Mahanandi

The farmers market in our neighbourhood is big on beans. Fresh beans of different colors, 15 to 20 of same size bundled together with a rubber band are offered for one dollar or dollar thirty cents. I have been eyeing these purple beans since the beginning of summer, and bought two bundles yesterday. With rich velvet like violet skin, they are weirdly attractive to me.

For tender beans, I snapped them to half-inch length pieces. Mature ones with plump seeds, I saved the seeds and discarded the tough skins. After snapping and shelling, two bundles came about two cups. I blanched the beans first (surprisingly purple paled to green), and did a quick saute to go with chapatis. They had strong soy bean like smell with somewhat flat taste and greatly benefited from generous amounts of goda masala seasoning. All and all, they made a decent curry for chapatis.

Purple Beans

Recipe:

2 cups shelled purple beans
1 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons goda masala
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon each – turmeric and salt
for popu or tadka:
1 tablespoon ghee and a pinch each- cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil in a pot. Add the beans and cook them for few minutes until just tender. Drain.

2. Melt the ghee in a wide frying pan. Add and toast the cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add and fry the onion to soft brown. Add the beans. Sprinkle the goda masala, turmeric and salt. Mix thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and cover and cook for another five minutes or so.

Serve the curry hot with chapatis and a cup of yogurt.

Purple Bean Curry with Chapatis and Carrot-Cucumber-Mint Yogurt Raita ~ Meal Today

Romano Beans Curry ~ Traditional South Indian Style

Romano beans are green beans gone broad. If green beans face a concave mirror they would definitely look like romano beans. The same green color, the same length, but instead of cigar rounds, they are shaped like spongebob squarepants style flat.

The romano beans I purchased at neighbourhood’s farmers market yesterday were in very tender stage with thin skin and didn’t need any prior blanching. I just followed the established south-Indian method of pairing the beans with fresh coconut and green chilli seasoning. The beans were cut to half-inch length strips, stirred frequently with very little oil over medium flame, until they were slightly dried out and fragrant. The curry was quick to prepare and the outcome was beautiful to look at, as you can see from the photograph. It also tasted superb with chapatis. The beans gave the dish its crucial texture and the coconut-chilli seasoning gave its distinctive flavor.

Romano Beans (Flat Beans)

Recipe:

1 tablespoon peanut oil
10 curry leaves
¼ teaspoon each- cumin and mustard seeds
1 big red onion or shallot – finely sliced to tiny pieces
30 romano beans – cut to half-inch length pieces
2 tablespoons grated fresh coconut
1 tablespoon finely minced green chilli
½ teaspoon each – turmeric and salt (or to taste)

In a wide skillet, on high flame heat peanut oil until a curry leaf tossed in it sizzles. Reduce the heat to medium. Add and toast curry leaves to pale gold color. Then toss in cumin and mustard seeds. When seeds start to pop, add the onion pieces. Saute until the onion pieces become golden brown. Add the beans. Mix and cover the skillet and cook for few minutes until the beans soften a bit. Then remove the lid and sprinkle the grated coconut, chilli, turmeric and salt. Frequently stirring, saute for couple of minutes until the beans reach the stiff/tenderness you desire. Serve the curry hot with chapatis or rice and dal.

Romano Beans Curry with Chapatis, a Glass of Buttermilk and A Bowl of Black Plums ~ Brunch Today

Green beans are available year-round here in frozen section, but they cannot compete with farm-fresh green beans of early summer time. Bright green and crisp textured, garden-fresh green beans still have that youth essence we cherish so much and I feel that this is the best time to cook/curry them.

The following is one of my favorite green bean recipes from maa amma (my mother). Relatively inexpensive, easy to prepare, green beans~sesame kura captures the spirit of traditional Andhra Summer menus.

Fresh Green Beans and Sesame Seeds

Recipe:

Fresh green beans: Ends removed and cut into half-inch length pieces, about 3 cups.
Onion – finely chopped, about half cup
2 Green chillies – finely chopped
Popu or tadka Ingredients:
½ tsp each- minced garlic, cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves
Sesame powder:
Powder together, ¼ cup toasted sesame seeds and ½ tsp each- chilli powder, salt and sugar

In a wide skillet, heat about a teaspoon of oil. Add and toast popu or tadka ingredients listed above. When mustard seeds start to splutter add the onion and saute to soft.

