Yard long beans curry : Karamani curry - Garden to plate

Yard long beans (Chauli / Karamani) have not been my most favourite vegetable, because they are often tough and stringy when bought from the supermarket. Ever since I started growing these in my garden, I've changed my opinion about this vegetable. 

Seeds from Auchan (formerly SPAR) Supermarket, Bangalore

For one, it is a hardy plant, producing a good yield once it starts flowering and fruiting. It's always fun to search for the green delicate long beans among the green leaves and there are a surprise few always hiding in the middle of the foliage. You can pluck them when still tender which means they cook in no time. The overlooked beans can always be used for the mature seeds inside, which you can use in a soup or a vegetable dish. 

I may have said this before, but to avoid any confusion, I must clarify that, 'Curry' in the tamil / Tambrahm cuisine parlance means a dry saute, where boiled or raw chopped vegetables are added to a hot oil after a simple tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, udad dal and dried red chillies. And once the vegetable is nearly cooked, a sprinkling of fresh coconut completes the dish. It is almost like a lightly cooked salad and not a gravy dish. Also, it is one of the easiest ways to prepare any vegetable, while retaining it's nutrition, taste and colour.

Karamani Curry / Yard long beans curry
Printable version here

Serves 2-3

Time taken : Under 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp of oil ( I used organic coconut oil)

Pinch of asafoetida

2 dried red chillies, broken

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp udad dal

2 cups of chopped yard long beans

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sambar powder

2 tsp fresh coconut 

Directions

1. In a large wok / kadai, heat the oil. 
2. Add asafoetida, immediately adding red chillies, mustard seeds, udad dal. 
3. Once mustard seeds splutter and dal turns golden, add the chopped beans, salt - stir well and sprinkle water, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes on a low flame. 
4. Check on the beans every 3 minutes or so, sprinkling some water, if it is too dry or catching at the bottom of the pan.
5. Once done (tender, but still retaining some crunch), sprinkle sambar powder, stir to mix well.
6. Remove from flame and garnish with coconut.
7. Serve with rasam-rice or sambar - rice.

Useful information about growing yard long beans on the USDA site. 

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Saraswat Lunch Menu from Rasachandrika

Regional Indian cooking has such variety that it's mind-boggling. Every culture has had it's cookbook bible that it trusts to preserve the heritage and authenticity - Meenakshi Ammal is one such great lady who put down traditional Tamil cuisine in three volumes. Such books are not only wonderful to discover in our kitchens the kind of food that is hardly ever available in restaurants, but also to give a great insight into the other cultures in our country. I can say the same about some of the food blogs :) Rasachandrika, written by Ambabai Samshi is one such cooking bible for Saraswat community - and  I was glad to buy it a few months ago - this showcases Chitrapur Saraswat cooking.

What I loved about this book is the emphasis on vegetables and the numerous ways of preparing each one, not to mention the simplicity of ingredients and directions. Suppose you are stuck for how to prepare snake-gourd for example, just open the chapter on this vegetable and see which recipe you want to prepare. The quantities for most veggie recipes will be good for small families.

This is how I used up the cut beans, kovakkai and brinjal - selected a dal from the dal section and I had a whole Saraswat meal ready.

 

Menu

Beans Talasani

Kovai Butti - The masala used for this curry, I found very similar to the one we grind for mor kozhambu. This was probably the best tasting kovakkai (ivy gourd) dish I've ever had.

Recipe for Kovai butti

1/4 kg tender kovai

1 tbsp ground nut oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

pinch of asafoetida

salt and jaggery to taste

small ball of tamarind

5 red chillies*

1 tsp coriander seeds*

1/2 tsp black gram dal*

a few fenugreek seeds*

4-5 garlic cloves*

1/4 coconut gratings - roasted

*fry in a little oil

Wash and slice the kovai into rounds.

Heat oil, temper the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Add sliced kovai, salt, jaggery - stir well, sprinkle water, cover and cook till tender.

Grind the coconut, fried spices and tamarind to a paste, adding some water if required.

Add this paste to cooked kovai and let it simmer till nearly dried out.

 

Brinjal bhareet - A very simple dish made by roasting and mashing a large eggplant. The recipe called for adding green chillies, ginger and coconut as is into the mash, I preferred to temper them in oil before use.

Recipe for Bhareet

1 large brinjal

Oil to coat the brinjal - 2 tsp or so

handful of coconut gratings

chopped coriander leaves

6-7 green chillies

1 small piece ginger

salt to taste

3-4 tbsp curds or lemon juice

Apply oil over brinjal and roast on open flame turning on all sides, till completely soft inside. When cool, peel and slice checking for worms. Mash with a fork.

