A simple vegan snack from the beautiful Himalayan state of India - Uttarakhand. This protein packed dish is prepared with any five or more different kinds of soaked beans.
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As mentioned in one of my previous posts also, I am originally from an extremely beautiful Himalayan state of India – Uttarakhand. The enthralling natural beauty, rich ancient culture, the abundance of medicinal plants used in Ayurveda, ancient temples, holy places of high significance for different religions, are some of the reasons for the appellation of ‘Dev bhoomi’ (The land of God) earned by Uttarakhand.
The simple people of Uttarakhand stay very close to nature and celebrate each season and other elements of nature.
Today I am sharing a very simple but nutritious vegan recipe – Birure, which is eaten during a local festival of Uttarakhand- Gamara / Aatho. The locals believe that on the seventh day of the Hindu month Bhadrapada (Aug-Sep), Gaura (Goddess Parvati), comes to visit her parent's house and then the next day, her husband Lord Shiva also joins her there. This festival is to celebrate their visit.
Apart from other treats, birure are specially prepared and offered to them.
The preparation of this recipe starts three days in advance i.e. fifth day of Bhadrapada, with the soaking of any five types of seeds in a pot, preferably a brass pot. The seeds may be of grains or lentils like wheat, maize, kidney beans, chickpeas, mung bean, peas, etc.
Generally, these seeds have very high medicinal properties, especially to cure the ailments related to this season. For three days the soaked seeds are washed every evening and the water is changed.
My mother still remembers how as a child, she along with her younger siblings and a lot of other children from the village used to go to the underground water source of the village called naula, to wash the seeds. It was always fun for them to check who has soaked which five seeds.
On the seventh day, village people prepare an idol of Goddess Parvati called Gaura or Gamara in the local language and bring her to the village, celebrating their daughter’s homecoming.
Birure is prepared by shallow frying the soaked seeds with some spices and then first it’s offered to the daughter and son in law of the village (Goddess Gaura and Lord Shiva) and then enjoyed by the whole village.
Try this simple super healthy, protein-rich vegan snack while reading the simple yet enchanting Himalayan folklores 🙂
More vegan bean recipes:
- Greek White Bean Soup- Fasolada
- Lobia – Vegan black-eyed bean curry
- Middle Eastern Bean Salad- Balela
- Mung bean sprouts raita
- Avocado and mung bean sprouts sandwich
- Rajma masala (Kidney Bean Curry)
Step by step photo instrutcions
How to make Birure?
Recipe:
Preparation time: 5 minutes + soaking time
Making time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients:
- Seeds of any 5 grains and lentil: 2 tablespoons each (You can even use more types of seeds, here I have used Kidney bean, black-eyed beans, dried peas, mung bean, and Bengal gram whole).
- Ginger: 1 inch piece
- Garlic: 3-4 cloves (optional)
- Green chillies : 1-2
- Lime juice : 2 tablespoon
- Coriander leaves : 1 bunch
- Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
- Coriander powder: 1 tablespoon
- Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
- Salt : As per taste
- Oil for frying (preferably mustard oil as it’s used in the original recipe).
Method:
- Wash all the seeds, and soak in water. Keep them aside in a warm place.
- Next day, throw away the water, rinse the seeds again, refill with clean water and keep aside.
- Repeat the process for 2 days. If you stay at a place with hot weather or you feel that the water has started getting frothy, throw away the water, wash the lentils properly, refill with cold water and put it in the refrigerator. By the third day, there will be small sprouts coming out from most of the seeds. However, it’s completely fine even if you don’t get the sprouts.
- On the third day, throw away the water and wash the seeds one last time. Keep them aside.
- Chop the green chilies and coriander leaves. Grate the ginger, garlic and squeeze out around two tablespoons of lime juice.
- In a pan heat mustard oil till you see smoke coming out of it. Switch off the gas and let it cool for a few minutes.
- Switch on the gas again to heat the oil and add the cumin seeds.
- Add in ginger garlic paste to the oil and sauté for few minutes.
- Now carefully add the soaked seeds and all the other ingredients except lime juice and coriander leaves.
- Mix everything nicely, add around two tablespoons of water and cover the pan.
- Let the seeds cook for around 15-20 minutes, stirring in between.
- Add more water if you feel the spices are sticking to the bottom.
- Let the seeds cook, covered.
- Once done, add in the lime juice and coriander leaves. Mix well and enjoy birure. You can eat it as a snack or a salad.
Note: If you don’t want to prepare it in the exact traditional way, you can also fry the lentils even before three days, when they are soaked properly.
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