I tried to search for chapathi on your site after looking at the beutiful picture of your delish….. chapathi and curry…. I know chapathi is simple thing but not everybody can make like the one you have…. can u post the receipe or direct me to it if it is already there or even email me one…. thank You…

You have a beautiful food blog. Keep up the great work! I have a few questions for you. First, are Surti papdi lilva (the much loved ingredient in Gujarati undhyu) and chikkudu the same thing? My mom, who is an extraordinary cook (I know all children say that, but she truly is a rare gem) and I are documenting all her recipes–Gujarati (our roots), Maharashtrian, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, Mughlai, the cuisine of Uttar Pradesh,and the list goes on. I have created a glossary of ingredients with Gujarati, Hindi, and English names. For the majority of vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses, spices, dairy products,etc., I know the English names. But Surti papdi lilva, val/vaal, and valor are the exceptions. Unfortunately, the majority of food blogs dedicated to Indian cuisine have conflicting names for these ingredients and, to my surprise, many other ingredients, not because of the different regional names within India, but because, well, I don’t know. I have been searching and searching for the English name for Surti papdi lilva and val/vaal. I’m almost certain val/vaal is the hyacinth bean. Is it? And is the young pod of the hyacinth bean valor, making valor and val papdi the same thing? If not, please enlighten me!

Hello A,
I understand your frustration about different names for our ingredients. I think it’s mainly because of different regional names within India and lack of produce-patriotism in Indian marketing system.
I planted both papdi lilva and valor beans last year. Young plants look alike but Papdi lilva produces white flowers and Valor has purple flowers. After going through beans nomenclature and based on flower color, I decided to put papdi lilva in broad beans category and valor under hyacinth bean category. The young pods and beans are not the same, though they are sold under the same name (either papdi lilva or valor) in Indian grocery shops in US. Blame the confusion on marketing system.
In Rayalaseema area of Andhra, we don’t have different names for papdi lilva and valor and they both are called and sold as “Chikkudu” in Telugu.
You mentioned about creating a glossary. Could you please post the link to the page. Thanks.
-Indira

Sanjeeta: How fortunate you are to have it from mom’s (mil) hands on Sankranthi! Miss mom’s cooking.

Aruna: There are few recipes with chikkudu I wrote before listed in Recipe Index page under broadbeans (chikkudu). Check them out.

Cilantro: Would love to try mom’s peanut-less version. How does she make it?

ry: from my garden.

Padmaja: How are you?
Yes, this would taste good with lima beans. Soy beans, I am not sure. Soy beans and peanut combo sounds little bit off. Let me know if you try.

Narayan: Thanks for sharing local Gujarat favorite. Will definitely try with fresh beans.