Crush the chopped chillies, ginger, coriander leaves and salt, add to mashed brinjal with coconut gratings. Mix in curds or juice of half lemon in the end.

Dali tuaykadi - One of the traditional lentil preparations, the fresh ground masala gave it a unique taste.

Recipe for Dali Tuaykadi

1/2 cup tur dal

1 cup water

1 small marble sized tamarind / 3-4 kokum rinds / 1/2 raw mango cubed

To fry in oil -

1 tbsp grated coconut

3 red chillies

6-8 cloves garlic

6-7 pepper corns

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

Pressure cook dal with turmeric and water with soft.

Mash dal well with salt and tamarind juice and simmer.

Grind the fried ingredients to a paste, add to simmering dal and boil.

Garlic is optional.

Limited preview of the book available here

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Cant-stop-eating this Green beans salad

When it comes to green beans, French beans or farasbi as it is called locally, I haven't messed around much with them. Beans usili, a Tamil stir fry dish made with crumbled dal, which is a hot favourite at home always gets the vote and therefore other beans dishes rarely stand a chance. If I'm too lazy to prepare the elaborate usili, then a simple beans curry it is. I usually reserve a handful of beans to use in Khichdi or pulao. This time the beans were so tender and fresh, so I thought how about a salad, especially as the main course of the dinner was decided to be Rajma patties / burgers. I must say the salad brought a lovely freshness to the dish and we regretted that there was only so much to go between the two of us. A loaf of freshly baked whole wheat bread from Ofen (recommended to us by Arundati) sliced up and it was a memorable dinner for two.

Green beans salad served with rajma patties and fresh whole wheat bread

Green beans salad
Time taken - Around 20 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
200 grams fresh tender green beans
1 L water
1 tsp salt

Dressing - shake up the following in a clean jam jar

2 garlic pods, peeled, smashed, chopped fine
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp English mustard
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Bring the water to boil with 1 tsp salt.
2. Meanwhile wash beans well. Top and tail them. Cut diagonally in half to make spears.
3. Add to water and boil for 4-5 minutes until half cooked yet crisp.
4. Drain. Reserve water to use in soups, rasam or to cook dal. Wash drained beans in cold water and drain again. Mop dry with kitchen towel.
5. Just before serving, toss beans well with dressing from the jar. Serve immediately.
   

Currently, two batches of fruitcake have been baked, the eggy version using Raaga's 20 year old recipe and the eggless version by substituting eggs with yogurt. Both have turned out good and are ready to be gifted away to some lucky (if I may say so) people :)

Happy Holidays everyone and wishing you a Merry Christmas!

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Orange-Sesame Soba Noodles

There are some recipes that the minute you lay your eyes on them, you know it's going to taste great. And you can't wait to make it and taste it yourself. This was one such yummy recipe that I came across in Prevention magazine a couple of months ago. It featured soba noodles, which I had in the pantry; peanut butter which I had just made a bottle of; fresh oranges for the dressing and there was nothing to stop me from trying this one out.

The result was so delicious that the hubby and me lapped up the noodles with our chopsticks in pin drop silence, except for the 'hmmm this is good' every two minutes. If you don't have soba noodles, try this out with any sturdy noodles, because the dressing is to die for.

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Recipe for Soba noodles in a sesame-orange-peanut butter dressing
Category : Asian cuisine, Vegetarian Asian, One dish meal
Serves : 2
Time taken : Under 20 minutes

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Noodles
2 portions soba noodles (about 250 gms)
Cook the noodles as per directions,remove and rinse in cold water and drain. Keep aside.

For dressing, in a jug, whisk together :
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1 tsp red chilli powder
(Have a taste of the dressing to adjust the salt depending on the salt in the soy sauce. It's quite addicting. I must have taken several licks of this :)

Vegetables
Lightly steam 1 cup julienned beans and thin carrot sticks from 2 medium carrots OR Microwave for 3 minutes with pinch of salt and sprinkles of water.

Bringing it together
In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the steamed vegetables. Pour the dressing over the tossed noodles and toss well to coat evenly.
Top with diagonally sliced spring onion greens.

Serve warm or cold. You can prepare this in advance and serve it the following day so that the noodles can absorb all the flavours of the dressing. This kind of combination was very new to me, and the orangey-peanut butter dressing is something I want to make again very soon.

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Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 21 is being hosted at 100% Microwave cooking and the theme is Microwave Breakfasts. Last date for entry is 30th April, 08. Event details here.

After I lost all the matter on the sidebar widgets, I've prepared an exclusive WBB Archives & Updates page - which links up to all the previous 20 editions, plus who's hosting next etc. Anyone who is interested in hosting, please leave a comment on the WBB page and I shall get back to you soon.

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Tags: soba noodles, peanut butter dressing, asian vegetarian recipe, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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