Hyacinth Beans (Lablab, Dried)

Hyacinth Beans (Lablab, Dried): Nutrition and Complete Guide

Hyacinth beans — known botanically as Lablab purpureus (the species name reflects the deep purple pods of many varieties) — are a versatile tropical legume important in South Asian, East African, and Southeast Asian cuisine. Known as avarekai in Kannada, val in Gujarati, and field beans or Indian beans in various English-language contexts, hyacinth beans are cultivated across the tropics for their immature pods (eaten as a vegetable), their fresh seeds, and their dried mature seeds. The plant is also important as animal fodder and as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop. In Karnataka (South India), avarekai is a seasonal delicacy enthusiastically anticipated — fresh hyacinth beans are prepared in sambar, usli, and various spiced preparations during their brief winter season. The dried mature seed requires careful preparation as it contains anti-nutritional factors that must be eliminated through soaking and cooking.

Nutritional Value and Cooking

Dried hyacinth beans provide 344 kcal and 23.9 g of protein per 100 g, with 57.2 g of carbohydrates and 25.6 g of fibre. Excellent for thiamine, iron, phosphorus, and folate. Soak overnight and discard soaking water — this is important for hyacinth beans as the soaking removes cyanogenic glycosides and other anti-nutritional factors. Boil vigorously for ten minutes, then simmer for sixty to ninety minutes until completely tender. Use in South Indian-style curries with coconut, tamarind, and spices, or in East African stews. The flavour is earthy and slightly sweet when well-cooked.

Hyacinth Beans (Lablab, Dried) in more detail

The hyacinth bean, Lablab purpureus, is grown across South Asia and Africa and is known in Indian cooking as val or sem. In Britain it is more often seen as an ornamental climber with purple pods than as food — which is unfortunate, because the pods on a garden trellis are the same plant as the pulse.

It carries a genuine and specific caution that most beans do not. Mature dried lablab seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides — compounds that release hydrogen cyanide when the plant tissue is damaged — at levels meaningfully higher than in common beans. The traditional preparation across every culture that eats them handles this the same way: prolonged soaking with several changes of water, discarding the soaking water each time, then boiling in fresh water with the lid off so the volatile compounds can escape. This is not optional and it is not the same as the 10-minute boil that kidney beans need.

Immature pods and young beans contain far less and are treated as an ordinary green vegetable. The dark-seeded varieties generally carry more than the pale ones.

Prepared properly the beans are firm, nutty and hold their shape well — used in Gujarati and Maharashtrian dals, in Kenyan and Ethiopian stews, and sprouted for salads. If you are unfamiliar with them, buying from a supplier who sells them as food rather than as seed is the sensible starting point.

Nutrients worth knowing about

Per 100 g dried, this page shows 344 kcal, 23.9 g protein, 60.74 g carbohydrate, 1.69 g fat and 25.6 g fibre — among the highest protein and fibre figures of any pulse in this encyclopedia.

Lablab beans supply Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Manganese and Vitamin B9 (Folate / Folic acid).

As with other pulses, the iron is non-haem and phytate reduces its absorption; soaking, sprouting and thorough cooking help with both the phytate and the cyanogenic glycosides at the same time.

Data note: this page does not currently display a micronutrient panel. The source-database record matched to this entry is demonstrably wrong (it points at a seaweed product), so we have suppressed it rather than show it. The macronutrient figures above are unaffected.

Other Asian and African pulses