Yard Long Beans Subji

The yard long bean or long beans is a regular entry in my list for vegetable shopping, and though I usually combine it with kaya (raw banana) to make the kaya-payar thoran, or use it in olan and avial, I like to make a subji exclusively with it. Amma makes the payar thoran with grated coconut, tempered with mustard and curry leaves, but I did not have coconut and decided to try something different.

To make the dish seen in the picture, you will need:

Long beans - washed and cut/broken by hand into long pieces - 250 gms (see pic below)
Onions - chopped - 2 medium sized OR 1 cup
Ginger - peeled and pounded - 1 large OR 2 tbsp
Green chilly - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Jeera/ Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Curry leaves - 1 strand (optional)
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Boil the cut beans in 1 cup of water with salt, turmeric, and red chilly powder in a pan, and keep aside
• Grind more than half of the chopped onions, ginger, and green chilly to a coarse paste
• In another pan, heat the oil, temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves (optional), and add the remaining chopped onions
• Fry the onions until light brown, and add the onion-ginger paste
• Add the jeera, coriander powders and stir well
• Mix the boiled beans into this paste and cook on low flame for 3-5minutes until semi-dry

Serve with rice/ chapathi

This dish goes to Sunshinemom's Food In Colours: Green event for this month.

Note: If you do not wish the dish to be spicy, please avoid the use of red chilly powder while boiling the vegetable. The onion paste and use of onions in the dish renders it to be only mildly hot.