
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To the same skillet add the onions, garlic and coconut and dry roast everything till you get a nice aroma. Remove and cool
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Now grind the roasted spices, coconut mixture and tamarind to a fine paste using a little water. Remove the masala and rinse the grinder with a little water and set this water aside. This method of grinding the spices to powder first & then adding the wet ingredients ensures that your grinding process (if you are using a mixer grinder) is fast.
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Add the ground masala to the cooked spinach and black eyed peas and adjust the consistency of the gravy by adding only as much reserved masala water as required. Simmer the curry for 2-3 minutes. Then remove the pan from heat.
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In a smaller pan heat 3 teaspoons oil and toss in the crushed garlic cloves. Fry them till golden brown and pour this seasoning into the gravy
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Serve hot with brown (unpolished) boiled rice and fish fry (optional).
In Konkani one batch of valche baji/spinach is called 'mouli', so if you are using a batch freshly plucked, you can use 1/2 of a large mouli of baji
The gravy thickens the next day which makes it ideal to be served with chapathis for breakfast the following morning. We reheated the gravy & had it with steaming hot rice & sizzling fish fry 🙂 Take a look!
this is a lovely gravy-looks yum
Thank you Priya! Have you tasted/tried Mangalorean cuisine anytime?
I tried this recipe and it came out just excellent. I also tried the same recipe with valche baaji and marwai (clams). It is simply the perfect recipe for this combination.
Thanks
Steven Pinto
Great to hear that Steven, thanks a lot for the positive feedback!
Just visited your site and found myself drooling…Whatever you have written is 100% mangalorean and I can very well relate myself..I am miles away from Mangalore…but going through your blog I could smell and taste the food my mom prepared which is very similar to your food…keep going..well done.
Excellent website for mangarolean dishes
Lovely Site for authentic Mangalorean Dishes. I tried many and its awesome. Thanks for posting Mangalorean Recipes with photos.
@ Sunil Pais: Thanks a ton for your kind appreciation and I am glad you have tried and liked my recipes 🙂
Just coming out from the meal platter. I love this and would like to try this using the malabar spinach that I have at home.
@ Uma: Thanks so much! Do give this a try, it tastes yum!
Shireen, I love your recipes because they are authentic. I know because I'm a Mangy!! Could you please give me the recipe for the chicken soup which is made for women who have just delivered a baby. My daughter is due any day!!!
@ Veronica: Thanks so much for the lovely compliments! Sorry for the delay in responding! Could you please email me with your request at ruchikrandhap@gmail.com so that I can email you the recipe? Thanks!
I love this recipe of yours! Trying it today again, got the Valchebaji fresh from my in laws place 🙂
This is one of my favorite veg recipes.I love your recipes both non veg and veg
I've always wondered what 'valchebaji' is called in English or Hindi. Thanks for that. 🙂 It's one of my absolute favourites. Mum makes her curry with chowli or moong and bikna (jackfruit seeds). I love that combination.
@ J: Love the moong & bikna combo too 😀 I hope you enjoy making this dish!
hi shireen…its so lovely to read ya post…its my home cuisine too and u make my childhood days come alive… this is one of my favourite veg curries and we also make this with a combo of whole masoor dal and tendli veg. Actually all these veg curries with different combos would be in overdrive during the monsoon season with no good fresh fish… I wish you can also post recipes on special monsoon Mangalorean dishes like the dry-fish curries and the sides like the chutney with raw mangoes in brine and jackfruit in brine. We used to stock up on all this stuff before monsoons arrived. Please do share any other typical recipes which are monsoon specialities. Thanks in advance.
@ Unknown: Thanks so much! I will surely post the recipes you request! Been juggling home and kids a bit so blogging took a backseat, will definitely post soon!
Can I add haldi into it
My curry came little dark not yellowish as shown in pic
Hi Daniel,
Well, if the chillies you used were deep red or roasted a little too much then it could be one of the reasons why the gravy turned out a little dark. Yes, you can add the turmeric powder if you wish
I made this curry twice now and both times it came out very good, thank you Shireen for all the trouble you go through to preserve these traditional recipes
So glad to know that you liked it! Thanks for the appreciation Lavina!
thanks shireen. my whole family loved this dish. i was looking out for something with soorn and kalo sano (my mom used to cook) and stumbled upon this. I quickly soaked black eyed peas in the morning and by lunch we were able to devour this scrumptious gravy.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this dish! Thanks so much for the feedback!
How long to pressure cook the black eyed beans
Hi,
You can pressure cook them for 2 whistles if they have soaked well (overnight). If the soaking time is shorter (like 2-3 hours), then 2 extra whistles may be required
I have tried to go through the recipe twice but I don’t find how to pressure cook the chowli and how much water to use. I improvised and the dish turned out fab but would love if you can tell me what I missed. Cheers
Hi Mark,
The chowli needs to be soaked overnight or at least for 4-5 hours. Pressure cooking it with water that comes up to 1″ from the surface of the chowli. Don’t forget to add salt! You can cook for 2-3 whistles for perfectly cooked chowli but the cooking time will vary according to the time taken to soak the chowli
Shireen Ihave tried this receipe and need to say that instead of 5 big long we can cann 3 small and 2 big long chillies. Also we add a little raw rice (1 -2 tsp) when roasting the spices. This brings a little thickness to the curry.
Thanks for the tips Joyce, I will surely try this recipe your way soon!
I always refer this recipe when I have to cook guley and valche baji:)
Very authentic and tasty!
Thank you so much Pamela!
What would I do without your Richie randhap Shireen?? Thank you for making the world for manglorean food lovers. How about making a special diabetes section I am sure it would make some peoples lives easier.
Lots of love
Mariette TURRIAN D’Sa
Thank you so much for the kind appreciation Mariette! So happy to hear that! Well, I could make the diabetes section but since I am not a certified nutritionist it could be tricky but I will surely post some more healthy recipes