Field Beans or Hyacinth Beans

Long cultivated in India, this flat bean, Dolichos lablab, with purple-tinged edges is now an entrenched part of Parsi cuisine. Cooked with or without meat in stews, papri has a flavor particularly well set off by ajwain seed. It appears at farmers’ markets in the summer, sold by Philippine vendors, and can also be found at Indian markets occasionally. Unlike ordinary green beans, which can be delicious when crisp, papri has to be cooked thoroughly to be fully appreciated. The slightly bitter mature dried beans within the pod (valpapri) are sold and cooked as a dal in India. Parsis know valpapri as titori.