Add green beans and green chilli. Cook covered, until they soften little bit, for about five minutes. At this stage, sprinkle sesame powder and a pinch of turmeric. Mix thoroughly, cook uncovered, mixing in-between. (Have a taste and add salt if needed.) Take care not to over-cook and turn off the heat when there is still some crunch left in green beans. Serve warm with chapatis or with sorghum rotis.

I have also added a fistful of steam-cooked black chickpea sprouts from yesterday to this curry. Coated with sesame-spice powder and in combination of green beans, they tasted quite good.

Green Beans~Sesame Kura with Chapatis ~ Dinner Today

Notes:
Kura (Telugu) = Curry (English)

Green Beans, Shelled Indian Beans, Baby Lima Beans

Here in the US, farmers’ markets are usually bursting with fresh green beans during this time of the year. When we first moved here, during my getting to know the US veggies better phase, regular staple in my kitchen was curries and pulaos prepared with frozen green beans. Frozen green beans are cheap, already cut and cook easily. Taste not that good, still I bought them. But after a year of frozen stuff, I had enough and I’ve sworn off green beans entirely. Then, I discovered the farmfresh green beans of springtime and how good they tasted. From then on, along with radishes, beans became a springtime staple at my home.

My recipe here is same as the old classic, the favorite of Indian cookbook authors, where beans are cut into quarter inch length pieces, saut?ed with onions and green chilli-coconut paste. To this basic recipe, I have also added two other types of shelled beans to increase the nutritional value as well as taste. The shelled Indian beans (Papdi Lilva, the middle ones in the photo above) are available in frozen section of Indian grocery shops here, year round and baby lima beans; you could get them from regular grocery shops. They both taste little bit sweet and starchy, compliments the mildly woodsy taste of fresh french beans.

Sauteing the three-bean curry

Recipe:

Fresh Green beans – 2 cups of chopped quarter-inch length pieces
Shelled Indian broad beans – ½ cup
Baby lima beans – ½ cup
Onion – 1, finely chopped
Green chillies- 4 to 6 and coconut powder, a tablespoon – made into smooth paste
Turmeric – ½ teaspoon
Salt to taste
For tadka or tiragamata:
1 tsp of peanut oil
1 tsp of mustard seeds, cumin, minced garlic and few curry leaves

Heat peanut oil in a kadai or a wide pan. Add and toast the tadka ingredients. Add and stir-fry the onions for about 2 minutes. Add the green beans, Indian beans and Lima beans. Cook, covered for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Beans will soften within 5 minutes by cooking in their own moisture, sort of like steam cooking. At this stage, stir in green chilli-coconut paste, salt and turmeric. Cover and cook on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes stirring in between. Serve hot with chapatis or with rice and dal.

3-bean curry with chapatis

More about Indian Bean Seeds, Papdi Lilva or Chikkudu Vittanalu – Here

Paruppu Usili or Lentil Curry, even though it’s an old classic from South India, I never made this at home before. Shammi’s post tempted me to try it. I liked the ingredients and nutritional aspects of this curry and also the quick way it can be made.

I followed Shammi’s recipe mostly.

-Soaked two fistfuls each of toor dal and chana dal overnight.

-Grinded the dals with half tsp of salt and six dry red chillies and pinch of hing into coarse matter, without adding any water.
-Fresh green beans are the vegetable I chose to make Parappu Usli.
-I chopped beans, one medium sized onion and one garlic clove finely.

Did the popu (frying mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves in 1 tsp of oil), then added onions and garlic, saut̩ed them for few minutes. Then added the coarsely grounded dal paste and green beans. Cooked them covered on low medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pinch of turmeric and salt to my taste, with these final touches and few more minutes on stove Рmy new favorite curry was ready for chapatis.

Thanks Shammi for showing this classic recipe.