Vaal / वाल / Beans / Lablab purpureus

Other Names

  • Local Name: Vaal / वाल
  • Common Name: Beans
  • Botanical Name: Lablab purpureus

Status & Habitat

  • Status: Cultivable
  • Habitat: Climber
  • Occurrence: Cultivated areas
  • Season of Availability: Warm months of spring and summer
  • Geography: Africa, Asia, the Caribbean
  • Method of Propagation: Seed propagation
  • Part used for Propagation: Seeds

Edible Parts

  • Edible Parts: Seeds
  • Can be Eaten Raw: No

Method of Consumption

  • Raw: No
  • Ripe: N/A
  • Both Raw & Ripe: N/A
  • Dangerous Form to Consume: Raw beans
  • As Food: Seeds are ooked into a curry
  • As Medicine: Rub leaves on cuts and scratches to help heal them; tea made from seeds can help with acute bronchitis
  • Cooking Without Prior Boiling: No
  • Boiling Before Cooking: Yes
  • Pickling: N/A
  • Brining: N/A
  • Fermenting: N/A
  • Drying for later Consumption: Yes
  • Overall Method: Boiling the beans then eating them, or making a sabji from the beans.

Nutritional & Medicinal Benefits

  • Nutritional Benefit: High protein, fiber, and macronutrients.
  • Medicinal Benefit: Fever reducer, aphrodisiac, anemia, ulcers, headache, dysentry

Tribal Wisdom

  • Tribal Wisdom: Rub leaves on cuts and scratches to help heal them; tea made from seeds can help with acute bronchitis

Recipes / Usage

  • Tribal Recipe / Usage: Beans curry:
    - Cook beans in a pressure cooker.
    - Grind a paste of coconut. Add this paste to oil, mustard seeds and coriander leaves in a kadai.
    - Mix well and simmer.