Let’s add some greens in here! Green beans are another common vegetable dish, just like the aloo gobhi.
Pro Tip: You can add in carrots and peas this recipe – but remember to adjust the other ingredients accordingly to match the total volume of vegetables!
Side dish for: 3-4 people. Prep Time: 10 minutes. Cook Time: 35 minutes. Note: pay attention to whether recipe asks for seeds, powder, or leaves – it matters.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups green beans, bite sized, uncooked
- 1 cup potato, peeled and diced, uncooked
- 2 tbsp mustard oil
- 1/2 tsp jeera seeds (cumin)
- 1/4 tsp rye seeds (mustard)
- 1/4 tsp urad dal (black lentil)
- 2 bay leaves, halved
- 1/2 tsp haldi powder (turmeric)
- 1/2 tsp dhaniya powder (coriander)
- 1/2 tsp amchur powder (dry mango)
- Salt to taste
The Process:
1. Prep: dice/cut the vegetables, take all the spices out of your cupboard. Have them measured ahead of time for convenience.
2. Heat the mustard oil in the pan at medium heat (you’ll preferably want a kadhai, or a wok style pan). The jeera should be sizzling or fizzing a bit when put in the oil, so to make sure the oil is at the right temperature, take a few jeera seeds to try it out. Add all the jeera seeds, rye seeds, urad dal, bay leaves, and haldi.
3. Add the green beans and try to cover all the beans in the oil. Then add the potatoes and stir fry everything together for a bit. This should be done on low-medium heat.
4. Add salt and cover with a lid. Every 2-3 minutes, remove the lid, move the veggies around so that nothing gets stuck to the kadhai, and cover with lid again. After about 10 minutes of this process, add the dhaniya powder and mix it in thoroughly.
5. After about 15-20 more minutes of the uncovering-stirring-covering process, you should notice the vegetables soften. A few things to keep in mind: if the vegetables are sticking to the kadhai despite stirring often, lower the heat. If the vegetables are not softening well, you can add more salt (to taste, of course) or lower the heat (allows steam to soften the veggies).
6. For reference, the pictures in this step show how the green beans should look once done, compared to how they looked when first put in the kadhai. Only once you feel it is fully softened as supposed to, mix the amchur powder in, turn off the heat, cover with lid, and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
