A little Beans on the Side

A large of population of India eat a predominantly vegetarian diet. And generally, there is a sauteed vegetable side on a daily basis. The food is cooked fresh and the meals eaten hot. A south Indian lunch generally consists of Roti (wheat flat bread) or Puri (deep fried wheat bread), sabzi or two (a vegetable side), curry (gravy-based dish), steamed rice, lentils (plain or sometimes with vegetables), Rasam (a tangy soupy goodness), Yogurt, pickle and this list can go on and on and on.

Not an elaborate south Indian spread, but today, we made beans sabzi at home as a side dish. And this is how me made it.

Let's get started.
Ingredients:

Beans – 300 grams
2 tablespoon water
Oil for tempering - 1 teaspoon
mustard seeds – ¼ teaspoon
Dried Red chilli – 3
Curry leaf – few
Urad Dal (black lentil with its skin peeled) – ¼ teaspoon
Salt as per taste
Chili Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method:

Cut beans into small pieces.

Heat oil in a pan

Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add urad dal, curry leaf and red chili.

Once the urad dal turns slightly golden brown, add the cut beans.

Add a tablespoon of water and add salt as per taste.
Cover and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon chili powder. Cook without covering this time, until there is no smell of raw chili powder.

That’s it. Serve hot.

Thank you for reading.

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I cook every day. Well, almost every day. And there are days where I cook multiple recipes. Having said that, I am not an authentic or professional chef. Many of my recipes are experiments as I try to adapt and use the ingredients I already have.

My mantra is you should cook food just the way you like it. I don’t mean any disrespect to traditional methods of cooking or any cultures where the cuisine originates from. But I merely try to cook it with what I have and what is available to me and sometimes, I add ingredients that I want to use up.

All photos are my own.
All photos are shot on a mobile phone.